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Highlights of the U.S. Space Program
The space shuttle Atlantis marks the 135th and final space shuttle launch for NASA.
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1983: Astronaut Sally K. Ride, the first woman to orbit the earth. Here she monitors control panels from the pilot's chair on the Flight Deck on STS-7, where she was mission specialist.
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1984: Mission Specialist Bruce McCandless II ventured further away from the safety of his ship than any previous astronaut ever has. This was made possible by the Manned Manuevering Unit or MMU, a nitrogen jet propelled backpack. After a series of test ma
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January 1986: The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes seconds after takeoff. Seven crew members perished in the explosion.
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The Space Shuttle Discovery deploys the Hubble Space Telescope. April 24, 1990