NASA

This astronaut gave their life in the pursuit of space exploration.

Memorial

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

Crossed Kármán Line

Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978, Dr. McNair completed a one-year training and evaluation period in August 1979, qualifying him for assignment as a mission specialist astronaut on Space Shuttle flight crews. He first flew as a mission specialist on STS-41-B, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 3, 1984. The crew included spacecraft commander Mr. Vance Brand, pilot Commander Robert L. Gibson, and fellow mission specialists Captain Bruce McCandless II and Lt. Col. Robert L. Stewart. The flight achieved the successful deployment of two Hughes 376 communications satellites and included flight testing of rendezvous sensors and computer programs. This mission marked the first flight of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) and the first use of the Canadian robotic arm, operated by Dr. McNair, to position EVA crew members around 

’s payload bay. The mission also included the German SPAS-01 satellite, acoustic levitation and chemical separation experiments, Cinema 360 motion picture filming, five Getaway Specials, and numerous mid-deck experiments, all of which Dr. McNair assumed primary responsibility. 

 concluded the mission with the first-ever landing on the runway at Kennedy Space Center on February 11, 1984. With the completion of this flight, Dr. McNair logged a total of 191 hours in space. Dr. McNair was later assigned as a mission specialist on STS-51-L. Tragically, Dr. McNair lost his life on January 28, 1986, when the Space Shuttle 

 exploded shortly after launch from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The disaster also claimed the lives of spacecraft commander Mr. F.R. Scobee, pilot Commander M.J. Smith (U.S. Navy), mission specialists Lt. Col. E.S. Onizuka (U.S. Air Force) and Dr. J.A. Resnik, and civilian payload specialists Mr. G.B. Jarvis and Mrs. S.C. McAuliffe. Courtesy of NASA.

STS-51-L (Challenger)

The 25th flight of the Space Shuttle launched to deploy the second TDRS satellite for NASA, conduct "Teacher In Space" lessons, observe Halley's Comet, and carry out biomedical experiments. This was the 10th and final flight of Space Shuttle Challenger and marked the last time civilians (who were not members of the Astronaut Corps) flew on a NASA rocket. Launched in near-freezing conditions after a devastating temperature drop overnight, both O-ring seals between the two Solid Rocket Booster segments failed at the instant of launch. A temporary seal was formed by O-ring debris but was knocked loose when Challenger encountered upper level wind shear greater than she should have been launch into. The broken seal allowed hot gasses to escape the rocket booster and destroy the base of the External Tank. Challenger was ripped apart by aerodynamic forces 73 seconds after launch as the External Tank failed. Contrary to public memory, Challenger did not explode. All seven crewmembers lost their lives in what is still considered the worst spaceflight accident in history. It is the only fatal space accident that was broadcast live on TV. Over her short, three year career, Challenger spent a total of 62 days in space, travelled 41,527,414 km, and carried 60 cremembers.

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-41-B (Challenger)

During this flight, Challenger deployed two communications satellites for Western Union and Indonesia, and McCandless became the first person to perform a free-flying, untethered spacewalk. Challenger conducted the first Space Shuttle landing at the Kennedy Space Center and was the first Shuttle flight to use the new numbering scheme. Since the Shuttle was supposed to launch from both Florida and California, NASA switched to STS-41-B numbering scheme where the first number after "STS-" was the fiscal year of the program the mission was to fly in; the second number was either a "1" for Kennedy or a "2" for Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; and the "-letter" was the order the missions for a particular fiscal year and launch site were originally planned in. Thus, STS-41-B was the second planned launch from the Kennedy Space Center in the fourth year of the program.

Ronald E. McNair

United States of America

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

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-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-27 (Atlantis)

This Atlantis mission almost didn't make it back to Earth. During launch, debris from the Solid Rocket Booster critically damaged 700 of Atlantis' heat shield tiles, nearly leading to a burn-up and the loss of Atlantis and her seven-member crew during reentry and landing. The classified nature of the mission prevented NASA from doing extensive damage assessment during orbit.

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.

Robert L. Gibson

STS-31 (Discovery)

On this mission NASA launched a window to our past: the Hubble Space Telescope. Discovery's crew deployed the immense telescope on April 25th, 1990.

Bruce McCandless II

STS-51-J (Atlantis)

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

Robert L. Stewart

STS-41-C (Challenger)

The mission deployed the Long Duration Exposure Facility (carrying 57 science experiments) and then rendezvoused with, captured, repaired, and re-released the Solar Max satellite, marking the first-ever in-space repair of an already-launched satellite.

Francis R. "Dick" Scobee

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.

Judith A. Resnik

STS-51-C (Discovery)

The first classified Department of Defense Space Shuttle mission. Discovery was launched at or near the minimum air temperature the Solid Rocket Boosters were certified for at the time. After launch, it was discovered that a significant anomaly with all the O-ring seals on both Solid Rocket Boosters had occurred. All O-rings were found to be burned. In one place, the hot gasses from the rocket boosters had burned completely through the primary O-ring and nearly burned through the secondary seal -- which would have caused a Challenger-like failure. Morton Thiokol (who built the solid rockets) and NASA upper management both dismissed concerns raised by this finding. The Space Shuttle kept flying.

Ellison S. Onizuka

Michael J. Smith

Gregory B. Jarvis

S. Christa McAuliffe

Apollo-Soyuz (Apollo-Soyuz Test Project)

The historic meeting of the U.S. and Soviet Union in space -- a major symbol of détente in the Cold War. The final flight of the Apollo Program signaled the first part of a still-active cooperation and collaboration between the two world powers in space. The Apollo element of the mission launched second and carried the majority of the docking equipment. The joint mission included the world-famous American-Soviet handshake in space. The two countries would now solely focus on developing new scientific research capabilities in space while learning how to regularly travel to, live, and work in microgravity. Twenty-years later, the U.S. and post-Soviet Russia would come together once more to form the backbone of the International Space Station. This was the final U.S. human spaceflight for nearly six years until the Space Shuttle began flying.

The main Apollo spacecraft was a Command and Service Module designed to take three astronauts to and from the Moon’s orbit and provide access to the lunar lander during missions. After the Moon program ended, Apollo spacecraft flew three crews to the Skylab space station and performed the historic joint U.S.-Soviet mission in 1975.

Apollo

STS-5 (Columbia)

This was the first operational flight of the Space Shuttle. The mission deployed two commercial communications satellites -- the first time a human mission did so -- for the U.S. and Canada.

STS-35 (Columbia)

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

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