The first spacecraft to approach the planet Saturn was launched 50 years ago on a 1.5 billion mile trip to Earth’s distant neighbor. During its 22-year mission, Pioneer 11 studied the asteroid belt, the solar wind, cosmic rays and the environment around the planets Jupiter and Saturn. The probe was part of the United States’ efforts leading the reconnaissance of each planet in the solar system.
Between May 15 and 16, 1963, 60 years ago, NASA astronaut Gordon Cooper flew the longest American human spaceflight to date. The goal of Project Mercury was to determine if people could survive the rigors of riding a rocket to orbit around the Earth and, once there, perform useful work. Cooper not only demonstrated humans could, he demonstrated his expert piloting skills by performing a pinpoint landing after many of the spacecraft systems failed.
Three veteran space program communicators recently were honored at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for their contributions delivering U.S. space exploration news and information to the American people and the world. During the May 1, 2023 ceremony at the Florida Spaceport’s News Center, the names of Bob Granath, Red Huber and Mark Kramer were added to the facility’s “Chroniclers wall” — a communicators’ “hall of fame.”
As clouds of smoke billowed into the air, the first Space Shuttle rose from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 12, 1981. The agency’s Space Shuttle team overcame years of setbacks and delays. The result was a first flight that met all the goals set for the mission. When astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen landed Columbia at Edwards Air Force Base two days later, it was called a “textbook flight.”
“Six, five, four, we’ve gone for main engine start and we have liftoff of America’s first Space Shuttle,” said NASA launch commentator Hugh Harris as more than a decade of development culminated with the dawn of a new era of spaceflight. John Young and Bob Crippen lifted off aboard Columbia on April 12, 1981. The Space Shuttle was an idea born in the closing days of the 1960s race to the Moon. The concept had many technological hurdles to overcome. After numerous delays, it became a triumph of American technology and engineering.
When retired Kennedy Space Center engineer and NASA astronaut Nicole Stott spoke to spaceport employees in 2015, she encouraged women at the center to take full advantage of expanding opportunities for people of diverse backgrounds. Women now are filling some of the most crucial roles in the agency’s Artemis Program. That effort is designed to establish long-term lunar science and exploration capabilities on the Moon and inspire the next generation of explorers.
When NASA’s Kennedy Space Center became operational in the summer of 1962, very few woman held jobs beyond secretarial or housekeeping positions. Today, they serve in leadership posts, engineering jobs and other key roles alongside their male counterparts. Retired spaceport engineer and NASA astronaut Nicole Stott spoke to employees at the Florida spaceport inspiring women to take full advantages of opportunities now offered.
After a nearly six-month science mission aboard the International Space Station, the Crew-5 astronauts returned to Earth splashing down off the coast of Tampa, Florida at 9:02 p.m. EST on March 11, 2023. The Crew Dragon spacecraft autonomously undocked and departed the orbiting laboratory returning the four crew members and time-sensitive research samples.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has launched another diverse crew of astronauts for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station. The company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off into the pre-dawn sky from Launch Complex 39A at NASA‘s Kennedy Space Center on March 2, 2023. The Crew-6 mission includes two NASA astronauts: mission commander Stephen Bowen and pilot Woody Hoburg. They were joined by mission specialists Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev of Russia.
Hugh Harris, a former director of Public Affairs at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, died Feb. 14, 2023 at the age of 90. He worked in increasingly responsible roles for the space agency from 1963 until his retirement in 1998. Harris was known as the “Voice of NASA” for early Space Shuttle missions, but his career covered much more.