Perhaps no U.S. space program has borne witness to such great triumph and tragedy as that of the space shuttle program. Known officially as the Space Transportation System (STS), the space shuttle program was first put into operation in 1981. Between that time and early 2003, 113 shuttle missions were flown, carrying a total of 660 crew members. Many of those missions were marked by U.S. space firsts: Shuttles carried aloft the first U.S. female astronaut, the first African American male and female astronauts, the first U.S. female mission commander and pilot, the first Hispanic astronaut, and the first Native American astronaut.

Before the space shuttle, launching cargo into space was a one-way proposition. Rockets were used to put a tiny capsule carrying human space travelers into orbit. Stage by stage, booster segments of the rocket would fall away during the launch as their fuel ran...