The Space Above Us

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.