Even as NASA welcomes home the crew of one its final shuttle missions (just two days after commemorating the 40th anniversary of the miraculous return of the Apollo 13 crew), it's grappling with how to adapt to a new President's plan for its future. TIME takes a look at the dimmer moments in its history: the canceled projects, the failures and some notable mishaps
Intended as a kind of tugboat for the great beyond, the Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle — a separately funded part of NASA's 1984 space-station plan — was designed to ferry satellites and other orbiting objects from place to place hundreds of miles above the earth near the shuttle and space station. Originally estimated at $375 million, the program was ultimately abandoned.
