Astronauts Ed White (left) and James McDivitt in the launch pad elevator—with spacesuit technicians Clyde Teague (center right) and Joe Schmitt—head for Gemini 4, NASA’s first multi-day manned mission and the first U.S. spacewalk on June 3, 1965. Credits: NASA
Starstruck--60 Years of NASA's Dazzling Archives
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EARLY DAYS Boeing B-29 bombers were a mainstay of the U.S. air campaign during World War II. Pictured is a model being tested for water ditching at National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics' (NACA) Langley Research Center in 1946... NASA
THE PIONEER American rocket pioneer Dr. Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket on March 16, 1926, from what was then Asa Ward Farm in Auburn, Massachusetts. A golf course now occupies the land, but the historic launch site is marked with a plinth. ... NASA
AIMING HIGH PARD technician Durwood Dereng measures the launch angle of a double Deacon booster prior to the launch of an RM-10 research rocket at Wallops, February 6, 1951. NASA
MAKING PROGRESS Annie Easley, a 1950s-era “human computer” at the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Despite social constraints, NASA cautiously pioneered career opportunities for African American women that were not widely reflected in the racially segregated southern U.S... NASA
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A NEW SPIN The Multiple Axis Space Test Inertia Facility (MASTIF) at the Lewis Research Center (now the Glenn Research Center) was called the “gimbalrig” and simulated the twists and tumbles that astronauts could expect to encounter during a Mercury mission. ... NASA
FIRST FLIGHTS Gordon Cooper climbs out of the crew transfer van, ready for the Mercury-Atlas 9 flight. The “suitcase” is an air-conditioning unit to keep him cool and oxygenated prior to entering the spacecraft... NASA
HEAVENS BELOW Mercury –Atlas 8 astronaut Wally Schirra took a Hasselblad roll film camera with him on October 3, 1962. This photo is one of the earliest of Earth taken by any American astronaut... NASA
GOING UP Astronauts Ed White ( left ) and James McDivitt ride up the launch pad elevator with spacesuit technicians for Gemini 4, NASA’s first multi-day crewed mission and the first U.S. spacewalk on June 3, 1965... NASA
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WORKING IN SPACE Ahead of Gemini 10, Commander John Young explains to the media how copilot Michael Collins will inspect the Agena Target Docking Vehicle during his spacewalk, 1966. NASA
MAN IN A CAN Intended for use in the Apollo Program, this odd early 1960s concept for a lunar space suit was designed by the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Program to help an astronaut get up easily if he fell over... Fritz Goro Getty Images
SPACE SELFIE Aldrin snaps the first “selfie” ever taken in orbit while firmly anchored to the spacecraft. Compare his experience with Ed White’s, and the evolution of space walking techniques during the Gemini program becomes clear... NASA
NEW HARVEST Future interplanetary missions may require astronauts to supplement frozen food with fresh produce. ISS crews have already grown (but not yet eaten) vegetables in space. Here, a zinnia grown in 2016 cheers up the station’s interior... NASA
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SHUTTLED INTO HISTORY Endeavour makes what will almost certainly be its last voyage, the 12-mile crawl from Los Angeles International Airport to the California Science Center, on October 12, 2012. Plans are underway to display the vehicle vertically, protected in a huge glass and steel atrium... Kevork Djansezian Getty Images
ENDLESS FRONTIERS Intricate cloud patterns in the northern hemisphere of Jupiter, observed by the Juno space-craft in 2018. False color scanning yields greater detail about the complex structures in the hydrogen and helium atmosphere. ... NASA
