Space shuttle program
Definition Program using reusable manned
spacecraft
After the tragic loss of the space shuttleChallengerin
1986, the 1990’s saw a record sixty-four space shuttle
flights.
The decade featured numerous shuttle flights by
Atlantis,Columbia,Discover y, and theChallengerre-
placementEndeavour. The majority of the space shut-
tle missions were dedicated to science, with only a
few flown for the U.S. Department of Defense. From
its conception, the space shuttle was designed to
push the limits of aviation and space technology.
Many of the new inventions created for the space
shuttle eventually made their way into the hands of
the general public. The medical industry in particu-
lar benefited from the innovative instrumentation
used to monitor the physical condition of the astro-
nauts in space. Another of the original goals of the
space shuttle program was to make spaceflight
cost-effective through reuseable spacecraft and
booster rockets. Unfortunately, this was not ac-
complished, even with the relatively short turn-
around time between launches.
The 1990’s also saw several firsts in space. In
1992, Mae Jemison became the first African
American woman in space. In 1996, Shannon
Lucid set a U.S. single-mission endurance rec-
ord of 188 days in space. John Glenn, one of the
original 1960’s Mercury program astronauts,
made a historic shuttle flight in 1998, becoming
the oldest person to go into space at age seventy-
seven. Several other countries sent their repre-
sentatives to participate in Russian Soyuz or U.S.
space shuttle missions.
Science One of the primary goals of the space
shuttle program was to launch and support vari-
ous astronomical missions such as Galileo to Ju-
piter and Ulysses to study the Sun. Four missions
were dedicated to the Hubble Space Telescope
(HST): The 1990 STS-31 (Discover y) placed it
into orbit, followed by the repair and service
missions of STS-61 in 1993 (Endeavour), STS-82
in 1997, and STS-103 in 1999 (bothDiscover y).
Although a faulty optical system got the Earth-
orbiting observatory off to a bad start, an inge-
nious repair corrected a defective mirror. It took
highly skilled astronauts to install the corrective
component. The HST finally gave astronomers their
first unimpeded look at the universe from beyond
Earth’s atmosphere.
Other astronomy-related satellites carried into
orbit in the 1990’s included the Astro-1 Spacelab,
the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, and the
Chandra X-Ray Observatory. In addition, a wide
range of science would be conducted from orbit
either from the shuttle or by satellites placed in
orbit. Several missions were dedicated to studying
the effects of microgravity on both biological and
inorganic materials for possible industrial and bio-
logical applications. Life science and medical ex-
periments were always an important part of every
shuttle flight.International Cooperation The United States and
the Soviet Union had realized the need for coopera-
tion in emergency situations with the near tragic
1970 flight of Apollo 13. The Soviets had offeredThe Nineties in America Space shuttle program 795
Orbiting over Lake Baikal in Russia, the space shuttleAtlantisand
Mir space station dock on June 29, 1995.(NASA)