***** We celebrate their firsts and celebrate them as the first to fly to the outer fringes of the solar… Read more Forty years ago: First beyond the planets

Al Shepard had a capsule, a name for it, and a goal — at least three days in space in… Read more Sixty years ago: Project Mercury’s final moment

Skylab repairs complete: With its three-panel solar wing fully extended after a spacewalk by the first crew, a full scientific… Read more 50 years ago: Skylab II powers ahead

Fifty years ago, May 25, 1973: The first crew inspects the Skylab space station upon arrival. The Apollo Telescope Mount… Read more Saving Skylab: The launch of the first crew

May 16, 1963: Faith 7 (Mercury-Atlas 9) descends towards splashdown in the Pacific after a 34-hour flight. ***** It’s May… Read more Sixty years ago: a dramatic end to the longest Mercury

May 15, 1963: Mercury-Atlas 9 with Gordon Cooper aboard aims at a flight in excess of one day. ***** Ten… Read more Sixty years ago: Project Mercury reaches for its ultimate goal

May 14, 1973: Skylab, America’s first space station, lifts off cleanly on the last Saturn V. But a minute later… Read more 50 years ago: Skylab launches towards near disaster

April 9, 1983: Challenger rolls to a stop completing its maiden voyage, STS-6, escorted by a chase plane. ***** Wake… Read more Forty years ago: Challenger completes first flight

April 7, 1983: Story Musgrave (left) tests the dynamics of his tether while Don Peterson moves along the handrails along… Read more Forty years ago: STS-6 conducts the first Shuttle spacewalk

The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) riding its white upper stage floats away from STS-6/Challenger. ***** While the crew… Read more Forty years ago: Saving the first TDRS satellite