Capped by the highly successful Artemis I mission, 2022 was a landmark year for NASA. Groundbreaking research continued in Earth orbit, a new human-rated spacecraft circled the Moon, robotic exploration of Mars reached important milestones and the agency’s newest telescope revealed never-before seen images of the universe.
NASA is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the final Moon landing of the Apollo Program. The results of the 12-day Apollo 17 mission, flown in December 1972, led to some of the most significant findings of the first efforts of lunar exploration. The agency’s endeavor to continue exploration of the Earth’s nearest celestial neighbor recently began anew with the spectacular flight of Artemis 1, helping pave the way for astronauts to return to the Moon.
The ground shook for miles around as NASA’s new mega-rocket, the most powerful in the world, roared to life for the first time, beginning a new era in space exploration. Liftoff of the 32-story-tall Space Launch System, or SLS, is sending a human-rated spacecraft to the Moon for the first time in 50 years. The Orion capsule now is streaking across trans-lunar space on a mission that will take it well beyond the Moon, paving the way for landing the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off with a multi-national group of specialists for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Ongoing research aboard the orbital laboratory is designed to benefit humans living on and off the Earth. What is learned in orbit will help NASA prepare for long-term operations on and around the Moon and eventual exploration of Mars.
Hurricane Ian is bearing down on Florida’s west coast with its track crossing the state from the Gulf of Mexico making landfall near Fort Myers as a category 4 or 5 storm. It is forecast to move northeast toward the state’s east coast, including Brevard County and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Imagery from NASA-launched GOES satellites and the International Space Station are aiding meteorologists in helping people across the state prepare for the storm’s impact. GOES weather satellites are launched by NASA and operated by NOAA.
In December 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 became the first humans to leave Earth orbit and head for the Moon. They also became the first to look back at their home planet and see the entire world in one glimpse. The view they shared had an everlasting impact. In the decades since humans have looked back at their home planet from the vantage point of space, astronauts have taken stunning photographs providing a new perspective of Earth and its place in the universe.
On the evening of Aug. 16, 2022, the most powerful rocket ever built once again rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. But this time, it’s for real. The destination is the Moon.
n the summer of 1966, America’s space program raced forward with Gemini flights in Earth orbit while new facilities were built to meet President John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the Moon. During that time, NASA provided an opportunity to view work going on inside the gates of the agency’s Kennedy Space Center. In years to come, the visitor complex became one of the premier attractions in Florida.
In the decade after the first rocket lifted off into the skies above Cape Canaveral, the launch site became the focal point of America’s efforts to explore beyond Earth. To meet President John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the Moon, a expansive new site was needed. That location became NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, a premier multi-user spaceport now commemorating its 60th anniversary.
Marianna Triplett was working at the Pentagon, continuing the effort to transfer millions of men and women back to civilian life after they served in the military during World War II. One day during 1948, a U.S. Army general called her into his office and said he wanted to transfer her to Florida to assist with a “hush-hush secret program.” The new effort building Cape Canaveral Space Force Station would lead to some of the most historic achievements of the decades to come.