Charles Frank Bolden Jr. is a former Administrator of NASA, a retired United States Marine Corps Major General, and a former NASA astronaut. A 1968 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, he became a Marine Aviator and test pilot. After his service as an astronaut, he became Deputy Commandant of Midshipmen at the Naval Academy. On May 23, 2009, President Barack Obama announced the nomination of Bolden as NASA Administrator and Lori Garver as Deputy NASA Administrator. Bolden was confirmed by the Senate on July 15, 2009. He was the first African American to head the agency on a permanent basis. On January 12, 2017, Bolden announced his resignation from NASA during a town hall meeting at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. His last day would be January 19, and Robert M. Lightfoot Jr. was announced as acting NASA Administrator.

Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-61-C

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | USA
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Jan. 12, 1986, 11:55 a.m.

Status: Success

Mission:

STS-61-C was the twenty-fourth mission of the shuttle program and the seventh of the Space Shuttle Columbia. The mission included the second African-American shuttle pilot, future NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, the first Costa Rican born astronaut and the second sitting politican to fly in space: Bill Nelson.

Low Earth Orbit

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Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-31 (Hubble)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | USA
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
April 24, 1990, 12:33 p.m.

Status: Success

Mission:

STS-31 was the thirty-fifth mission of the space shuttle program. Discovery's tenth mission deployed the Hubble Space Telescope.

Low Earth Orbit

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Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-45

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | USA
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
March 24, 1992, 1:13 p.m.

Status: Success

Mission:

STS-45 was a 1992 Space Shuttle mission using the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Its almost nine-day scientific mission was with a non-deployable payload of instruments. It was the 46th Space Shuttle mission and the 11th for Atlantis.

Low Earth Orbit

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Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-60

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | USA
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Feb. 3, 1994, 12:10 p.m.

Status: Success

Mission:

STS-60 was the first mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, which carried Sergei K. Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a Space Shuttle. The mission used Space Shuttle Discovery, which lifted off from Launch Pad 39A on 3 February 1994 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The mission carried the Wake Shield Facility experiment and a SPACEHAB module into orbit, and carried out a live bi-directional audio and downlink link-up with the cosmonauts aboard the Russian space station Mir.

Low Earth Orbit

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