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Soyuz TMA-11M rocket launches from Baikonur (1)

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At 1543 hrs (Est), a McDonnell Douglas Delta II 7925 vehicle launched the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft for NASA from Launch Pad 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Station

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Northrop Grumman Antares CRS-10 Launch (NHQ201811170014)

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Mercury Project - The launch of the Little Joe booster for the LJ1B mission

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Mercury Project - Astronaut John Glenn enters the Mercury spacecraft

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NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Spacecraft

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NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft

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Little Joe (LJ6) Launch, NASA Mercury project

description

Summary

Description: Launching of the LJ6 Little Joe on October 4, 1959 took place at Wallops Island, Va. This was the first attempt to launch an instrumented capsule with a Little Joe booster. Only the LJ1A and the LJ6 used the space metal/chevron plates as heat reflector shields, as they kept shattering. Photograph published in Winds of Change, 75th Anniversary NASA publication, page 77, by James Schultz **note - see L60-104 page 77 also...UID: SPD-NIX-EL-1996-0006 8

The Space Race began with a shock to the American public when the Soviet satellite Sputnik was launched in 1957. United states created NASA accelerate U.S. space exploration efforts and launched the Explorer 1 satellite in 1958. The Soviet Union was first again when it puts the first human, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, into a single orbit on April 12, 1961. Shortly after this, on May 5, the U.S. launched Alan Shepard, on a suborbital flight and reached its orbital goal on February 20, 1962, when John Glenn made three orbits around the Earth in the Mercury capsule. The Mercury space capsule was a pressurized cabin produced by McDonnell Aircraft and carried supplies of water, food, and oxygen for about one day. Mercury was launched on a top of modified Atlas D ballistic missiles. The capsule was fitted with a launch escape rocket to carry it safely away from the launch vehicle in case of a failure. Small retrorockets were used to bring the spacecraft out of its orbit, after which an ablative heat shield protected it from the heat of atmospheric reentry. Finally, a parachute slowed the craft for a water landing. Both astronaut and capsule were recovered by helicopters deployed from a U.S. Navy ship. The Mercury project missions were followed by millions on radio and TV around the world. Its success laid the groundwork for Project Gemini, which carried two astronauts in each capsule and perfected space docking maneuvers essential for manned lunar landings in the Apollo program announced just a few weeks after the first manned Mercury launch.

NASA Photo Collection

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aviation aerospace spaceflight manned spaceflight national aeronautics and space administration project mercury mercury project mercury mercury atlas ma mcdonnell aircraft mcdonnell aircraft corporation mercury capsule rocket north american aviation naa little joe little joe 6 lj 6 wallops island lj 6 little joe little joe booster heat reflector shields anniversary nasa publication l 60 104 page first attempt chevron plates page james schultz rocket engines rocket technology nasa
date_range

Date

1959
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in collections

Project Mercury

The first human spaceflight program of the United States.

NASA

NASA Photo Collection
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Source

NASA
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Link

https://www.flickr.com/
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No known copyright restrictions. Read more at https://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/

label_outline Explore Mcdonnell Aircraft, Mcdonnell Aircraft Corporation, Manned Spaceflight

AST-05-314 - Apollo Soyuz Test Project - Apollo Soyuz Test Project, MA-148 Equipment, Tunnel Door Aiar

Gemini 3 final inspection, NASA Gemini program

STS075-398-008 - STS-075 - Forced-Flow Flamespreading Test (FFFT)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- This is an artist's conception of the Liberty Launch Vehicle under development by Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) of Promontory, Utah, for NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP). In 2011, NASA and ATK entered into an unfunded Space Act Agreement during Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) activities to mature the design and development of a crew transportation system with the overall goal of accelerating a United States-led capability to the International Space Station. The goal of CCP is to drive down the cost of space travel as well as open up space to more people than ever before by balancing industry’s own innovative capabilities with NASA's 50 years of human spaceflight experience. Six other aerospace companies also are maturing launch vehicle and spacecraft designs under CCDev2, including Blue Origin, The Boeing Co., Excalibur Almaz Inc., Sierra Nevada Corp., Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), and United Launch Alliance (ULA). For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew. Image credit: Alliant Techsystems Inc. KSC-2011-8113

STS075-398-020 - STS-075 - Forced-Flow Flamespreading Test (FFFT)

Mars Climate Orbiter, JPL/NASA images

STS075-398-018 - STS-075 - Forced-Flow Flamespreading Test (FFFT)

Orb3 Antares Rollout. NASA public domain image colelction.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - A glow appears beneath the Boeing Delta II rocket as it begins liftoff with its payload, the MESSENGER spacecraft, on top. Liftoff occurred on time at 2:15:56 a.m. EDT from Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) is on a seven-year, 4.9-billion-mile journey to the planet Mercury. The spacecraft will fly by Earth, Venus and Mercury several times, as well as circling the sun 15 times, to burn off energy before making its final approach to the inner planet on March 18, 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. KSC-04pd1631

Part of the cowling for one of the motors for a B-25 bomber is assembled in the engine department of North American [Aviation, Inc.]'s Inglewood, Calif., plant

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, external fuel tank, ET-138, for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-135 mission, is lowered into high bay-1 for joining with the twin solid rocket boosters on the mobile launcher platform. Shuttle Atlantis' move, or "rollover," from Orbiter Processing Facility-1 to the VAB is targeted for May 10. Once there it will be mated with the external tank and boosters. Atlantis and its crew of four will deliver the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts to the International Space Station. STS-135 is targeted to launch June 28, and will be the last spaceflight for the Space Shuttle Program. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2011-3043

Antares Orbital-3 Mission. NASA public domain image colelction.

Topics

aviation aerospace spaceflight manned spaceflight national aeronautics and space administration project mercury mercury project mercury mercury atlas ma mcdonnell aircraft mcdonnell aircraft corporation mercury capsule rocket north american aviation naa little joe little joe 6 lj 6 wallops island lj 6 little joe little joe booster heat reflector shields anniversary nasa publication l 60 104 page first attempt chevron plates page james schultz rocket engines rocket technology nasa