We've got a full orbiter for this flight! Seven crew members, two commsats, a bunch of toys, and plenty of duct tape and cardboard.
We're back to our usual schedule! And what better way to return from an unexpected break than a mission about which we know almost nothing? This week, STS-51C: the shuttle's first classified mission.
No new episode this week because I got appendicitis and need to recover from my appendectomy. Sorry! New episode in two weeks.
STS-41B left some unfinished business in low earth orbit in the form of a couple of stranded communications satellites. On STS-51A, we're gonna go get 'em.
Challenger's back on the launch pad with the biggest crew we've seen yet, but something seems to be wrong with the Ku-band antenna. I hope you're ready for some orbiter attitude gymnastics!
Space Shuttle Discovery joins the cast, and makes a dramatic entrance.
The Solar Maximum Mission is in trouble, and only the crew of STS-41C can save it. Join us for the shuttle's first on-orbit repair of an uncrewed satellite!
STS-41B (wait, what happened to STS-10?) runs into a few bumps in the road, but clears the road for the next mission and comes home with some pretty spiffy photos.
John Young flies for one last time, carrying a payload bay full of science. Wait, does someone hear a sizzling sound coming from the engine compartment?
Challenger hauls the mail on STS-8, before using a giant dumbbell to flex its remote manipulator system muscles.
Sally Ride becomes America's first female astronaut to fly in space, and teaches Challenger how to say 7 for the camera.
Challenger flies for the first time and the TDRSS constellation gets started.
With five days, four crew members, three.. uhh.. engines, two satellites, and one planned EVA, STS-5 is going to be a busy flight!
Ken Mattingly and Hank Hartsfield were apparently born in a barn, because they can't get the door closed!
Jack Lousma and Gordon Fullerton fly Columbia on its third mission, carrying a whole bunch of shuttle-inspecting experiments with them.
Joe Engle and Dick Truly are ready to take Columbia for a ride and usher in the era of reusable spacecraft.
John Young and Bob Crippen strap in and fly Columbia on its first mission. But how will mission control deal with missing tiles on the heat shield?
This week we discuss three of the biggest challenges to getting the space shuttle off the ground: the engines, the computers, and the tiles. Oh, and we meet 54 new friends.
The Space Shuttle would be NASA's first spacecraft to land on a runway. So it's probably a good idea to make sure it's up to the task.
With our tour of the External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters complete, it's time to take a look at what they're getting into orbit: the Space Shuttle Orbiter.
Now that the Space Shuttle has been approved, it's time to figure out what the vehicle will actually look like. With that in mind, we take a close look at the two major support players of the STS: the External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters.
As Apollo hit its stride, NASA was trying to figure out what it was going to do next. The answer requires a significant amount of historical context, so let's see if we can provide it as we try to answer the question: where did the Space Shuttle come from?
Tom Stafford, Vance Brand, and Deke Slayton (yes, Deke Slayton) take the last Apollo CSM up to meet with some new friends from out of town.
We take a look back at the Skylab program, its fate, its legacy, and how it fits into the broader picture.
Carr, Gibson, and Pogue go the distance and wrap up a remarkable 84 day mission, thus ending the crewed portion of Skylab's life.