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
History of spaceflight first child conceived by two space travelers. The couple divorced in 1982, and Tereshkova went on to become a prominent member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The second woman to fly to space was aviator Svetlana Savitskaya, aboard Soyuz T-7 on August 18, 1982. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space when she flew aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-7 on June 18, 1983. Women space travelers went on to become commonplace during the 1980s. Helen Sharman became the first European woman in space aboard the Soyuz TM-12 on May 18, 1991. Khrushchev pressured Korolyov to