Unlike the fictional U.S.S. Enterprise from the Star Trektelevision series, the real-life space shuttle that shared the same name never made it to the final frontier. Fifty years ago, on Sept. 17, ...

The space shuttle is the “world’s first reusable spacecraft,” launching like a rocket, orbiting like a spacecraft and landing like a plane. Space shuttles could carry satellites, space probes, and ...

First launch: Columbia becomes the first shuttle in space on April 12, 1981. First insects: Moths, flies and bees become the first insects to ride the shuttle in 1982, in an experiment designed by a ...