This is the second of a two-part series on the history of commercial flight. For years, aerospace corporations took the world to the skies. Now these companies and more are supporting efforts well beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. The Space Age began on Oct. 4, 1957, with the launch of the Sputnik satellite by the Soviet Union. An American satellite, Explorer 1, soon followed, with plans for sending humans into space in the near future.
The Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, is the most recognizable structure at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. It is so big, it can be seen from miles away. Now that the center is a premier, multi-user spaceport, industry partners soon will share the facility. It also is the only building in the world where human spaceflight rockets have been prepared for trips to low-Earth orbit, the Moon and — in the future – to Mars.
When NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover launched it marked the continuation of exploration of one of Earth’s nearest celestial neighbors that began 56 years ago. During that time, a fleet of robotic spacecraft and rovers have landed on and orbited the Red Planet. Collectively, they have dramatically increased the knowledge base about Mars, helping pave the way for future human pioneers.
NASA’s Perseverance rover is part of the agency’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. Lift off is scheduled for 7:50 a.m. EDT, July 30, 2020 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Mars Perseverance mission goals include answering questions about the potential for life on the Red Planet.
A new era of human spaceflight launched at 3:22 p.m. EDT on May 30, 2020 as American astronauts once again lifted off on an American rocket from American soil headed for the International Space Station. The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully docked at the International Space Station the next day.
NASA has scheduled the first piloted flight launched by the United States since the final Space Shuttle mission in July 2011. The SpaceX Demonstration Mission-2 returns a human space flight capability to American soil for the first time in nine years ending the nation’s reliance on Russia to transport crews to the International Space Station.
Employees at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center work in high-tech facilities alongside hundreds of wildlife species in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The diverse, 144,000-acre landscape provides a habitat for hundreds of species of wildlife and plants. This feature includes photos of numerous types of animals that live at the Florida spaceport.
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.
What was to have been America’s third lunar landing in April 1970, became a struggle to safely return the crew after an oxygen tank explosion crippled the crew’s spacecraft. During a reunion of key players involved in the Apollo 13 mission, they recalled what has been termed “NASA’s finest hour.”
In Greek mythology, Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo. Artemis now is the name of NASA’s program to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024. In honor of Women’s History Month, musician Lindsey Stirling performed her composition, “Artemis,” on the roof of the Launch Control Center at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center.