Man has orbited the Earth, walked in space, crossed from one spacecraft to another and even visited the Moon. NASA begins taking steps to further space exploration by sending Skylab into orbit along with teams of scientists.

The Skylab mission would prove that humans could live and work in space for extended periods. US astronauts are eventually invited to live aboard the Russian Mir space station, developing relationships in orbit long before the Cold War thaws out on Earth.

Episode 5:The Shuttle

For 20 years, NASA had launched capsules carrying a maximum of three people - drawn from an exclusive group of men, nearly all of whom are test pilots. The development of the reusable shuttle leads to a revolutionary approach to space travel. For the first time ever, groups of six or seven astronauts can fly into space at once.

Described as a butterfly on a bullet, the shuttle is first flown by John Young, the man who sat alongside Gus Grissom on the first Gemini flight. The pioneers of NASA’s manned programmes are leading the way into the modern era of the space age.

Yet space travel remains as dangerous as ever, as demonstrated by the 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster and the 2003 Columbia shuttle accident.

But the development of the International Space Station – mankind’s boldest collaboration in space hardware to date - meant that the shuttle could not be abandoned.

Episode 6: Home in Space

Billions of dollars over budget and 10 years behind schedule, NASA launches the Hubble Space Telescope aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

One of the most complex instruments ever built, and the latest in an illustrious line of unmanned space missions, Hubble is expected to transform our understanding of the universe. But nothing happens. NASA has a serious problem.

It is discovered that human error is to blame for a defective main mirror on the orbiting telescope. Hubble, our all-seeing eye into deep space, is short sighted.

NASA decides to send the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour to fix the problem. The mission requires months of intense training for the longest, most dangerous and most complex series of space walks of all time.

It is NASA’s greatest and most high-profile mission since the Apollo era. The mission manages to recapture the public’s imagination, engaging people in space heroics like nothing since the Moon landings of the Apollo era.

Our natural desire to explore and discover is back, and NASA plans to send men back to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

Related Links:

- Check out the NASA Image Gallery

- Watch video highlights of the classic Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle missions in the NASA Video Gallery

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