Tag: NASA History

40 Years Ago: STS-41C, the Solar Max Repair Mission

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On Apr. 6, 1984, space shuttle Challenger took off on its fifth flight, STS-41C. Its five-person crew of Commander Robert L. “Crip” Crippen, Pilot Francis R. “Dick” Scobee, and Mission Specialists Terry J. “TJ” Hart, James D. “Ox” Van Hoften, and George D. “Pinky Nelson flew a seven-day mission that expanded the shuttle’s capabilities. They deployed the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF), the largest and heaviest shuttle payload up to that time. They retrieved, repaired, and redeployed the failing Solar Max satellite in a highly complex choreography of rendezvous and…

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65 Years Ago: NASA Selects America’s First Astronauts

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On Nov. 5, 1958, NASA, newly established to lead America’s civilian space program, formally established the Space Task Group (STG) at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to implement one of the nation’s top priorities – to develop a spacecraft capable of sending humans into space and returning them safely to Earth. In January 1959, the STG selected a contractor to build the spacecraft for Project Mercury and began the process of choosing who would fly the spacecraft. President Dwight D. Eisenhower directed NASA to choose its first astronauts…

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US House of Representatives Columbia Accident Documents

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5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) House Representative Statements The following are some of the statements made by Representatives regarding the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia. February 1, 2003: Representative Sherwood Boehlert PRESS RELEASEDate Released: Saturday, February 01, 2003House Science Committee Boehlert Statement on Space Shuttle Columbia Tragedy WASHINGTON, D.C. —House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) today released the following statement on the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy:  “We are in a period of national mourning.  Our prayers are dedicated to the heroic crew of the Columbia…

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45 Years Ago: Space Shuttle Columbia Arrives at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

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On March 24, 1979, space shuttle Columbia arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the very first time. Following Presidential direction to build the space shuttle in 1972, Congress quickly approved and funded the program later that year. Construction of the first orbital vehicle, later named Columbia, began in 1975. Four years later, Columbia completed its first transcontinental flight, arriving at KSC to begin preparations for its first mission. The first shuttle flight in April 1981 ushered in an era of reusable space transportation. Left: NASA Administrator James C.…

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More Planets than Stars: Kepler’s Legacy

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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Kepler mission enabled the discovery of thousands of exoplanets, revealing a deep truth about our place in the cosmos: there are more planets than stars in the Milky Way galaxy. The road to this fundamental change in our understanding of the universe, however, required almost 20 years of persistence before the mission became a reality with its selection in 2001. The Kepler spacecraft at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado. The Kepler mission surveyed a region…

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65 Years Ago: Pioneer 4 Reaches for the Moon

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On March 3, 1959, the United States launched Pioneer 4 with the goal of photographing the Moon during a close flyby. As part of the International Geophysical Year that ran from July 1, 1957, to Dec. 31, 1958, the United States planned to send five probes to study the Moon. The first three planned to orbit the Moon, while the last two simpler probes planned to photograph it during flybys. After NASA opened for business in October 1958, the new space agency inherited the Pioneer program from the Advanced Research…

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Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women Astronauts 2024

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“A bird cannot fly with one wing only. Human space flight cannot develop any further without the active participation of women.” – Valentina Tereshkova “If we want scientists and engineers in the future, we should be cultivating the girls as much as the boys.” – Sally Ride “International cooperation is very necessary. Chinese have a saying, ‘When all the people collect the wood, you will make a great fire.’” – Liu Yang As of Feb. 29, 2024, 75 women have flown in space. Of these, 47 have worked on the…

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30 Years Ago: Clementine Changes Our View of the Moon

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In 1994, a joint NASA and Department of Defense (DOD) mission called Clementine dramatically changed our view of the Moon. As the first U.S. mission to the Moon in more than two decades, Clementine’s primary objectives involved technology demonstrations to test lightweight component and sensor performance. The lightweight sensors aboard the spacecraft returned 1.6 million digital images, providing the first global multispectral and topographic maps of the Moon. Data from a radar instrument indicated that large quantities of water ice may lie in permanently shadowed craters at lunar south pole,…

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NASA Goddard’s Beginnings in Project Vanguard

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3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) In the dawn of the Space Age, a group of scientists and engineers from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) had their eye on a new frontier: the uncharted expanse of space. Project Vanguard, initiated in 1955, aimed to launch the first American satellite into Earth orbit as part of the International Geophysical Year (July 1957 to December 1958). Led by NRL, it envisioned a three-stage rocket design and emphasized scientific instrumentation over military application while showcasing American ingenuity. Despite…

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The Iconic Photos from STS-41B: Documenting the First Untethered Spacewalk

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4 Min Read The Iconic Photos from STS-41B: Documenting the First Untethered Spacewalk Astronaut Bruce McCandless II, STS-41B mission specialist, reaches his maximum distance from space shuttle Challenger before returning to the spacecraft using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU). Credits: NASA As astronaut Bruce McCandless II flew the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) out of the space shuttle Challenger’s payload bay for the first time on February 7, 1984, many in the agency were fearful about the use of a self-propelled and untethered backpack in space.  (Previous spacewalkers remained connected to…

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