Astronaut Bruce McCandless II using a Manned Maneuvering Unit outside the United States Space Shuttle Space Shuttle Challenger | Challenger in 1984.

* 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.

* 1977 – The first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.

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

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.

* Space Shuttle Avionics

Space Shuttle Atlantis | Space Shuttle Atlantis on a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

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

Shuttle mission STS-31 lifts off, carrying Hubble Space Telescope | Hubble into orbit.

Image: Pegasus_barge_being_moved_by_Freedom_Star_and_towboat_American_2. jpg | Barge carrying the Space Shuttle external tank for STS-119 under tow to Port Canaveral, Florida, United States

STS-51-F ( also known as Spacelab 2 ) was the nineteenth flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the eighth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger.

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

View of salt evaporation pans on the Dead Sea, taken in 1989 from the Space Shuttle Columbia ( STS-28 ).

It is now home to the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, a research institute jointly operated by Columbia and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration dedicated to atmospheric and climate science.

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

Early plans saw it being launched by Space Shuttle Columbia on what was then codenamed STS-23 in January 1982, but delays in the development of the Space Shuttle allowed more time for development of the probe.

The crew of the Apollo 13 mission survived despite an explosion caused by a faulty oxygen tank ( 1970 ); the crews of Soyuz 11 ( 1971 ), the Space Shuttles Challenger ( 1986 ) and Columbia ( 2003 ) were killed by malfunctions of their vessels ' components.

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

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

During ascent, the external tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery sheds a piece of foam slightly smaller than the piece that caused the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster ; this foam does not strike the spacecraft.

* 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.

On August 1, 1981, at 12: 01 a. m., MTV launched with the words " Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll ," spoken by John Lack, and played over footage of the first Space Shuttle launch countdown of Columbia, which took place earlier that year, and of the launch of Apollo 11.

* 1979 – The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch.

* 1982 – Space Shuttle program: STS-3 Mission is completed with the landing of Columbia at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

* 1982 – NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center on its third mission, STS-3.

* 1981 – Space Shuttle program: mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marks the first time a manned spacecraft is launched into space twice.

Iron Maiden responded to this on a b-side cover of the Montrose song titled " Space Station No. 5 ".

According to Engle, Deke Slayton asked him whether he would prefer to fly on Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz, or the Space Shuttle ; Engle responded that he would prefer the Shuttle as it was an airplane.

Spencer Jones's successor as Astronomer Royal was Richard Woolley, who on taking up the position in 1956 responded to a question from the press by saying " Space travel is utter bilge ".

He made his first solo performances at the Space Theatre in Cape Town where his unique African style was reviewed favorably by press and promoters.

Applications range from structural elements such as steel-reinforced concrete, to the thermally insulative tiles which play a key and integral role in NASA's Space Shuttle thermal protection system which is used to protect the surface of the shuttle from the heat of re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

Originally " drop-in " replacements were considered for higher performance, but a larger replacement for the S-IVB stage was later studied for missions to Mars and other high-load profiles, known as the S-N. Nuclear thermal space " tugs " were planned as part of the Space Transportation System to take payloads from a propellant depot in Low Earth Orbit to higher orbits, the Moon, and other planets.

Marshall Space Flight Center had been increasingly using KIWI for mission planning, and NERVA was formed to formalize the entry of nuclear thermal rocket engines into space exploration.

Other hardware components were supplied as follows: the beam-combining mirror from REOSC at Saint Pierre du Perray ; the spherical, folding and relay mirrors from Carl Zeiss AG in Oberkochen ; the external straylight baffles from CASA in Madrid ; the modulating grid from CSEM in Neuchatel ; the mechanism control system and the thermal control electronics from Dornier Satellite Systems in Friedrichshafen ; optical filters, the experiment structures and the attitude and orbit control system from Matra Marconi Space in Velizy ; instrument switching mechanisms from Oerlikon-Contraves in Zurich ; the image dissector tube and photomultiplier detectors assembled by the Dutch Space Research Organisation, SRON in The Netherlands ; the refocusing assembly mechanism designed by TNO-TPD in Delft ; the electrical power subsystem from British Aerospace in Bristol ; the structure and reaction control system from Daimler-Benz Aerospace in Bremen ; the solar arrays and thermal control system from Fokker Space System in Leiden ; the data handling and telecommunications system from Saab Ericsson Space in Gothenburg ; and the apogee boost motor from SEP in France.

Like the Harmony and Tranquility modules, the Columbus laboratory was constructed in Turin, Italy by Rome based Alcatel Alenia Space with respect to structures and thermal control.

The Columbus flight structure, the micro-meteorite protection system, the active and passive thermal control, the environmental control, the harness and all the related ground support equipment were designed and qualified by Alcatel Alenia Space in Turin, Italy as defined by the PICA-Principle ( for definition see History below ); the related hardware was pre-integrated and sent as PICA in September 2001 to Bremen.

As compromise the PICA ( Pre Integrated Columbus APM )-Principle was invented meaning a split responsibility where Alenia as a co-prime is responsible for the overall Columbus configuration, the mechanical and thermal / life support systems, HFE and harness design / manufacturing whereas EADS Astrium Space Transportation is responsible for the overall Columbus design and all Avionics systems including electrical harness design and software.

Another Canadian technology of note is the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, which is an extension of the Canadarm used to inspect the Space Shuttle's thermal Protection System for damage while in orbit.

* Thermal protection system or the Space Shuttle thermal protection system, the barrier that protects a spacecraft from the heat of atmospheric reentry

The Space Shuttle thermal protection system, for example, protects the orbiter from surface temperatures that could otherwise reach as high as, well above the melting point of steel.

The Space Station Heat Pipe Advanced Radiator Element II ( SHARE-II ) experiment tested a natural cooling process for transferring thermal energy that could serve as a cooling system for Space Station Freedom.

Launched from the Kennedy Space Center, FL., the mission exposed the orbiter Columbia to extremes in thermal stress and tested the Remote Manipulator System used to grapple and maneuver payloads to orbit.

Space telescopes are used at certain wavelengths where the atmosphere is opaque, or to eliminate noise ( thermal radiation from the atmosphere ).

The crew also will deploy and retrieve the Spartan 201 astronomy satellite, perform a six-hour spacewalk to test assembly techniques for the international Space Station and test thermal improvements made to spacesuits used during space walks.

VentureStar would have used a new metallic thermal protection system, safer and cheaper to maintain than the ceramic one used on the Space Shuttle.

Her responsibilities there included developing equipment and processes for the manufacture of the Space Shuttle thermal protection system in Palmdale, California.