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Thirty Years of NASA Space Shuttle Missions

The shuttle Columbia lifts off on the first space shuttle mission ever, STS-1, on April 12, 1981.

NASA's space shuttle fleet is hanging up its wings after 30 years. The first shuttle flight, STS-1, launched on April 12, 1981.

The space shuttle program is ending, changing the day-to-day lives of many NASA employees.
The end is nigh for NASA's space shuttle program.
NASA can't use real space shuttles to practice landings. See how astronauts practice landing 100-ton space planes.
Keeping with tradition, Atlantis' astronauts left their mark on the International Space Station.
Astronauts will test how will a water-filtration system works in microgravity.
Space Shuttle Discovery captured these amazing night into day images, including an Aurora Borealis, while docked to the International Space Station in April 2010.
Atlantis' commander, Chris Ferguson, paid tribute today to the 42nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
The end of the space shuttle program has some Cape Canaveral area businesses worried about their future.
The shuttle Atlantis' mission is the last one for a while that will feature songs to awaken astronauts.
Multiple companies are vying for the right to fly astronauts to low-Earth orbit.
The last payload released from a space shuttle went out with a poem.
The end is nigh for NASA's space shuttle program.
After NASA retires its space shuttles, what will happen to the agency's astronaut corps?
Although the shuttle program has ended, the technologies that spun off in its wake continue to change lives.
The space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station, the final time for shuttle to do so.
Atlantis and its four astronauts took their leave of the space laboratory early Tuesday (July 19).
Atlantis and its four astronauts will take their leave of the space laboratory early Tuesday.
The STS-135 crew, the final of the space shuttle era, gives an on-orbit thanks to the thousands of individuals who have made the shuttle "Go For Flight" for 30 years.