SpaceShuttle News

SpaceShuttle News From AOL News

Christa McAuliffe: How the Space Shuttle Challenger Victim Has Been Memorialized

Today is a solemn anniversary: The space shuttle Challenger explosion took place 25 years ago, on Jan. 28, 1986. Perhaps no victim of the Challenger disaster touched America's heart like Christa McAuliffe. McAuliffe beat out 11,500 other applicants in the Teacher in Space program to win a coveted seat on the Challenger...

Space Shuttle Discovery Takes Final Voyage: By the Numbers

(Nov. 2) -- Safe travels. NASA's Discovery space shuttle is set to blast off for the last time this week, as the famous orbiter begins its final supply mission to the International Space Station. The flight is the 39th Discovery mission in 26 years of operating. The launch was originally scheduled for Wednesday but has...

Junkyard Circling the Earth Is Growing, Scientists Say

(April 17) -- Imagine half a million marbles circling Earth -- a sort of celestial obstacle course for the International Space Station, shuttles and satellites. That's the increasingly problematic issue of orbital debris. The objects can be as big as a defunct satellite, but -- traveling at speeds of 17,500 miles an hour...

Space Shuttle Launch Called 'Most Beautiful' Ever

(April 5) -- The oldest and trustiest space shuttle in NASA's fleet, Discovery, blasted off today from Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying a crew of seven and an 8-ton stockpile of supplies destined for the International Space Station. NASA called the predawn launch "spectacular," "picture-perfect" and its "most visually...

Astronauts Face New Frontier: Unemployment

(Feb. 26) -- For 40 years, the American astronaut has been an icon of bravery and derring-do. But could these elite fliers be about to get their pink slips? Under a proposal by President Barack Obama, NASA's campaign to send astronauts to the moon would be canceled, and the spaceship NASA has been building to replace the...

Background on SpaceShuttle

The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable launch system and orbital spacecraft operated by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for human spaceflight missions.

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