America’s fleet of space shuttle orbiters were in service for 30 years, but after 135 missions the era of the NASA space shuttle has now ended. Each shuttle was named after pioneering sea vessels that established new frontiers in the research and exploration. In 1986 the Challenger orbiter was destroyed shortly after lift-off, it was replaced in 1987 with the Endeavour (OV-105).
In 1995 photographer John Angerson was granted unprecedented access to the Kennedy Space Center, Florida and the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas to document the final months of a yearlong intensive training program preparing for the NASA Space Transportation System mission (STS-72) in January 1996.
After a flawless launch from the Kennedy Space Center, Endeavour (OV-105) began the nine-day mission. The primary objectives whilst in orbit were to retrieve the Japanese Space flyer unit (SFU) launched by the Japanese in March 1995.
Additionally, the crew deployed and retrieved a second spacecraft carrying NASA-sponsored experiments. Later in the mission crewmembers Dan Barry, Leroy Chiao and Winston Scott conducted two six and a half hour spacewalks to test hardware and tools that were to be used in the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) that became operational in 1998.
Since the first manned space mission, some of the most important items that the astronauts have brought back from space have been their photographs, which have over the years permanently changed the way we think, feel and see our place in the universe.
