It became the first space station assembled from multiple major modules in orbit and hosted more than one hundred visitors from numerous countries

The orbiter flew 9 successful Space Shuttle missions between 1983 and 1985 and broke apart 73 seconds after the launch of STS-51L on January 28

struck the vehicle’s core stage and caused the rocket to lose stability

launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 17 March 1992

The artwork is particularly evocative because it dates from an era when many of the ordinary details of living in space remained theoretical

Soyuz TMA-09M - launch cover - Luca Parmitano Dave Scott It became the first spaceSoyuz TMA 09M launch cover crewsigned by the prime crew incl. Luca Parmitano !