Project Mercury
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Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and retur
Wallops Island test facility, 1961
Mercury Control Center, Cape Canaveral, 1963
Retropack: Retrorockets with red posigrade rockets
Landing skirt (or bag) deployment: skirt is inflated; on impact the air is pressed out (like an airbag)
Apollo program
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The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo was conceived in 1960 in the Dw
Project Mercury
…Project Gemini, which carried two astronauts in each capsule and perfected space docking maneuvers essential for crewed lunar landings in the subsequent Apollo program announced a few weeks after the first crewed Mercury flight. Project Mercury was officially approved on October 7, 1958, and publicly announced on…
Buzz Aldrin (pictured) walked on the Moon with Neil Armstrong, on Apollo 11, July 20–21, 1969.
The Apollo 17 Lunar Roving Vehicle
Earthrise, the iconic 1968 image from Apollo 8 taken by astronaut William Anders
President Kennedy delivers his proposal to put a man on the Moon before a joint session of Congress, May 25, 1961.