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NASA
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville showcases the rockets, achievements, and artifacts of the space program, as well as the legacy of Wernher von Braun and his team.
Editor’s Note: Brent Glass is Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the author of 50 Gr
The first American woman in space inspired thousands of girls dreaming of a career in science.
In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the epic voyage of Apollo 11 to the Moon 50 years ago this summer, we combed the NASA archives to compile this slideshow of extraordinary images from the trip. Many of the photos have rarely been seen.
Click on the photo below to start the slideshow.
The first man to set foot on the Moon 50 years ago this summer is remembered by his friend and colleague, a former astronaut and administrator at NASA.
Practical, rather than idealistic, reasons pushed President Kennedy to challenge America to land a man on the moon within the decade.
Gazing up at the Texas night sky from his ranch, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson did not know what to make of Sputnik I, the first artificial Earth satellite launched into orbit by a Soviet missile on October 4, 1957. But an aide’s memorandum stoked his political juices.
Three days into their mission, two vital oxygen tanks exploded, seriously damaging Apollo 13's service module and forcing pilot Fred Haise, Jr. and his two fellow astronauts to scramble into the attached lunar module, where they plotted their course home, shivering in the cold on limited oxygen.
Deep Space, April 13, 1970
A FRONT-ROW SEAT FOR A NATIONAL TRAGEDY
Sixty years ago this month, the Soviet Union orbited a “man-made moon” whose derisive chirp persuaded Americans that they’d already lost a race that had barely begun.
The first American to leave the Earth's atmosphere recalls the momentous flight that put us on a course for the Moon.
THE SHRILL RINGING WOKE ME from deep sleep early in the morning of April 12, 1961. I was confused for a moment, but only a moment. I was in my room in the Holiday Inn at Cocoa Beach, Florida.
When a rocket lifts off, it lights up the launch area with a brilliant burst of flame and then trails a fiery streak across the sky as it soars toward orbit. But without careful guidance all the pyrotechnics will have been for naught.
As I watched the lunar landing on television, my part in the whole scenario took on a new meaning.
It’s hard to believe that an entire generation has reached adulthood since that day twenty-one years ago when the world watched those grainy television images of two American astronauts cavorting on the moon.
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