Astronaut Norman E. Thagard, flying on the Russian Mir space station, sets the U.S. record for spaceflight endurance, passing 84 days, one hour, and 17 minutes in space. The previous U.S. record- holders were the three astronauts on the third Skylab mission in 1974.
The Space Development Agency wants to launch hundreds of satellites into low-Earth orbit over the next few years—and thanks to a new contract, it now has a way to get rid of some when their service life is over.
