Marsha Ivins: The Space Shuttle a History (Rewind)

Marsha Ivins is an astronaut who flew on five space shuttle missions. She will give a live talk about the history of the space shuttle, humanity’s first reusable spacecraft, and answer questions from viewers. The space shuttle first launched in 1981, and the fleet of five craft, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor, flew 135 missions and helped construct the International Space Station. The shuttle program took Americans and Russians to space and operated for 30 years. The program ended in 2011. Marsha Ivins has spent more than 55 days in space on five space shuttle missions between 1990 and 2001. On Ivins’ fourth mission, her space shuttle crew docked with the Mir space station where she joined Russian cosmonauts Valeri Korzun and Aleksandr Kaleri and three other astronauts. On her fifth mission she worked to greatly expand the International Space Station by helping to install the ’Destiny’ scientific module.