NASA

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

Crossed Kármán Line

This astronaut visited the International Space Station.

ISS Visitor

John Glenn was a pioneering American astronaut and four-term U.S. senator from Ohio, best known as one of NASA’s original Mercury Seven astronauts and the first American to orbit Earth on February 20, 1962, aboard Friendship 7, a milestone that strengthened the United States’ position in the space race. Born in Cambridge, Ohio, in 1921, he served as a Marine Corps pilot in World War II and Korea, flew nearly 9,000 hours, set a transcontinental speed record in 1957, and later contributed to early spacecraft design. After resigning from NASA in 1964 and retiring from the military, he entered politics, winning a Senate seat in 1974 and serving four consecutive terms, where he focused on science, national security, and government accountability. In 1998, at age 77, he returned to space aboard Discovery’s STS-95 mission, becoming the oldest person to fly in space while participating in research on aging. Glenn, remembered as humble and dedicated to public service, died on December 8, 2016. Courtesy of NASA.

STS-95 (Discovery)

NASA’s STS-95 mission launched aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on October 29th, 1998, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew included Commander Curtis L. Brown Jr., Pilot Steven W. Lindsey, Mission Specialists Scott E. Parazynski, Stephen K. Robinson, and Pedro Duque, Payload Specialist Chiaki Mukai, and Payload Specialist John H. Glenn Jr., a U.S. senator and former Mercury astronaut returning to space. STS-95’s main objectives included scientific experiments on aging, life sciences, and materials science, while deploying and operating the Spartan solar-observing satellite. Notably, the mission studied the effects of space on the aging process, with John Glenn serving as the key participant. Discovery successfully landed back at Kennedy Space Center on November 7th, 1998, completing the mission.

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

Mercury-Atlas 6 (Friendship 7)

The first U.S. orbital human spaceflight saw John Glenn, Jr. orbit the Earth three times before successfully reentering and splashing down in the North Atlantic Ocean. Glenn flew half the mission manually and most of the reentry manually because of a thruster issue.

The Mercury capsule was the United States' first human spacecraft. Built without onboard computers, all flight calculations had to be determined on the ground and radioed up to each crew member. The spacecraft performed two suborbital and four orbital human missions and proved that people could live in space for multiple days.

Mercury

John Glenn

United States of America

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

Frequent Flyer

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

STS-47 (Endeavour)

STS-47 was the 50th flight of the Space Shuttle and was co-sponsored by NASA and Japan. The crew performed 44 life and materials science experiments. The flight marked the first (and to date, only) time a married couple has flown in space together.

STS-85 (Discovery)

This Discovery science mission deployed and re-captured an Earth atmospheric observation satellite and tested potential International Space Station hardware and robotics.

STS-66 (Atlantis)

This was the third Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Sciences mission.

STS-103 (Discovery)

The third servicing and upgrade mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

STS-77 (Endeavour)

This multinational Space Shuttle mission saw Endeavour fly with a mix of NASA- and commercially-developed and procured payloads to test advanced biotechnology, electronics, and agriculture space products for the commercial market.

Curtis L. Brown Jr.

NASDA

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

This astronaut is the first woman from Japan to go to space.

First Woman from Japan

STS-65 (Columbia)

This International Microgravity Laboratory-2 mission featured collaboration between NASA, ESA, Canada, France, Germany, and Japan on a multitude of microgravity and life sciences experiments.

Chiaki Mukai

Japan

This astronaut is in the top 5% for total spacewalking time.

Elite Spacewalker

STS-86 (Atlantis)

The seventh Shuttle-Mir docking delivered a new NASA crewmember to the Russia station. This was Shuttle Atlantis' seventh and final back-to-back mission to Mir.

STS-100 (Endeavour)

Endeavour delivered Canadarm2, the ISS's robotic arm, to the International Space Station.

STS-120 (Discovery)

Discovery's crew delivered the Harmony connection module to the International Space Station where the European and Japanese modules would later be attached, relocated the P6 solar array and battery truss, performed emergency solar array surgery (with charged current still flowing through the arrays), and rotated a U.S. ISS crewmember. Coincidentally, this mission became the first time two spacecraft (Space Shuttle and ISS) were simultaneously commanded by women, with Pam Melroy commanding Shuttle Discovery and Peggy Whitson commanding the ISS. This flight marked the third and last time a Space Shuttle mission was commanded by a woman.

Scott E. Parazynski

STS-114 (Discovery)

Australia

STS-114 was the first of two Return to Flight missions following the STS-107 Columbia disaster and the second time Space Shuttle Discovery was used for a Return to Flight mission, the first being STS-26 after the Challenger accident. Coincidentally, STS-114 launched at the exact same local time, 10:39:00 a.m. Eastern, as Columbia had on STS-107. It was also the second Shuttle flight commanded by a woman, Eileen Collins, who had previously commanded STS-93. During the mission, Discovery’s crew resupplied the International Space Station, tested new safety upgrades and procedures, and conducted the first ever in space repair of a Shuttle's heat shield. However, a large foam shedding event during launch showed that NASA had not fully resolved the issue that led to Columbia’s loss. As a result, the Shuttle fleet was grounded again. Further delays followed after Hurricane Katrina damaged NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where External Tanks were built, resulting in a yearlong pause in Shuttle flights until STS-121 in July 2006.

STS-130 (Endeavour)

Endeavour's crew delivered the final NASA connecting module, Tranquility, and a 360 degree viewing port called the Cupola to the International Space Station and also relocated an ISS docking port.

Stephen K. Robinson

STS-87 (Columbia)

This science mission saw the first spacewalk performed by a Japanese astronaut and continued spacewalk testing of construction and maintenance procedures for the upcoming International Space Station.

STS-104 (Atlantis)

Atlantis' crew delivered the Quest Joint Airlock to the International Space Station.

STS-121 (Discovery)

The second Return To Flight Space Shuttle mission after Columbia demonstrated all safety enhancements, this flight resupplied and prepared the International Space Station for the restart of construction and increased the Station's crew size back to three people. This mission was the third Return To Flight mission overall for the Shuttle Program, and all three were flown by Discovery.

STS-133 (Discovery)

The 39th and final flight of Space Shuttle Discovery. The six-person (human) crew delivered to the International Space Station: NASA's final module, Leonardo; 3,735 kg of external equipment and spares; and the humanoid robotic ISScrewmember, Rorbonaut2. Discovery also performed the final hardware and software test of SpaceX's DragonEye sensors for the cargo Dragon resupply capsule. Upon landing, Discovery became the first Space Shuttle to retire from service, having traveled 238,539,663 km over a total of 365 days (one full year) in space. She carried 252 total crewmembers over a 27-year career, making Discovery the current spacecraft to have carried the most people to space.

Steven W. Lindsey

European Space Agency (ESA)

This astronaut is the first man from Spain to go to space.

First Man from Spain

Soyuz TMA-3

Soyuz TMA-3 ferried the two-person Expedition 8 crew to and from the International Space Station. ESA astronaut Duque joined for a short duration mission, returning to Earth on Soyuz TMA-2.

Soyuz is a human-carrying capsule built and operated by Russia, capable of transporting up to three people to the Space Station at a time. It has been upgraded numerous times since its first use in the 1960s for the Soviet lunar program and was the only crewed vehicle for the Station from 2011 to 2020.

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