NASA History

35 Years Ago: NASA Selects its 13th Group of Astronauts

On Jan. 17, 1990, NASA announced the selection of its 13th group of astronaut candidates. The diverse group comprised 23 candidates – seven pilots and 16 mission specialists. The group included one African American, one Asian American, and five women including the first female pilot and the first Hispanic woman. Following one year of astronaut […]

Posted January 17, 2025

NASA History

Events

Aerospace Latin America: A History

2025 Seminar Series Throughout 2025, the NASA History Office is presenting a seminar series on the topic of Aerospace Latin America.

Posted January 16, 2025

Johnson Space Center

Apollo-Soyuz

NASA History

50 Years Ago: Preparing the Final Saturn Rocket for Flight

With the historic first international space docking mission only six months away, preparations on the ground for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) intensified. At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, workers in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) stacked the rocket for the mission, the final Saturn rocket assembled for flight.

Posted January 15, 2025

Johnson Space Center

NASA History

55 Years Ago: Apollo 13 Prepares for Third Moon Landing

Following the historic year of 1969 that saw two successful Moon landings, 1970 opened on a more sober note. Ever-tightening federal budgets forced NASA to rescope its future lunar landing plans. The need for a Saturn V to launch an experimental space station in 1972 forced the cancellation of the final Moon landing mission and […]

Posted January 13, 2025

Ames Research Center

General

NASA Centers & Facilities

NASA History

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)

NASA’s Ames Research Center Celebrates 85 Years of Innovation

Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley pre-dates a lot of things. The center existed before NASA – the very space and aeronautics agency it’s a critical part of today. And of all the marvelous advancements in science and technology that have fundamentally changed our lives over the last 85 years since its founding, one aspect […]

Posted December 20, 2024

Ames Research Center

General

NASA Centers & Facilities

NASA History

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)

Media Invited to Speak to NASA Ames Experts – Celebrating 85 Years

NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, is celebrating 85 years of cutting-edge research and development in space, life sciences, supercomputing, aeronautics, and more for the benefit of humanity.

Posted December 17, 2024

Helios 1

Missions

NASA History

50 Years Ago: Launch of Helios 1 to Explore the Sun

On Dec. 10, 1974, NASA launched Helios 1, the first of two spacecraft to make close observations of the Sun. In one of the largest international efforts at the time, the Federal Republic of Germany, also known as West Germany, provided the spacecraft, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, had overall responsibility for […]

Posted December 10, 2024

NASA History

Astronauts

Former Astronauts

People of NASA

30 Years Ago: NASA Selects its 15th Group of Astronauts

On Dec. 8, 1994, NASA announced the selection of its 15th group of astronauts. The diverse group comprised 19 candidates – 10 pilots and nine mission specialists, and included five women, two African Americans, one Asian American, and the first Peruvian-born and Indian-born astronauts.

Posted December 10, 2024

Johnson Space Center

NASA Centers & Facilities

NASA History

10 Years Ago: Orion Flies its First Mission

A new American human-rated spacecraft made its first foray into space on Dec. 5, 2014. Under contract to NASA, Lockheed Martin builds Orion as the vehicle to take American astronauts back to the Moon and eventually beyond. Orion’s overall shape harkens back to the Apollo Command and Service Modules, but using today’s technology is a […]

Posted December 6, 2024

Johnson Space Center

NASA Centers & Facilities

NASA History

Thanksgiving Celebrations in Space

The Thanksgiving holiday typically brings families and friends together in a celebration of common gratitude for all the good things that have happened during the previous year. People celebrate the holiday in various ways, with parades, football marathons, and attending services, but food remains the over-arching theme.

Posted November 28, 2024