Space art Four original oil paintings by American artist Ellery Kurtz were flown in one of NASA's Get Away Special (G.A.S.) container mounted to a bridge in the shuttle cargo bay. These original works of art are the first oil paintings to enter Earth orbit. This NASA GAS canister, designated G-481, was the 46th such canister flown aboard a Space Shuttle. The Space Shuttle "Columbia" orbited the Earth 98 times during its mission duration time of 6 days, 2 hours, 3 minutes and 51 seconds. "Columbia" was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 12, 1986 and landed at
Advisory Committee on the Future of the United States Space Program Challenger disaster the executive summary of the committee's report recommended, "saving the Space Shuttle for those missions requiring human presence." The committee had twelve members in total, with one chairman and one vice chairman. Advisory Committee on the Future of the United States Space Program The Advisory Committee on the Future of the United States Space Program (also known as the Augustine Commission) was a 1990 space policy group requested by Vice President Dan Quayle, chairman of the National Space Council. The objective of the committee was to evaluate the long-term future of NASA and the United States civilian space