The United States once poured money and political capital into a spaceplane concept that promised to take off from a runway, reach orbit in a single leap, and slash the cost of spaceflight. Instead of ...

HOUSTON - It may have been the final big official event of the last space shuttle mission, but a welcome-home and thank-you party Friday for the crew of Atlantis wasn't dwelling on any sad ending.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Endeavour and its six astronauts returned to Earth early Wednesday, closing out the next-to-last mission in NASA’s 30-year program with a safe middle-of-the-night ...