Space, Space Shuttle | featured news

The military's small, top-secret version of the space shuttle rocketed into orbit Tuesday for a repeat mystery mission, two years after making the first flight of its kind. The Air Force launched the unmanned spacecraft Tuesday hidden on top of an Atlas V rocket. As if on cue, clouds quickly swallowed up the rocket as it disappeared out over the ocean.

Space shuttle Endeavour landed safely at the Los Angeles International Airport Friday after a whirlwind aerial tour around California landmarks. Strapped to the back of a 747 jumbo jet, the pair touched down around 1 p.m. after a nearly five-hour flyover. One of the crew members stuck an American flag out of the hatch of the jet. The flyover took Endeavour over the state Capitol, Golden Gate Bridge, Hollywood Sign and other icons en route to the Los Angeles airport, where the shuttle will be prepped for a slow-speed journey to its museum home next month.

Less than a year after NASA ended its shuttle program, players in America's space business are casting around for new direction.

NASA says an object found and East Texas lake is from the shuttle Columbia that broke up in space in 2003, CNN reports.

In a flight full of passion, Atlantis made the final docking in shuttle history Sunday, pulling up at the International Space Station with a year’s worth of supplies. The station’s naval bell chimed a salute as Atlantis docked 240 miles above the Pacific. “Atlantis arriving,” called out space station astronaut Ronald Garan Jr. “Welcome to the International Space Station for the last time.”

NBC News’ Jay Barbree narrates a rare time-lapse video of the shuttle Atlantis being prepared for its final mission.

When the United States embarked on its shuttle program decades ago, it set out to build a workhorse vehicle that would make space travel routine and beat the Soviets during the Cold War struggle for dominance in space.

Discovery, the world's most traveled spaceship, left the International Space Station on Monday for the last time, getting a dramatic send-off by the dozen orbiting astronauts as well as "Star Trek's" original Capt. Kirk.

Space shuttle Atlantis zoomed toward its final touchdown Wednesday to cap a 25-year flying career, bringing back six astronauts who boosted ...

Space shuttle Atlantis thundered off its launchpad at Kennedy Space Center into cloudless skies Friday afternoon and headed to the International Space Station on the 32nd and final planned mission of its 25-year career.