
We Never Should Have Mothballed the Space Shuttle
Thirty years ago today, Challenger exploded, killing seven brave astronauts—but like all of us who went into space, they judged that the rewards were worth the risks
Leroy Chiao served as a NASA astronaut from 1990-2005. During his 15-year career, he flew four missions into space, three times on Space Shuttles and once as the copilot of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station. On that flight, he served as the commander of Expedition 10, a six and a half month mission. Dr. Chiao has performed six spacewalks, in both US and Russian spacesuits, and has logged nearly 230 days in space.

We Never Should Have Mothballed the Space Shuttle
Thirty years ago today, Challenger exploded, killing seven brave astronauts—but like all of us who went into space, they judged that the rewards were worth the risks

Space to Grow
Science and politics have both benefited from humanity’s journey into space. And we really might just be getting started