A single foam impact 81 seconds after launch quietly set Columbia on a path to disaster, but the real question came later. NASA’s own investigation explored a chilling scenario, whether Atlantis could ...

If he makes the cut, Cameron Jones will become the seventh University of Illinois alum to earn the title of NASA astronaut. Here’s a glance at the six others to date, ranked in order of time spent in ...

After the foam strike doomed Space Shuttle Columbia, NASA quietly studied whether Atlantis could be rushed into orbit to rescue the crew before their air ran out. This is the sobering inside look at ...

Space Shuttle Columbia and her crew of seven astronauts were lost after the shuttle broke apart during reentry. Columbia was just 16 minutes from landing at the Kennedy Space Center, when Mission ...

(CNN) - Wednesday marks the 40th anniversary of the Challenger space shuttle explosion. It was a moment of collective grief on Jan. 28, 1986, when the space shuttle exploded during a live broadcast.

Forty years ago, the NASA space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all 7 crew members. Among the seven crew members were 5 NASA astronauts, as well as a payload specialist ...