Founded October 1, 1958, NASA has accomplished many feats over the past 50 years. From putting the first primate in space, to the first man on the moon, NASA has done things that no man had previously done before. While they might not have been the first program to accomplish some of these feats, what they have done will go down in history forever. On May 5, 1961, the first American sent into space was Alan B. Shepard Jr. This was done in his Mercury space capsule. The first U.S. astronaut to orbit Earth was John H. Glenn Jr. This was February 20, 1962. These were both part of Project Mercury, which had a total of six flights. Project Gemini happened after the successful flights of Project Mercury. It had a total of ten flights. A flight date
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Kennedy’s wish to land a man on the moon. Neil Armstrong was part of the Apollo 11 mission. The Apollo 11 is one of the most memorable missions to this day. There was five more successful lunar landing missions to follow. On the Apollo 13, crew members had to improvise after oxygen tanks burst halfway to the moon. The Apollo 17 was the final Apollo mission. This concluded a scientific and engineering program, which was successful. The Soviet Union and NASA teamed up and accomplished the first international human spaceflight in 1975. It was called the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). The two countries met in space to conduct experiments after each country launched their own ship. NASA came back in 1981 and continued in human spaceflight with space shuttles. On April 12,1981, STS-1 showed the a shuttle could take off vertically, but land horizontally, like an airplane. STS-7 had the first woman ever to fly in space. This historic moment happened on June 18, 1983. After many successes after coming back in 1981 and no fatal accidents for over 10 years, the Challenger accident broke the streak. 7 people were killed after an explosion happened in the fuel tank of the rocket boosters 73 seconds after the shuttle had first launched. For over 2 years, the shuttle program stayed grounded. They improved safety on the ships by redesigning the rocket boosters. NASA made any attempts that they could to ensure the safety of their
Kennedy’s wish to land a man on the moon. Neil Armstrong was part of the Apollo 11 mission. The Apollo 11 is one of the most memorable missions to this day. There was five more successful lunar landing missions to follow. On the Apollo 13, crew members had to improvise after oxygen tanks burst halfway to the moon. The Apollo 17 was the final Apollo mission. This concluded a scientific and engineering program, which was successful. The Soviet Union and NASA teamed up and accomplished the first international human spaceflight in 1975. It was called the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). The two countries met in space to conduct experiments after each country launched their own ship. NASA came back in 1981 and continued in human spaceflight with space shuttles. On April 12,1981, STS-1 showed the a shuttle could take off vertically, but land horizontally, like an airplane. STS-7 had the first woman ever to fly in space. This historic moment happened on June 18, 1983. After many successes after coming back in 1981 and no fatal accidents for over 10 years, the Challenger accident broke the streak. 7 people were killed after an explosion happened in the fuel tank of the rocket boosters 73 seconds after the shuttle had first launched. For over 2 years, the shuttle program stayed grounded. They improved safety on the ships by redesigning the rocket boosters. NASA made any attempts that they could to ensure the safety of their