Abhinas

From the page: "On April 12, 1981, NASA's premiere space shuttle Columbia launched into orbit with astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen at the helm, inaugurating the U.S. shuttle era.

After 25 years of spaceflight, NASA's orbiter fleet has sent planetary probes on their way to Venus and Jupiter, helped astronauts retrieve and repair satellites, launched the Hubble Space Telescope and plays a crucial role in the ongoing construction of the International Space Station.

But the road has not been smooth. Two shuttles and 14 astronauts have been lost during NASA's 1986 Challenger accident and the 2003 Columbia disaster. NASA's three remaining orbiters are now marked for a 2010 retirement to make way for a capsule-based vehicle, heralding the end of the U.S. space plane fleet."

From the page: "NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander leaps toward space atop a Delta 2 rocket during its Aug. 4, 2007 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Credit: Michael Soluri."