Which astronaut set an 8 day space endurance record on the Gemini 5 mission in addition to being one of the seven original atronauts in Project Mercury
Pete Conrad Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. (June 2, 1930 – July 8, 1999), (Captain, USN), was an American NASA astronaut, naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and during the Apollo 12 mission became the third man to walk on the Moon. He set an eight-day space endurance record along with his Command Pilot Gordon Cooper on the Gemini 5 mission, and commanded the Gemini 11 mission. After Apollo, he commanded the Skylab 2 mission (the first manned one), on which he and his crewmates repaired significant launch damage to the Skylab space station. For this, President Jimmy Carter awarded him the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978.
Space Shuttle Challenger Space Shuttle "Challenger" (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-099) was the second orbiter of NASA's space shuttle program to be put into service following "Columbia". The shuttle was built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, California. Its maiden flight, STS-6, started on April 4, 1983. It launched and landed nine times before breaking apart 73 seconds into its tenth mission, STS-51-L, on January 28, 1986, resulting in the death of all seven crew members, including a civilian school teacher. It was the first of two shuttles to be destroyed in flight, the other being "Columbia" in 2003. The accident led to a two-and-a-half year grounding of the shuttle fleet; flights resumed in 1988 with STS-26 flown by "Discovery". "Challenger" itself was replaced by "Endeavour" which was built using structural spares ordered by NASA as part of the construction contracts for "Discovery" and "Atlantis".