The Space Shuttle Era

The Space Shuttle was the first crewed spacecraft designed to fly to orbit and return to be flown again.

Columbia lifts off on STS-1, the first flight of the Space Shuttle — the first reusable crewed spacecraft, twenty years to the day after Gagarin's flight.

Aboard Challenger, Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.

The Space Shuttle Challenger breaks apart 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven crew and grounding the shuttle fleet for nearly three years — a turning point for spaceflight safety.

The Space Shuttle deploys the Hubble Space Telescope; after a famous repair mission corrected its mirror, Hubble transformed astronomy and public views of the cosmos.

Galileo becomes the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter and drops a probe into its atmosphere, beginning years of study of the giant planet and its moons.

Sojourner, delivered by Mars Pathfinder, was the first wheeled rover to operate on another planet.

Mars Pathfinder lands using airbags and deploys Sojourner, the first successful rover on another planet, proving a low-cost path back to the Martian surface.

The Space Shuttle Columbia breaks apart during re-entry, killing all seven crew and leading to the decision to retire the shuttle fleet.

Cassini enters orbit around Saturn and later delivers the Huygens probe to Titan, beginning thirteen years of discovery in the Saturn system.

Deep Impact fires a projectile into comet Tempel 1, excavating fresh material to reveal what a comet is made of.

Japan's Hayabusa touches down on the asteroid Itokawa; despite great difficulties it returns to Earth in 2010 with the first samples ever collected from an asteroid.

Atlantis flies STS-135, the 135th and final Space Shuttle mission, ending thirty years of shuttle flight and beginning a gap in American crewed launch.