While the Space Shuttle fleet has now been retired, there is still some news relating to past missions and other shuttle-related issues.

‘Spacewoman’ Review: Mission Driven

19 Mar 2026 at 9:02am
Hannah Berryman’s engrossing documentary on Eileen Collins, the first female space shuttle pilot and commander, focuses on managing pride and fear. Read more...

The First Soda in Space: When NASA Got Caught Up in the Cola Wars

30 Jul 2025 at 11:52am
In the summer of 1985, NASA, the Reagan White House and seven talented astronauts were wrangled into an orbital battle over soft-drink supremacy. Read more...

Marc Garneau, First Canadian in Space and Foreign Minister, Dies at 76

7 Jun 2025 at 5:28am
His career took flight with a newspaper ad in Ottawa, where he would later help steer the country under Justin Trudeau. Read more...

Williams and Wilmore Are Not the First Astronauts to Have Been Stuck in Space

18 Mar 2025 at 1:00pm
From a spacecraft’s coolant leak to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, astronauts have gotten stuck in space for a variety of reasons over the decades of human spaceflight. Read more...

William R. Lucas, Official Blamed in Challenger Tragedy, Dies at 102

24 Feb 2025 at 4:57pm
The strong-willed director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, he failed to pass on warnings from engineers that the space shuttle launch was at risk. Read more...

Joe Engle, Trailblazer as Test Pilot and an Astronaut, Dies at 91

5 Aug 2024 at 2:37am
He was the first to touch the edge of space and later to go beyond it in two different aircraft, an X-15 and a shuttle. But the moon, to his disappointment, proved out of reach. Read more...

NASA Sends a Missy Elliott Song to Space

16 Jul 2024 at 11:23am
NASA sent the song “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” from a radio dish in California last week. It took 14 minutes to travel the 158 million miles. Read more...

Here’s what to know about Starliner’s flight.

5 Jun 2024 at 5:38pm
Read more...

Why Did the First Space Shuttle Disaster Happen?

17 May 2024 at 8:36pm
Adam Higginbotham discusses his new book, “Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space.” Read more...

Book Review: ‘Challenger,’ by Adam Higginbotham

26 Nov 2024 at 3:45pm
As recounted in Adam Higginbotham’s “Challenger,” the 1986 tragedy that riveted a nation was a preventable lesson in hubris and human error. Read more...

Space Shuttle Resources

Return To Flight
NASA’s official site about the Shuttle’s return to flight. Contains recent news updates and many videos of the return to flight preparations.

Return To Flight Task Group
On June 13, 2003 the NASA Administrator appointed two veteran astronauts to lead an external task group in an independent assessment of the agency’s Return to Flight efforts and to help the nation return the Space Shuttle safely to flight. This site documents their work.