He piloted the first space shuttle to have a night launch and landing (Challenger, 30 August and 3 September 1983), and commanded the crews of three further flights. These included the longest shuttle mission at that time (the 10-day, 21-hour flight of Columbia in January 1990) and the first flight of Endeavour in May 1992. Brandenstein was selected as an astronaut in 1978 and retired from NASA in 1992. He became president of the National Space Society in 1998.