When John F. Kennedy was sworn in as president in 1961, he promised to reach for a “New Frontier.” Attention abroad concentrated on the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Closer to home, there was increasing unrest among those who were being left behind simply because of their race. America’s space agency soon would be thrust into the forefront of both issues.
The flights of two piloted spacecraft during December 1965 were major strides forward in advancing NASA’s capabilities in human spaceflight. While Gemini VII orbited the Earth for two weeks, Gemini VI was launched, completing the first-ever rendezvous between two spacecraft in orbit. This marked the point in which the United States clearly pulled ahead in the space race with the Soviet Union.
The skies over Florida’s Space Coast lit up as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocketed from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center sending four astronauts to the International Space Station. After they arrive, the orbiting laboratory will be staffed for the first time by seven astronauts and cosmonauts increasing the amount of time available for research and additional opportunities for discoveries.
After 64 days in space, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken returned to Earth on Aug. 2, 2020 completing Demo-2, the agency’s first Commercial Crew mission. Liftoff atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took place May 30, 2020, from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center. Due to Tropical Storm Isaias moving up the east coast of Florida, landing was moved to the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, Florida.
In the moments following Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell’s report, “Houston, we’ve had a problem,” things happened fast. Lovell and his crewmates, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, worked with the team in Mission Control to sort out the issues facing the mission. But, key members of that effort believe they also were aided by a Higher Power.
NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour first arrived at her home spaceport, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, on May 7, 1991. Following exactly one year of completing assembly, rigorous tests and processing, the newest orbiter “set sail”into the skies over the Atlantic Ocean. The maiden voyage marked one of the most dramatic examples of the value of humans in spaceflight.