* 1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle ( Columbia ) takes place-the STS-1 mission.

* 1989 – Space Shuttle program: STS-28 Mission – Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.

In July 2011, after returning the piece of debris at NASA's request, the sixteen-year-old Schanze was given an all-access tour of the Kennedy Space Center as well as VIP seating for the launch of STS-135, the final mission of the Space Shuttle program.

STS-73 on Space Shuttle Columbia ( October 20 to November 5, 1995 ) was the second United States Microgravity Laboratory mission.

* 1993 – Space Shuttle program: STS-61 – NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

* The first EVA to perform an in-flight repair of the Space Shuttle was by American Steve Robinson on August 3, 2005, during " Return to Flight " mission STS-114.

* 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-107 disintegrates during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

* 1997 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

Galileo and its Inertial Upper Stage ( IUS ) booster being deployed by the Space Shuttle Atlantis | Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-34 mission in October 1989.

Named after the Renaissance astronomer Galileo Galilei, it was launched on October 18, 1989, by the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-34 mission.

However, the mission was further delayed by the hiatus in launches that occurred after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

* 1982 – Space Shuttle Columbia launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the final research and development flight mission, STS-4.

* 1985 – STS-51-G Space Shuttle Discovery completes its mission, best remembered for having Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a Payload Specialist.

* 1996 – Space Shuttle program: STS-72 launches from the Kennedy Space Center marking the start of the 74th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th flight of Endeavour.

* 2011 – Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U. S. Space Shuttle program.

* 2005 – Space Shuttle program: STS-114 Mission – Launch of Discovery, NASA's first scheduled flight mission after the Columbia Disaster in 2003.

* 2003 – The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one.

* 1986 – Space Shuttle program: Congressman Bill Nelson lifts off from Kennedy Space Center aboard Columbia on mission STS-61-C as a Mission Specialist.

* 2011 – NASA's Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135.

* 1990 – STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery.

After lobbying in the 1960s and 70s for such a system to be built, Spitzer's vision ultimately materialized into the world's first space-based optical telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched on April 20, 1990 by the Space Shuttle Discovery ( STS-31 ).

** STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery.

Finally, on April 24, 1990, on Mission STS-31, Shuttle Discovery launched the Hubble telescope successfully into its planned orbit.

STS-31 was the thirty-fifth mission of the American Space Shuttle program, which launched the Hubble Space Telescope astronomical observatory into Earth orbit.

Space Shuttle Discovery races into the sky at the start of STS-31, whilst, for the first time since 1986, a second shuttle, Columbia, waits for her chance to launch.

STS-31 was the tenth launch of the Shuttle Discovery.

* 1985 – Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for mission STS-61-A, its final successful mission.

** STS-39: Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off from Cape Canaveral to study instruments related to the Strategic Defense Initiative.

The Space Shuttle lifts off on a manned mission to space.

* The NASA STS-114 Space Shuttle lifts off at 10: 39 EDT.

* 1984 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on its maiden voyage.

* 1998 – Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space.

The High Precision Tracking Experiment ( HPTE ), launched with the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51-G, was tested June 21, 1985 when a Hawaii-based low-power laser successfully tracked the experiment and bounced the laser off of the HPTE mirror.

* August 30 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on its maiden voyage.

** STS-45: Space Shuttle Atlantis takes off from Cape Canaveral carrying instruments designed to study global warming.

** STS-28: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret 5-day military mission.

Three decades later, after serving 24 years in the United States Senate, Glenn lifted off for a second space flight on October 29, 1998, on Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-95, in order to study the effects of space flight on the elderly.

The cause of the accident was determined to be a piece of foam that broke off during launch and damaged the thermal protection system components ( reinforced carbon-carbon panels and thermal protection tiles ) on the leading edge of the left wing of the Shuttle orbiter, causing an extensive heat build-up.

In 1981, the Space Shuttle made its first orbital flight, proving that a large rocket ship can take off into space, provide a pressurised life support system for several days, reenter the atmosphere at orbital speed, precision glide to a runway and land like a plane.

Onizuka was assigned to the mission STS 51-L on the Space Shuttle Challenger that took off from Kennedy Space Center at 11: 38: 00 EST ( 16: 38: 00 UTC ) on January 28, 1986.

The mission used the Space Shuttle Discovery, which lifted off from Launch Pad 39B on 24 April 1990 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

The Space Shuttle takes off on a manned mission to space.

* April 12 – The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off.

However the focus of all space launch funding in the United States on the Shuttle killed off these prospects.

Shuttle services are also offered from many airports around the world: they take multiple independent passengers, like a bus, and usually run between two fixed areas ( typically an airport and a downtown or hotel area ), but will often pick up and drop off passengers anywhere reasonable within those areas, like a taxi.

Space Shuttle Endeavour lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 18: 40: 42 UTC on 19 April 2001.

Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off from Pad A of Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 12: 00 EST on 30 October 1985.

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Pad A of Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center at 19: 29 pm EST on 26 November 1985.