STS-57 (Endeavour)

This multifaceted mission saw the crew perform numerous biomedical and materials science experiments, retrieve ESA's European Retrievable Carrier satellite, and perform a spacewalk to test the Space Shuttle arm's ability to perform fine maneuvers while carrying a high-mass object.

The first reusable launch and landing spacecraft, the Space Shuttle began a new chapter of human space exploration. It launched like a rocket but landed on a runway like a plane. Shuttle crews deployed dozens of commercial satellites and two interplanetary probes to Venus and Jupiter. The Shuttle served as a mini space station and hosted hundreds of biomedical, psychological, physiological, materials science, and physics experiments that have directly benefited life on Earth. The five flight-worthy Shuttles -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour -- flew 135 missions over 30 years. The Shuttles helped construct the Russian Mir space station and brought nearly 80% of the International Space Station to orbit. Shuttles also deployed and serviced the Hubble Space Telescope.

Space Shuttle

Twelve Fisher-344 Rats

United States of America

NASA

This astronaut crossed the Kármán Line (100 km), the internationally accepted boundary of space.

Crossed Kármán Line

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

STS-51-J (Atlantis)

The maiden flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis. This was a classified Department of Defense mission.

STS-30 (Atlantis)

Atlantis' five-person crew deployed the Magellan spacecraft to study Venus. This was the first human mission to deploy a spacecraft to another planet.

STS-42 (Discovery)

This Spacelab mission focused on the effects of weightlessness on numerous organisms and crystals.

Ronald J. Grabe

STS-32 (Columbia)

This mission saw the deployment of a Defense communications satellite and the years-delayed retrieval of the Long Duration Exposure Facility launched on STS-41-C. Lasting 11 days, NASA used this mission to test a crew's ability to function and fly the Space Shuttle after a long mission.

STS-43 (Atlantis)

This mission launched the fifth TDRS satellite for NASA, conducted radiator testing for use on a future space station, and performed numerous biological experiments.

G. David Low

STS-45 (Atlantis)

This was the first mission of the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science pallet, a multinational effort from the U.S., France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Japan.

STS-72 (Endeavour)

This was a NASA-Japan co-sponsored flight to retrieve Japan's Space Flyer Unit as well as deploy and re-capture the free-flyer science platform.

STS-92 (Discovery)

The 100th Space Shuttle flight brought a docking port, motion control system, communications system, and the Z1 truss structure to the International Space Station.

Brian Duffy

This astronaut visited the International Space Station.

ISS Visitor

STS-88 (Endeavour)

The first International Space Station construction mission. Endeavour launched the Unity module for the U.S. and met up with the first Russian station module, Zarya ("sunrise"), linking the two modules together in an historic partnership.

STS-109 (Columbia)

The fourth servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope replaced and upgraded science instruments and swapped out the telescopes solar arrays. Columbia also reboosted Hubble's orbit.

STS-70 (Discovery)

Discovery launched NASA's seventh TDRS satellite. The flight was delayed several weeks when woodpeckers, trying to nest on the External Tank, put 71 holes in its insulating foam.

Nancy J. Currie-Gregg

STS-68 (Endeavour)

The Space Radar Laboratory-2 mission continued providing researchers with unique data on Earth's ecosystems. A launch attempt in August ended at T-1.9 seconds with an on-pad abort and emergency shutdown of Endeavour's engines when a failure was detected. It was the closest a Space Shuttle ever came to launching without actually leaving the pad.

STS-81 (Atlantis)

The fifth Space Shuttle docking to the Russian Mir space station delivered a new NASA crewmember to the outpost.

Peter J. K. Wisoff

STS-63 (Discovery)

The second Shuttle-Mir mission saw Discovery approach the station and fly around it, testing critical approach and docking systems for future Shuttle-Mir flights. The mission was the first time a woman piloted a U.S. spacecraft.

STS-83 (Columbia)

This planned 16-day mission was cut short after just 4 days when one of three critical electricity-producing fuel cells quit working. NASA made the unprecedented decision to refly the entire mission -- same vehicle (Columbia), same crew, same payloads -- as soon as possible.

STS-94 (Columbia)

This reflight of STS-83 marked the only time to date that a human space mission was completely reflown with the same crew, vehicle, and experiments. This time the flight was a success.

STS-99 (Endeavour)

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission was a joint NASA-German flight to create the most complete high-resolution digital topographic database of Earth.

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