NASA History

55 Years Ago: Six Months Until the Moon Landing

The new year of 1969 dawned with optimism that NASA would meet President John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. The previous year saw four Apollo missions, two uncrewed and two carrying three astronauts each, test different components of the lunar landing architecture, culminating […]

Posted January 19, 2024

NASA History

50 Years Ago: Skylab 4 Astronauts Begin Record-Breaking Third Month in Space

In space since their launch on Nov. 16, 1973, Skylab 4 astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue began the new year of 1974 roughly halfway through their planned 84-day mission. By the end of January, the three rookies held the records for the longest single space flight and the most […]

Posted January 11, 2024

NASA History

10 Years Ago: The First Operational Cygnus Cargo Mission to the Space Station

To replace the cargo and crew transportation services to and from the International Space Station following the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011, the United States developed a novel approach to procure those services from American commercial entities. On Jan.

Posted January 10, 2024

Deep Space Network

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA History

Space Communications & Navigation Program

NASA’s Deep Space Network Turns 60 and Prepares for the Future

Editor’s Note: Text regarding the name of JPL’s first ground stations was updated on Dec. 27, 2023. The agency’s DSN provides critical communications and navigation services to dozens of space missions, and it’s being modernized to support dozens more. NASA’s Deep Space Network marks its 60th year on Dec. 24.

Posted December 22, 2023

NASA History

Apollo 8

Frank Borman

Humans in Space

An Apollo 8 Christmas Dinner Surprise: Turkey and Gravy Make Space History

On Christmas Day in 1968, the three-man Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders found a surprise in their food locker: a specially packed Christmas dinner wrapped in foil and decorated with red and green ribbons. Something as simple as a “home-cooked meal,” or as close as NASA could get for […]

Posted December 22, 2023

NASA History

Apollo

55 Years Ago: Seven Months Before the Moon Landing

December 1968 ended a year more turbulent than most. For the American space program, however, it brought the Moon landing one giant step closer. The successful first lunar orbital flight by Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, and William A. Anders proved the space worthiness of the Apollo Command and Service Modules (CSM) […]

Posted December 20, 2023

NASA History

Skylab

50 Years Ago: Skylab 4 Astronauts Push Past the One-Month Mark

In December 1973, Skylab 4 astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue passed the one-month mark of the third and final mission aboard the Skylab space station. Launching on Nov. 16, they began a planned 56-day flight that mission managers fully expected to extend to 84 days. They continued the science […]

Posted December 18, 2023

NASA History

120 Years Ago: The First Powered Flight at Kitty Hawk

On Dec. 17, 1903, humanity’s long-held dream of flying came true. Ideas of flying date back centuries, from the Greek legend of Icarus and Daedalus, to kite flying in China, to the development of hydrogen-filled balloons in 18th century France, to early experiments with gliders in 19th century England and Germany. Around the turn of […]

Posted December 14, 2023

NASA History

Airborne Science

DC-8

Earth Science

Earth Science Division

NASA Aircraft

Contributions of the DC-8 to Earth System Science at NASA: A Workshop

Call for Papers Date: August 13–14, 2024Location: Washington, D.C. Jointly organized by the NASA History Office and the Earth Science Division, this workshop seeks to document the important contributions of airborne campaigns implemented on NASA’s DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory.

Posted December 11, 2023

NASA History

International Space Station (ISS)

25 Years Ago: NASA, Partners Begin Space Station Assembly

NASA is marking 25 years since the first two elements of the International Space Station were launched and joined in space. Today, the space station remains a global endeavor with 273 people from 21 countries now having visited the microgravity laboratory and has hosted more than 3,700 research and educational investigations from people in 108 […]

Posted December 7, 2023