THE SPACE SHUTTLE / END OF AN ERA

Americans in Space
The Final Mission of the space shuttle Atlantis brings to an end a program that, for more than three decades, allowed the United States to dominate the science of manned space exploration ----- at a final total cost of $196.5 billion.  The shuttles became the primary vehicles for building and servicing the International Space Station, servicing satellites and the Hubble Space Telescope, and launching interplanetary probes.  But beyond these functions, the shuttles fulfilled both the romantic notions of exploration and breakthroughs in our understanding of Earth ----- from detailed surface imaging to ozone mapping to medical and biological studies.
The Past: 1961 - 2011
U.S. spacecraft have sent 331 Americans into space ----- many of them more than once.  This chart depicts each American launched on each manned space mission (a total of 808 because of individuals making multiple flights), including suborbital flights that reached a height of at least 62 miles.*
* Does not include return trips from space stations.  Includes Challenger STS-51L, which exploded before making it into space.
Number of Manned Launches by Program
Mercury  -- 6
Gemini  --  10
Apollo  --  15
Columbia -- 28       '
Challenger -- 10
Discovery  -- 39
Atlantis  -- 33
Endeavour -- 25
Non-NASA -- 5  all suborbital
May 5, 1961
Alan Shepard
First American in space on Freedom 7.
Feb. 20, 1962
John Glenn
First American to orbit Earth on Friendship 7.
June 3, 1965
Ed White
First American space walk on Gemini 4.
Dec. 24, 1968
Frank Borman, Jim Lowell, and Bill Anders
First Americans to orbit the moon on Apollo 8.
July 20, 1969
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
First Humans to walk on the surface of the moon during Apollo 11.
April 11, 1970
Fred Haise, Jim Lowell, and Jack Swigert
Apollo 13 launches, then experiences an explosion followed by a six-day struggle to return safely to Earth in what came to be called "the successful failure."
Dec. 7, 1972
Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt
Apollo 17 launches, becoming the final manned mission to the moon.  Cernan and Schmitt would become the last two men on the lunar surface. (Dec. 11-14).
May 14, 1973
Skylab launched
Three manned missions were sent to the orbiting laboratory in 1973, using remnants the atmosphere and disintegrated in1979.
July 15, 1975
Apollo-Soyuz
Test Project
Final Apollo mission and first joint flight between the United States and Soviet Union.  The Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft docked on July 17.
Feb. 18, 1977
Space Shuttle
First test flight of Enterprise.  It never flew in space.
April 12, 1981
Robert Crippen and john Young
First space shuttle launch, on Columbia.
June 18, 1983
Sally Ride
First American woman in space (on Challenger STS-7).
Aug. 30, 1983
Guy Bluford
First African American in space (on Challenger STS-8)
1985
Record number of Americans in space
Nine space shuttle flights send 52 Americans into space, including two trips each for Karol Bobko, Steven Nagel, and Charles Walker.  Shuttles sent six additional astronauts into space from France, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Mexico, and the European Space Agency.
Oct. 3, 1985
First launch of Atlantis
Jan. 28, 1986
Challenger lost
Mission STS-51L explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, killing Dick Scobee, Mike Smith, Judy Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ron McNair, Greg Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe.
April 24, 1990
Hubble Space Telescope
Launched from Discovery on STS-31.  A flawed mirror caused the telescope to produce unsatisfactory images.
May 7, 1992
First launch of Endeavour.
Dec. 2, 1993
Fixing Hubble
During STS-61, repairs were made to the Hubble Space Telescope during a record five space walks.
June 27, 1995
Docking with Mir
Atlantis attaches to the Russian space station for the first time during STS-71.
March 22, 1996
Shannon Lucid
First woman to fly on Mir.  Atlantis (STS-76) drops off Lucid for a five-month stay and picks up Norm Thagard, who was the first American to live on Mir (arrived via Russian Soyuz spacecraft).
Oct. 29, 1998
John Glenn returns to space
The 77-year-old Ohio senator returns to orbit on Discovery STS-95, becoming the oldest person ever to go into space.
Dec. 4, 1998
International Space Station
Endeavour delivers the U.S. -built Unity node during STS-88, the first shuttle flight to the station.
July 23, 1999
Eileen Collins
First woman to command a space shuttle (Columbia, STS-93).
Feb. 1, 2003
Columbia explodes
A catastrophic failure during reentry kills Americans Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, Rick D. Husband, and William C. McCool, and Israeli llan Ramon.
2004
SpaceShipOne
Three suborbital flights of the privately funded experimental spaceplane take place.  It is designed by aerospace engineer Burt Rutan and funded entirely by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen.
Feb. 24, 2011
Last launch of Discovery
May 16, 2011
Last launch of Endeavour
July 8, 2011
Last launch of Atlantis and final space shuttle mission
The Present: Hitching a Ride
Russian Soyuz spacecraft are now the only vehicles on which humans can get to space.  Designed during the moon race, the Soyuz rocket has three stages, similar to the Saturn V that took Apollo astronauts into space shuttle, which could carry as many as eight -- 11 in an emergency).  The United States will pay Russia almost $56 million per seat for the reserved flights already contracted.  NASA signed a new contract on March 14 to pay the Russians $63 million per seat in 2014 and 2015.  Each shuttle launch cost $400 million.
The Future : In Development
President Obama's strategy: A new Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) that would seat four astronauts for missions lasting up to 21 days.  Designed by Lockhead Martin and based on the Orion spacecraft that was once part of President George W. Bush's Constellation Program, it would also include an improved launch abort system.  The budget includes $6 billion to fund private-sector development of spacecraft to service the space station.  NASA has also been tasked to develop a heavy-lift rocket by 2015, send a manned mission to an asteroid by 2025, and land a manned mission on Mars by the mid-2030s.
Private Sector Development
Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Dream Chaser would service the International Space Station.  Planned for 2012, it would launch on an Atlas V rocket and land like the space shuttle.
Virgin Galactic's  SpaceShipOne was the first privately funded vehicle to travel into space in 2004.  SpaceShipTwo  would carry eight people, taking off and landing like an airplane.
SpaceX, founded by PayPal's Elon Musk, launched two of its Falcon 9 rockets into orbit ---- one with its Dragon crew capsule, which can carry seven people ---- in 2010.
Bigelow Aerospace's Sundancer commercial space station, planned for 2014, would launch on a Falcon 9 rocket and carry six people.
XCOR Aerospace's Lynx rocketplane, planned for 2012, would take off and land like an airplane, carrying one pilot and one passenger or a small payload.
The Shuttles' New Homes
Atlantis  - Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Fla.
Discovery  - Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, Va.
Endeavour  - California Science Center, Los Angeles
Enterprise  - Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, New York