Jared Isaacman, the new NASA administrator, signaled he was open to offering other spacecraft to Texas instead of the Discovery, housed at the Smithsonian.

NASA has put off the planned launch of its next-generation Orion spacecraft for a year, a setback to efforts to fly a successor to its aging space shuttles, the space agency announced Monday. "September 2014 is when we are saying we will launch the first crew on the Orion,

The rollout sets the stage for tests and dress rehearsals ahead of NASA's first crewed flight to the moon in more than 50 years. The mission could launch in three weeks.

NASA faces strategic decisions and competition in a rapidly changing space exploration industry dominated by commercial providers.

On Jan. 16, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia launched on its 28th mission, STS-107. NASA had five additional space shuttle missions planned for 2003, but STS-107 was the only one focused on scientific research;

In 1977, the United Kingdom's King Charles III, a prince at the time, met with NASA astronauts Fred Haise, Gordon Fullerton, Richard H. Truly and Joe Engle, the crew of the Space Shuttle Enterprise. The meeting occurred at Edwards Air Force Base in California.