'Why I Wasn't Devastated': Remembering the Final Shuttle-Mir Mission, 20 Years On

By Ben Evans, on June 10th, 2018

STS-91 marked the ninth and final docking mission between the shuttle and Russia’s Mir space station. Photo Credit: NASA

Twenty years ago, this week, shuttle Discovery pulled away from Russia’s Mir space station for the final time, closing out a group of impressive rendezvous and docking missions which had cemented a new partnership […]

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Doorway to the Future: 15 Years Since STS-104 (Part 2)

By Ben Evans, on July 10th, 2016

Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly departs the Quest airlock on 28 October 2015 to begin an EVA with crewmate Kjell Lindgren. Photo Credit: NASA

Fifteen years ago, this week, the crew of STS-104—Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Charlie Hobaugh, and Mission Specialists Mike Gernhardt, Janet Kavandi, and Jim Reilly—rocketed into the pre-dawn darkness to […]

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Doorway to the Future: 15 Years Since STS-104 (Part 1)

By Ben Evans, on July 9th, 2016

The Quest airlock, showing its wide equipment lock and its narrow crew lock, is maneuvered into position during STS-104. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de

On 116 occasions in the past 15 years, white-suited spacewalkers from the United States, France, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Japan, Italy, and the United Kingdom have departed a […]

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Mapping Planet Earth: 15 Years Since STS-99 (Part 2)

By Ben Evans, on February 15th, 2015

The Outboard Antenna of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) extends 200 feet (60 meters) into space atop a mast extended from Endeavour’s payload bay. Photo Credit: NASA

Fifteen years ago, this week, the six-member crew of STS-99—Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Dom Gorie, and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi, Janice Voss, Germany’s Gerhard Thiele, […]

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Mapping Planet Earth: 15 Years Since STS-99 (Part 1)

By Ben Evans, on February 14th, 2015

Computer-generated image of Endeavour performing radar observations with instruments in her payload bay and affixed to the deployable Outboard Antenna on STS-99. Image Credit: NASA

At the dawn of the year 2000, more precise radar maps existed of Venus—thanks to NASA’s Magellan imaging spacecraft—than of our own Home Planet. Although areas of Earth […]

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NASA Announces Eight New Astronaut Candidates

By Emily Carney, on June 18th, 2013

NASA’s 2013 Astronaut Candidate Class. Top left to right: Josh A. Cassada, Ph. D.; Victor J. Glover, Lt. Commander, U.S. Navy; Tyler N. Hague (Nick), Lt. Colonel, U.S. Air Force; Christina M. Hammock, NOAA Station Chief. Bottom left to right: Nicole Aunapu Mann, Major, U.S. Marine Corps; Anne C. McClain, Major, U.S. Army; […]

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