Workers who agreed to stay until the end — and help with the shuttles' transition from round-the-world flying marvels to museum showpieces — now face unemployment just like so many of their colleagues over the last few years.
Two spacewalking astronauts worked on a leaky radiator system outside the International Space Station, just hours after barely dodging a menacing piece of orbiting junk.
A manned Dragon freighter carrying a stash of precious medical samples from the International Space Station parachuted into the Pacific Ocean, completing the first official shipment under a billion-dollar contract with NASA.
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying three astronauts and a consignment of fish successfully docked with the International Space Station after a two-day voyage.
Researchers are exhilarated over the possibility that "Fearless Felix" Baumgartner's feat could someday help save the lives of pilots and space travelers in a disaster.