Images: Space Shuttle memorable moments
In this Friday, March 1, 2002 file picture, the space shuttle Columbia illuminates a cloud during its morning liftoff at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
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In this Monday, May 18, 2009 image made from video provided by NASA, astronaut John Grunsfeld is reflected on the surface of the Hubble Space Telescope as he works to upgrade the orbiting observatory during a spacewalk on the fifth and final repair mission for the then 19-year-old telescope.
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This photo, taken seconds after the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle on Jan. 28, 1986, at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The seven crew members perished in the explosion. One of the shuttles booster rockets, whose faulty O-rings were blamed for the disaster, shoots off to the right.
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The space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center.
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In this Jan. 28, 1986 file picture, two unidentified spectators at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. react after they witnessed the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.
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In this Saturday, Feb. 1, 1986 file picture, a cross and wreath with a picture of the space shuttle Challenger stand on the shore as a Coast Guard cutter heads out to sea searching for debris from the shuttle in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Neihouse)
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In this Monday, June 8, 1998 image made from video provided by NASA, Russian space station Mir cosmonauts Nikolai Budarin, top right, and Talgat Musabayev say goodbye to the crew of the space shuttle Discovery as they close the hatch linking the two spacecraft before undocking. Discovery was the ninth and last shuttle to dock with Mir.
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This May 23, 2011 photo made by Expedition 27 crew member Paolo Nespoli from the Soyuz TMA-20 following its undocking and released by NASA shows the International Space Station and the docked space shuttle Endeavour, left, at an altitude of approximately 220 miles. A Soyuz capsule had never headed for home while a shuttle was parked at the space station, providing a rare opportunity for the photo session.
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In this Tuesday, July 26, 2005 file picture, crowds watch as the space shuttle Discovery lifts off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The seven astronauts launched into orbit on Americas first manned space mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
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In this Dec. 11, 2006 photo provided by NASA, the space shuttle Discovery, its KU-band antenna at right, approaches the International Space Station.
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FILE - This July 1992 file picture provided by NASA shows the Tethered Satellite System during an experiment on the space shuttle Atlantis. On Sunday, Feb. 25, 1996, the Italian satellite, which was attached to the space shuttle Columbia, floated off into space after its cable broke.
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In this May 13, 1992 picture made available by NASA, astronauts Richard Hieb, Thomas Akers and Pierre Thuot grab the Intelsat VI satellite from the ledges of the payload bay of the space shuttle Endeavour in the first three-man spacewalk. The satellite had been stuck at a uselessly low orbit for more than two years.
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In this Friday, July 23, 1999 picture provided by NASA, flaming exhaust thrusts from the solid rocket boosters and main engines of the space shuttle Columbia as it launches from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. into the night sky.
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This Saturday, May 28, 2011 photo provided by NASA shows the Endeavour with a nighttime view of the Earth and a starry sky, while docked at the International Space Station during the Endeavours final mission.
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In this Sept. 12, 2002 file picture, astronaut Eileen Collins, commander for the space shuttle Discovery mission scheduled for May 2005 launch, is briefed by crew trainer Ken Trujillo during a training session in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
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In this Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009 file photo, Space shuttle Discovery moves along its path at sunrise to pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The space shuttle was sold to America as cheap, safe and reliable. It was none of those. It cost tens of billions of dollars, ended the lives of 14 astronauts and managed to make fewer half the flights promised. Yet despite all that, there were monumental achievements that in the beginning were unforeseen: major scientific advances, stunning photos of the cosmos, a high-flying vehicle of diplomacy that helped bring Cold War enemies closer, and something to brag about.
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In this Saturday, Feb. 1, 2003 file photo, debris from the space shuttle Columbia streaks across the sky over Tyler, Texas.
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In this Saturday, Feb. 1, 2003 photo, debris from the space shuttle Columbia streaks across the Texas sky as seen from Dallas.
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In this Jan. 27, 1986 file picture, the crew for the space shuttle Challenger leaves their quarters for the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. From foreground are commander Francis Scobee, Mission Spl. Judith Resnik, Mission Spl. Ronald McNair, Payload Spl. Gregory Jarvis, Mission Spl. Ellison Onizuka, teacher Christa McAuliffe and pilot Michael Smith.
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This Tuesday, May 12, 2009 picture made available by NASA shows the space shuttle Atlantis silhouetted against the sun.
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In this Feb. 15, 1997 picture provided by NASA, astronaut Steven Smith works at the end of the space shuttles remote manipulator system as he performs maintenance on the Hubble Space Telescope during a spacewalk. In the background is a portion of Australia along the Earths curve.
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This Friday May 27, 2011 photo provided by NASA shows the sun, a portion of the International Space Station and Earths horizon in a photograph made by a spacewalker using a fisheye lens during a spacewalk.
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In this June 1983 photo provided by NASA, astronaut Sally Ride, a specialist on shuttle mission STS-7, monitors control panels from the pilots chair on the shuttle Columbia flight deck. Ride became Americas first woman in space when Columbia launched June 18, 1983.
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