STS-108 (Endeavour)
STS-108 (Endeavour)
Launch Date
December 5, 2001
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
7
STS-108 (Endeavour)
STS-108 (Endeavour)
Launch Date
December 5, 2001
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
7
Overview
The first Space Shuttle mission after the September 11th attacks, this flight's launch time was classified for added security, a practice that would continue through January 2003. The flight resupplied the International Space Station and rotated the Expedition 3 and 4 crews.
Crafts
Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
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.