Lee, also known as "Space Shuttle Ethel," turned 99 years old ... "So when she found out about NASA opening up a site here in Downey, Rockwell, she applied and so she made the transition." ...

Icons of space flight they undoubtedly are, but the shuttle programme has been marked by very public tragedy. On 28 January 1986, Challenger was set to carry the first American civilian into space.

Seventeen astronauts were lost in the Apollo 1 fire and the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters. The crew of Apollo 1 during training in Florida in January 1967. From left, Virgil "Gus ...