NASA

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

Crossed Kármán Line

Sherwood Clark “Woody” Spring was born on September 3rd, 1944, in Hartford, Connecticut. He earned a Bachelor of Science in General Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1967 and a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Arizona in 1974, also completing U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1976. Selected by NASA in May 1980 as part of Astronaut Group 9, Spring flew one space mission—STS‑61‑B aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis—from November 26 to December 3, 1985, during which he deployed three communications satellites and conducted two spacewalks totaling more than 12 hours. He logged a total of 165 hours in space and served as mission specialist and EVA expert before retiring from NASA in August 1988 and the U.S. Army in July 1994.

STS-61-B (Atlantis)

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.

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

Sherwood C. Spring

United States of America

STS-61-B EVA 2

STS-61-B EVA 1

Mexico

STS-28 (Columbia)

European Space Agency (ESA)

STS-9 (Columbia)

Germany

A dedicated science flight co-sponsored by NASA and ESA, STS-9 marked the first time an ESA/West German astronaut reached space and the first time a non-American launched on a U.S. mission.

Brewster H. Shaw Jr.

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-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.

Charles D. Walker

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.

Bryan D. O'Connor

This astronaut visited the International Space Station.

ISS Visitor

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

Elite Spacewalker

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

Frequent Flyer

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

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

Frequent Walker

STS-55 (Columbia)

The second German-sponsored Space Shuttle flight saw 88 experiments from 11 nations taken to orbit.  A March launch attempt ended at T-3 seconds with an on-pad abort and emergency shutdown of Columbia's engines after a failure was detected.

STS-88 (Endeavour)

The first International Space Station construction mission. Endeavour launched the Unity module for the U.S. and met up with the first Russian station module, Zarya ("sunrise"), linking the two modules together in an historic partnership.

STS-110 (Atlantis)

Atlantis delivered the S0 truss to the International Space Station, the backbone of the international outpost. Jerry Ross became the first person to launch to space seven times.

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-37 (Atlantis)

Atlantis' crew deployed the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory after an unplanned spacewalk to unstick the Observatory's communications antennas. The crew also practiced moving equipment and people around a future space station using a small mock-up in the Shuttle's payload bay.

STS-74 (Atlantis)

The second Shuttle-Mir docking saw Atlantis deliver a pair of solar arrays and the Russian-built Mir Docking Module to the station.

Jerry L. Ross

STS-30 (Atlantis)

Atlantis' five-person crew deployed the Magellan spacecraft to study Venus. This was the first human mission to deploy a spacecraft to another planet.

Mary L. Cleave

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

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