What are the records for longest and shortest space shuttle missions?
Mission STS-80, flown by the Columbia, holds the record for the longest duration space shuttle mission at 17 days, 15 hours, 53 minutes and 18 seconds. The mission launched on Nov. 19, 1996, and landed on Dec. 7. The record for the shortest space shuttle mission was set when the Challenger came to its tragic end on mission STS-51L, exploding in mid-air, just one minute and 13 seconds into its flight. The Challenger explosion claimed the lives of Commander Francis R. Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialists Judith A. Resnik, Ellison S. Onizuka, Ronald E. McNair and Payload Specialists Gregory B. Jarvis and Sharon Christa McAuliffe. What is the smallest number of crew members to fly a space shuttle mission? The early space shuttle missions flew with a crew of just two members, a mission commander and a pilot. On the first shuttle flight, Robert Crippen was the pilot and John Young was the commander of the space shuttle Columbia. How many space shuttles are there? Five space sh
