# The 30 Greatest Space Shuttle Astronauts of All Time

> Is a first flight worth more than a seventh? This list weighs trailblazing launches against Hubble repairs, station building and the crews remembered from Challenger and Columbia.

*By YPB Team · Published November 2, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-30-greatest-space-shuttle-astronauts-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Sally Ride** — score 1000/1000
   Became the first American woman in space on STS-7 in June 1983 and flew again on STS-41-G in 1984.
2. **John Young** — score 536/1000
   Commanded STS-1, the first Space Shuttle flight in April 1981, and STS-9 in 1983, which carried the first Spacelab module.
3. **Story Musgrave** — score 536/1000
   Flew six shuttle missions and is the only astronaut to have flown on all five orbiters, including the 1993 STS-61 Hubble repair spacewalks.
4. **Bruce McCandless II** — score 496/1000
   Made the first untethered spacewalk, using the Manned Maneuvering Unit, on STS-41-B in February 1984.
5. **Ronald McNair** — score 496/1000
   Physicist who became the second African American in space on STS-41-B in 1984 and died in the Challenger accident in 1986.
6. **Mark Kelly** — score 496/1000
   Flew four shuttle missions and commanded STS-124 in 2008 and STS-134 in 2011, Endeavour's final flight.
7. **Eileen Collins** — score 496/1000
   Became the first woman to pilot a shuttle on STS-63 in 1995, the first to command one on STS-93 in 1999, and commanded the STS-114 Return to Flight mission in 2005.
8. **Kalpana Chawla** — score 449/1000
   Became the first woman of Indian origin in space on STS-87 in 1997 and died with the STS-107 crew when Columbia broke up during reentry on February 1, 2003.
9. **Ilan Ramon** — score 449/1000
   Israel's first astronaut, who flew on Columbia's STS-107 research mission and died with its crew during reentry in February 2003.
10. **Ellison Onizuka** — score 449/1000
   Became the first Asian American in space on STS-51-C in January 1985 and died in the Challenger accident in 1986.
11. **Mae Jemison** — score 396/1000
   Became the first African American woman in space aboard Endeavour on STS-47 in September 1992.
12. **Jim Wetherbee** — score 396/1000
   Flew six shuttle missions and is the only astronaut to have commanded five of them.
13. **Robert "Hoot" Gibson** — score 396/1000
   Flew five shuttle missions and commanded STS-71 in 1995, the first Space Shuttle docking with the Russian space station Mir.
14. **Shannon Lucid** — score 396/1000
   Made five spaceflights, the last a 188-day mission in 1996, about 179 days of it aboard Mir, that began on STS-76 and ended on STS-79.
15. **Charles Bolden** — score 396/1000
   Flew four shuttle missions, piloting the 1990 Hubble deployment flight and commanding STS-60, the first to carry a Russian cosmonaut, before serving as NASA Administrator.
16. **Jerry Ross** — score 336/1000
   Flew seven shuttle missions between 1985 and 2002, including STS-88, the first International Space Station assembly flight, and made nine spacewalks.
17. **Judith Resnik** — score 335/1000
   Became the second American woman in space on STS-41-D, the maiden flight of Discovery in 1984, and died in the Challenger accident in 1986.
18. **John Grunsfeld** — score 335/1000
   Flew five shuttle missions, three of them to service the Hubble Space Telescope: STS-103, STS-109 and STS-125.
19. **Barbara Morgan** — score 335/1000
   Christa McAuliffe's backup in the Teacher in Space Project, who flew to the International Space Station aboard Endeavour on STS-118 in 2007.
20. **Christa McAuliffe** — score 264/1000
   New Hampshire teacher chosen for NASA's Teacher in Space Project, who died with her six crewmates when Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch on January 28, 1986.
21. **Guion Bluford** — score 264/1000
   Became the first African American in space on STS-8 in August 1983 and flew four shuttle missions in total.
22. **Franklin Chang-Díaz** — score 264/1000
   Costa Rican-born astronaut who flew seven shuttle missions between 1986 and 2002, a record he shares with Jerry Ross.
23. **Kathryn Sullivan** — score 264/1000
   Became the first American woman to walk in space on STS-41-G in 1984 and helped deploy the Hubble Space Telescope on STS-31 in 1990.
24. **Dick Scobee** — score 180/1000
   Piloted the 1984 STS-41-C mission that repaired the Solar Maximum Mission satellite and commanded Challenger on its final flight, STS-51-L.
25. **Ellen Ochoa** — score 180/1000
   Became the first Hispanic woman in space on STS-56 in 1993, flew four shuttle missions and later directed NASA's Johnson Space Center.
26. **Michael Massimino** — score 180/1000
   Made spacewalks on the Hubble servicing missions STS-109 and STS-125 and posted the first tweet from space in 2009.
27. **Chris Ferguson** — score 180/1000
   Piloted STS-115 in 2006, then commanded STS-126 and STS-135, the final Space Shuttle mission, flown by Atlantis in July 2011.
28. **Frederick Gregory** — score 0/1000
   Became the first African American to command a Space Shuttle mission on STS-33 in 1989, one of his three flights.
29. **Robert Crippen** — score 0/1000
   Piloted STS-1 alongside John Young in 1981 and went on to command STS-7, STS-41-C and STS-41-G.
30. **John Glenn** — score 0/1000
   Returned to orbit aboard Discovery on STS-95 in 1998 at age 77, becoming the oldest person to fly in space at the time.

Tags: usa, space, nasa, astronauts, space shuttle