Important dates in the shuttle program

By ryanslions

  • 1st mission

    Colombia, the first shuttle, goes on its maiden voyage

  • Challenger's 1st mission

    Challenger, the second shuttle, goes on its maiden voyage

  • First Female American Astronaut

    Sally Ride is the first female astronaut, on Challenger

  • First African-American Astronaut

    Guion S. Bluford is the first African-American astronaut, on Challenger

  • Discovery's 1st mission

    Discovery goes on its maiden voyage

  • Atlantis's 1st mission

    Atlantis goes on its maiden voyage

  • Challenger explodes

    Challenger explodes, killing the seven astronauts inside

  • First flight after the Challenger disaster

    The first shuttle mission after Challenger explodes

  • First probe launched from shuttle

    Venus probe launched from Atlantis, the first from a shuttle

  • Launch of Galileo

    Atlantis launches Galileo spaecraft

  • Launch of the Hubble Space Telescope

    Discovery launches the Hubble Space Telescope

  • Endeavor's 1st mission

    Endeavor goes on its maiden voyage

  • First Russian astronaut, first woman pilot for Americans

    Sergei Krikalev is the first Russion astronaut on a US shuttle. Eileen Collins is the first American woman pilot, on Discovery

  • John Glenn goes back to space

    John Glenn, first American to orbit the Earth, goes back into space on Discvery

  • First Amerian mission commanded by a woman

    Eileen Collins, first woman pilot for the shuttle missions, commands a mission

  • Colombia breaks

    Colombia breaks, killing the seven astronauts inside

  • Firt flight since Colombia disaster, shuttles are grounded indefinitely

    Eileen Collins commands Discovery on the first flight since the Colombia disaster. However, something like what destroyed Colombia occurs. NASA grounds the shuttles for an indefinite amount of time

  • Discovery ends the shuttles' grounded period

    Discovery goes on the second mission since Colombia broke, ending the grounding period for the shuttles

  • First teacher in space

    Barbara Morgan becomes the first teacher in space

  • Discovery's final mission

    Discovery goes on its final mission

  • End of the program

    When Atlantis touched down at Kennedy Space Center, the shuttle program is officially over