This is a list of NASA missions, both manned and unmanned, since its establishment in 1958.
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NASA has successfully launched over 100 manned flights. Three have ended in failure, causing the death of the crew, such as Apollo 1 in 1967, STS-51-L (the Challenger disaster) in 1986, and STS-107 (the Columbia disaster) in 2003:
| Program | Start Date | End Date | No. of launched crewed missions |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury program | 1959 | 1963 | 6 | First U.S. crewed program |
| Gemini program | 1963 | 1966 | 10 | Program used to practice space rendezvous and EVAs |
| Apollo program | 1961 | 1972 | 111 | Brought first human to the Moon |
| Skylab | 1973 | 1974 | 3 | The crewed missions only took place in 1973 and 1974; first American space station |
| Apollo-Soyuz | 1975 | 1975 | 1 | Joint with Soviet Union |
| Space Shuttle | 1981 | 2011 | 135 | First missions in which a spacecraft was reused |
| Shuttle-Mir Program | 1995 | 1998 | 92 | Russian partnership |
| International Space Station | 1998 | On-going | 29 | Joint with Russia, Canada, ESA, and JAXA along with co-operators, ASI and AEB |
| Project Constellation | Cancelled | Cancelled[1] | 0 | Future program to once again bring humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond |
Notes:
1. Apollo 1 was unlaunched due to a fire during testing that killed the astronauts, and is not counted here.
2. The Shuttle-Mir missions were all Space Shuttle missions, and are also counted under the Space Shuttle program missions in the table.
On May 7, 2009 the Obama Administration announced the launch of an independent review of planned U.S. human space flight activities with the goal of ensuring that the nation is on a vigorous and sustainable path to achieving its boldest aspirations in space. The review will be conducted by a blue-ribbon panel of experts led by Norman Augustine, the former CEO of Lockheed Martin, who served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology under Democrat and Republican presidents.
The "Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans" is to examine ongoing and planned National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) development activities, as well as potential alternatives, and present options for advancing a safe, innovative, affordable, and sustainable human space flight program in the years following Space Shuttle retirement. The panel will work closely with NASA and will seek input from the United States Congress, the White House, the public, industry, and international partners as it develops its options. It is to present its results in time to support an Administration decision on the way forward by August 2009.[2]
In February 2010, Obama announced he proposes to cancel the Constellation Program as part of the 2011 Economic Projects to goal the USA to be booming by 2020. Constellation was officially cancelled by the NASA Budget Authorization Act on 11 October 2010.
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Small Explorer (SMEX) individual mission cost not to exceed $120 million.[9]
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