Each year during mid-July, space historians celebrate one of the most momentous events of the 20th Century. For the first time, humans left Earth to land on the Moon. Many nations around the world have extensively celebrated the mission of Apollo 11 on postage stamps. In the United States, the most iconic commemoratives include works of art by a father and son team – Paul and Chris Calle.
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.
Before the middle of the 20th Century, Cape Canaveral was a little-known point of land on the East Coast of Florida. But, by the 1960s the Cape was the focal point for America’s efforts to explore and utilize space. A name change and establishment of a separate civilian space center resulted in continuing confusion.
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.
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.
During America’s first human spaceflight program, the eyes of the world often focused on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. As the nation’s Project Mercury astronauts were taking their pioneering steps into space, a centerpiece facility in this effort for astronaut training, crew quarters and spacecraft processing was Hangar S at the Cape.
Project Gemini is often referred to as the “bridge to the Moon.” It spanned the period between Project Mercury, America’s first efforts to determine if humans could survive in space, and the Apollo lunar landing flights. Looking back across a half-century, Gemini proved to be a bridge to the future.