1981 -
John Young and Robert Crippen flew Columbia into orbit on 12-April on the
space shuttle's maiden mission (STS- 1). It lasted for 36 orbits, 54 hours, launched from the Kennedy Space Center, it returned to the Edwards Air Force Base in California, on 14-April. On 25-August Voyager 1 makes its closest approach, 63,000 miles (IO 1,000 km), to Saturn.
- Columbia, on the second shuttle mission (STS-2),went into space again for a 36-orbit flight on 12-November, piloted by Joe Engle and Richard Truly. It was the first time any spacecraft has returned to space for a second time. The crew tested the remote manipulator system robot arm.
1982 -
Columbia makes its third flight (STS-3) on 22-March, crewed by Jack Lousma and Gordon Fullerton landed at White Sands, New Mexico, after an 8-day flight. STS-4 began on 27-June, with Thomas Mattingly and Henry Hartsfleld flying Columbia on a 7-day mission, the final test mission.
1983 -
Columbia becomes operational on STS-5, lifting off in November. It carries a record four-man crew, Vance Brand, Robert Overmyer, Joseph Allen and William Lenoir. They launched two communication satellites.
- International infrared astronomy satellite IRAS launched on 25-January, discovered comets, possible new solar systems.
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Challenger, on STS-6, takes place on 4-April, with a crew of four, Paul Weitz, Karol Bobko, Donald Petersen and Story Musgrave. During a 5-day flight the crew deployed the first tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS), and Petersen and Musgrave tested the new shuttle spacesuit in the orbiter cargo bay.
- European X-ray satellite Exosat launched on 26-May.
- First American woman astronaut Sally Ride soars into orbit on Challenger's second flight (STS-7) on 24-June, along with Robert Crippen, Frederick Hauck, John Fabian and Norman Thagard, making a record five-person crew.
- On 13-June Pioneer 10 becomes the first probe to venture into interstellar space when it crossed the orbit of the outermost planet, Neptune
- On 30-August STS-8 launched, the crew of Challenger included Richard Truly, Daniel Brandenstein, Dale Gardner, Guion Bluford, William Thornton, and six rats
- The first flight of Space-lab on the shuttle begins on 28-November. The space shuttle is Columbia, with a crew of six conducted over 70 experiments on a 10-day flight. Among them is a German scientist, the first non-American to fly in the US space program. The other crew members are John Young, Brewster Shaw, Robert Parker, Owen Garriott and Byron Lichtenberg.
1984 -
First human to orbit Earth and become first human satellite, Bruce McCandless (U.S.A.).
1985 -
First probe to reach a comet (USA).
1986 -
First probe to reach Uranus (USA).
1987 -
First permanently-occupied space station, Space Station MIR (USSR).
1988 -
Longest manned space-flight - 365 days by cosmonauts Titov and Manarov (USSR).
1989 -
First probe to reach Neptune - Voyager 2 (USA)
