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On April 12, 1981, space shuttle Columbia STS-1 lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with astronauts John W. Young STS-1 commander, and Robert L. Crippen pilot, marking the first flight of the space shuttle program. The orbiter successfully returned to Earth on April 14, 1981. (https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2488.html)
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Challenger was first launched on April 4, 1983. It spent 62 days in space. It completed 10 missions. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger)
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Astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson float in the cargo bay of the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Challenger during their April 7, 1983, spacewalk on the STS-6 mission. Their "floating" is restricted via tethers to safety slide wires. Thanks to the tether and slide wire combination, Peterson is able to translate, or move, along the port side hand rails.(https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1850.html)
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Sally Ride was the first American woman to fly in space
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On January 28, 1986, the NASA shuttle orbiter mission STS-51-L and the tenth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-99) broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members, which consisted of five NASA astronauts and two payload specialists. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster)
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Sergei Krikalev became the first Russian cosmonaut to fly on the U.S. Space Shuttle when he launched with his five NASA crewmates onboard Discovery. (https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4225/sts60/sts-60.htm)
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In 1990, Eileen Collins was only the second woman to graduate as a test pilot and be selected as a NASA astronaut. She became the first woman to pilot a space shuttle mission during the Discovery's rendezvous with the Mir space station in 1995. (https://www.biography.com/people/eileen-collins-9542232)
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When the space shuttle Columbia blasted off on July 23, 1999, pilot Eileen Collins became NASA's first female shuttle commander. (https://www.biography.com/people/eileen-collins-9542232)
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On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentering Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew members. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster)
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2271525/It-better-die-unexpectedly-Columbia-Shuttle-Crew-Not-Told-Possible-Problem-With-Reentry.html) -
Atlantis rocketed into space on July 8, 2011 at the speed of 17500 mph. The space shuttle launch marked the last in NASA's history, closing out a government-funded space program that lasted 30 years. (https://www.wired.com/2011/07/final-space-shuttle-launch/)
