Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

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

Crossed Kármán Line

STS-55 (Columbia)

The second German-sponsored Space Shuttle flight saw 88 experiments from 11 nations taken to orbit.  A March launch attempt ended at T-3 seconds with an on-pad abort and emergency shutdown of Columbia's engines after a failure was detected.

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

Ulrich Walter

Germany

NASA

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

STS-51-G (Discovery)

Discovery's crew deployed three satellites for Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and the U.S. They also released the Spartan 1 free-flying science platform for a few days of independent flight before re-capturing it and bringing it back to Earth. The mission marked the first time an Arab, Muslim, and member of a royal family flew to space.

STS-61-A (Challenger)

A Space Shuttle mission funded completely by West Germany. This marked the first time payload operations on a U.S. mission were not conducted from NASA centers but from West Germany instead. Challenger flew with the Spacelab module, containing 76 scientific experiments. With eight crewmembers, this mission holds the record for "most people on a single spacecraft for launch and landing."

STS-37 (Atlantis)

Atlantis' crew deployed the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory after an unplanned spacewalk to unstick the Observatory's communications antennas. The crew also practiced moving equipment and people around a future space station using a small mock-up in the Shuttle's payload bay.

Steven R. Nagel

United States of America

This astronaut visited the International Space Station.

ISS Visitor

This astronaut is in the top 5% for total spacewalking time.

Elite Spacewalker

This astronaut is in the top 5% for number of missions.

Frequent Flyer

This astronaut is in the top 5% for number of space walks.

Frequent Walker

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-110 (Atlantis)

Atlantis delivered the S0 truss to the International Space Station, the backbone of the international outpost. Jerry Ross became the first person to launch to space seven times.

STS-61-B (Atlantis)

Mexico

This mission deployed three satellites for Australia, Mexico, and the U.S., and took the first Mexican citizen to space. Two spacewalks proved assembling large, pre-formed structures in space was possible, though their shape was crucial -- a key to the eventual construction of the International Space Station. At launch, this became the fastest turnaround between flights of any rocket or spacecraft to date; Atlantis launched for a second time just 54 days after her first mission.

STS-27 (Atlantis)

This Atlantis mission almost didn't make it back to Earth. During launch, debris from the Solid Rocket Booster critically damaged 700 of Atlantis' heat shield tiles, nearly leading to a burn-up and the loss of Atlantis and her seven-member crew during reentry and landing. The classified nature of the mission prevented NASA from doing extensive damage assessment during orbit.

STS-74 (Atlantis)

The second Shuttle-Mir docking saw Atlantis deliver a pair of solar arrays and the Russian-built Mir Docking Module to the station.

Jerry L. Ross

STS-44 (Atlantis)

The second unclassified Department of Defense Space Shuttle mission deployed the Defense Support Program satellite and supported numerous experiments.

STS-78 (Columbia)

This international Life and Microgravity Spacelab mission from NASA, ESA, and Canada featured more than 40 experiments designed to validate long duration space station missions.

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.

Terence T. Henricks

STS-84 (Atlantis)

The sixth Space Shuttle docking to the Russian space station Mir delivered a new NASA crewmember to the outpost. During undocking, Atlantis tested a new European sensor that would be used on Europe's future International Space Station resupply vehicle.

STS-91 (Discovery)

This was the ninth and final Space Shuttle docking to Space Station Mir and Discovery's only trip to the Russian space station. Discovery's crew tested new robotic arm software and the Orbiter Space Vision System that would be needed during construction of the International Space Station. This flight returned the final long duration NASA astronaut from Mir.

STS-71 (Atlantis)

In a historic step toward the International Space Station, Atlantis performed the first docking of a U.S. Space Shuttle to the Russian space station Mir. A U.S. astronaut permanently joined Mir's crew.

Charles J. Precourt

This astronaut became the first African American to spacewalk.

First African American to Spacewalk

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.

Bernard A. Harris Jr.

European Space Agency (ESA)

STS-122 (Atlantis)

Atlantis brought ESA's Columbus science module up to the International Space Station and rotated a single ISS crewmember.

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