NASA

This astronaut crossed the Kármán Line (100 km), the internationally accepted boundary of space.

Crossed Kármán Line

Captain Donald E. Williams (USN, Ret.) was a NASA astronaut and Navy officer, born on February 13, 1942, in Lafayette, Indiana, and passed away on February 23, 2016. He earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and later served in the U.S. Navy, flying over 6,000 hours with 745 carrier landings and completing 330 combat missions during his service in the Vietnam War. He was selected by NASA in 1978 and became an astronaut in 1979. Williams flew on two space missions: STS-51D in 1985, where he participated in the first unscheduled EVA to fix a satellite, and STS-34 in 1989, where he helped deploy the Galileo spacecraft for its journey to Jupiter. He logged a total of 287 hours in space. After retiring from both NASA and the Navy in 1990, Williams worked with Science Applications International Corporation. He was awarded numerous honors, including the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal. Courtesy of NASA,

STS-34 (Atlantis)

Atlantis' five-person crew deployed the Galileo spacecraft toward Jupiter and performed eight scientific experiments.

The first reusable launch and landing spacecraft, the Space Shuttle began a new chapter of human space exploration. It launched like a rocket but landed on a runway like a plane. Shuttle crews deployed dozens of commercial satellites and two interplanetary probes to Venus and Jupiter. The Shuttle served as a mini space station and hosted hundreds of biomedical, psychological, physiological, materials science, and physics experiments that have directly benefited life on Earth. The five flight-worthy Shuttles -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour -- flew 135 missions over 30 years. The Shuttles helped construct the Russian Mir space station and brought nearly 80% of the International Space Station to orbit. Shuttles also deployed and serviced the Hubble Space Telescope.

Space Shuttle

STS-51-D (Discovery)

This mission deployed a Canadian communications satellite and tried to deploy a U.S. satellite, but an issue forced an unscheduled spacewalk to try to manually start the satellite's post-deployment sequence. The crew eventually had to bring the satellite back to Earth for repair. During landing Discovery blew a tire, leading NASA to suspend all Florida Space Shuttle landings until nose gear steering and improved braking could be added.

Donald E. Williams

United States of America

STS-6 (Challenger)

The first flight of the Shuttle Challenger deployed the first of NASA's TDRS orbital communications satellites.

STS-51-J (Atlantis)

The maiden flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis. This was a classified Department of Defense mission.

Karol J. Bobko

STS-41-D (Discovery)

The maiden voyage of the Space Shuttle Discovery. A June 26th launch attempt ended at T-6.4 seconds after two of the three Shuttle main engines had started to ignite. The pad abort triggered a hydrogen fire under Discovery, damaging the Space Shuttle. The abort led to major improvements in Shuttle abort safety guidelines and procedures and forced a two month delay to the flight, during which NASA cancelled STS-41-F and transferred its payload to this mission. After launch, the crew deployed three communications satellites for the U.S. (2) and Canada (1) and tested solar array technology. The flight marked the first time a company commercially sponsored an employee to fly on the Space Shuttle to perform one of its experiments.

STS-61-B (Atlantis)

Mexico

This mission deployed three satellites for Australia, Mexico, and the U.S., and took the first Mexican citizen to space. Two spacewalks proved assembling large, pre-formed structures in space was possible, though their shape was crucial -- a key to the eventual construction of the International Space Station. At launch, this became the fastest turnaround between flights of any rocket or spacecraft to date; Atlantis launched for a second time just 54 days after her first mission.

Charles D. Walker

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

STS-58 (Columbia)

During this 14-day flight, Columbia's crew performed numerous experiments to study how the human body adapts to microgravity.

STS-40 (Columbia)

This mission was the fifth flight of Spacelab and the first one dedicated specifically to biological research. It marked the first time three women flew together on a single mission.

Margaret R. Seddon

S. David Griggs

STS-61 (Endeavour)

The mission to rescue Hubble. On this flight, Endeavour's seven-person crew saved Hubble by outfitting it with "glasses" to correct the telescope's blurry vision. The crew also significantly upgraded Hubble's instruments and solar arrays. The mission was a success has allowed Hubble to continue its career as a space telescope to this day.

STS-35 (Columbia)

This astronomical mission flew a suite of telescopes as part of the Spacelab observatory mission ASTRO-1.

STS-46 (Atlantis)

This mission deployed ESA's European Retrievable Carrier satellite, was the first to test the joint NASA/Italian Space Agency Tethered Satellite System, and marked the 150th human spaceflight to reach orbit.

STS-75 (Columbia)

This joint NASA-ESA mission saw the crew continue testing the Italian Tethered Satellite System and perform a variety of materials science and physics experiments.

Jeffrey A. Hoffman

This astronaut was the first Sitting congressman in space.

First Sitting Congressman in Space

Jake Garn

STS-51-G (Discovery)

Discovery's crew deployed three satellites for Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and the U.S. They also released the Spartan 1 free-flying science platform for a few days of independent flight before re-capturing it and bringing it back to Earth. The mission marked the first time an Arab, Muslim, and member of a royal family flew to space.

STS-43 (Atlantis)

This mission launched the fifth TDRS satellite for NASA, conducted radiator testing for use on a future space station, and performed numerous biological experiments.

STS-76 (Atlantis)

The third Space Shuttle docking to the Russian space station Mir delivered Mir's first woman resident, NASA astronaut Shannon Lucid.

Shannon W. Lucid

This astronaut visited the International Space Station.

ISS Visitor

This astronaut is in the top 5% for number of missions.

Frequent Flyer

STS-61-C (Columbia)

Space Shuttle Columbia returned to service after a major overhaul and upgrade with this mission. The crew included U.S. Congressman Bill Nelson of Florida. The flight deployed Satcom K1, which would prove to be the last commercial communications satellite launched by the Shuttle. It was the last successful human spaceflight before the Challenger Disaster. This mission was retroactively called "The End of Innocence" by its Commander.

STS-91 (Discovery)

This was the ninth and final Space Shuttle docking to Space Station Mir and Discovery's only trip to the Russian space station. Discovery's crew tested new robotic arm software and the Orbiter Space Vision System that would be needed during construction of the International Space Station. This flight returned the final long duration NASA astronaut from Mir.

STS-111 (Endeavour)

This Space Shuttle flight rotated the Expedition 4 and 5 International Space Station crews and delivered Canadarm2's Mobile Base System, which gave the arm extra reach and mobility.

STS-60 (Discovery)

This was the first flight of the Shuttle-Mir program, the first time a Russian launched on an American rocket, and the first time a U.S. crew communicated with a Russian crew on the Mir space station. The mission also performed several immune system and crystal growth experiments.

Franklin R. Chang-Díaz

Michael J. McCulley

STS-50 (Columbia)

The U.S. Microgravity Laboratory 1 mission tested and proved materials, fluid physics, and biotechnology science operations for what would become the International Space Station.

STS-71 (Atlantis)

In a historic step toward the International Space Station, Atlantis performed the first docking of a U.S. Space Shuttle to the Russian space station Mir. A U.S. astronaut permanently joined Mir's crew.

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