Space Exploration

Space exploration, one of the greatest technological achievements in human history, has included the Apollo missions, the launch of the Hubble Telescope and the Space Shuttle missions, among others. These endeavors have been carried out by determined and courageous men and women.

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Author Charles Fishman talks about how the Apollo 11 astronauts discovered one strange thing about the moon, that it has a smell.

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History.com Space Exploration Collage

Illustration by Eduardo Ramón Trejo. Photos from Getty Images.

Featured Overview

Author Charles Fishman talks about how the Apollo 11 astronauts discovered one strange thing about the moon, that it has a smell.

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The Amazing Handmade Tech That Powered Apollo 11’s Moon Voyage

Yes, there was rocket science. But there were also extraordinary amounts of low-tech weaving, stitching and caulking.

The human computers pose for a group photo in 1953.

These ground-breaking female mathematicians, engineers and scientists produced calculations crucial to the success of NASA's early space missions.

Since the Apollo missions began, space programs have offered a unique perspective on our home planet.

The Challenger lifting off Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 11:38 a.m. on January 28, 1986. (Credit: NASA/AP)

Seven lives were lost as communications failed in the face of public pressure to proceed with the launch despite dangerously cold conditions.

NASA’s Early Years

NASA's Early Years

In 1958, NASA was founded and quickly took up the goal of sending a man into Earth's orbit -- and safely returning him home. Seven men were chosen for Project Mercury, embarking on years of training to prepare for a journey no one had made before.

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Space Exploration
Blue-and-white orb of the earth in the vast blackness of space hanging over the crater-pocked surface of the moon

NASA astronaut Bill Anders snapped the awe-inspiring view.

Human waste on the moon.

The moon is scattered with buggies, memorabilia and even human waste that astronauts left behind—some intentionally, others out of necessity—during the Apollo era.

Dr. Farouk El-Baz, an Egyptian American scientist and geologist, played a crucial role in helping NASA plan the Apollo program and deepen its understanding of the moon.

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An image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope capturing a galaxy.

In the late 1920s, astronomer Edwin Hubble pointed a mountaintop telescope at distant clusters in the night sky, and made a startling observation.

Astronaut Neil Armstrong, Commander of NASA's Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, photographed at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) in Houston, Texas, July 1969.

Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) was an American astronaut who became the first human to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969, as part of the Apollo 11 mission.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin inside the Apollo 11 prior to the lunar landing on July 20, 1969. (Credit: NASA)

Buzz Aldrin is a former American fighter pilot and astronaut best known for his involvement in the historic Apollo 11 mission that first put a man on the moon.

The launch of NASA's Apollo 17 spacecraft from Pad A, Launch Complex 39 of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, 7th December 1972.

The Apollo program’s sixth human landing on the moon ended an epic chapter in space exploration.

Since the Apollo missions began, space programs have offered a unique perspective on our home planet.

What Went Wrong on Apollo 13?

It was supposed to be the third-ever moon landing. It turned into a rescue mission.

Author Charles Fishman talks about secret recordings between JFK and NASA administrators.

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Author Charles Fishman discusses how critical parts of the Apollo program relied on handcrafted materials – even the computers!

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Author Charles Fishman reflects on how the echoes of the Apollo program are felt in today's space race, and what the future of space exploration has in store.

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Author Charles Fishman discusses how the Apollo 11 astronauts almost didn't bring a flag to the moon.

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Author Charles Fishman talks about how the Apollo 11 astronauts discovered one strange thing about the moon, that it has a smell.

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Until 1989, Russians claimed they were not trying to reach the Moon first and that the U.S. was in “a one-nation race."

Apollo 11

The astronaut crew had to troubleshoot a series of problems throughout the historic 1969 flight.

Why did JFK promise to put a man on the moon? Was it just to beat the Soviets? Learn about the events that led to the creation of the Apollo Program.

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In 1958, NASA was founded and quickly took up the goal of sending a man into Earth's orbit -- and safely returning him home. Seven men were chosen for Project Mercury, embarking on years of training to prepare for a journey no one had made before.

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Astronaut Buzz Aldrin inside the Apollo 11 prior to the lunar landing on July 20, 1969. (Credit: NASA)

NASA worried the Christian ceremony might draw unwanted scrutiny.

Is there life on Mars?

Our fascination with alien life on the red planet began long ago.

Flag flies at half-staff at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral on the day after seven astronauts died in the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia on its way to a landing in Florida.

The U.S.-Soviet space race had many notable successes, but some deadly catastrophes, too.

NASA's InSight mission, which will dig into the planet's core, is the latest to explore for signs of life on the red planet.

The Challenger lifting off Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 11:38 a.m. on January 28, 1986. (Credit: NASA/AP)

Seven lives were lost as communications failed in the face of public pressure to proceed with the launch despite dangerously cold conditions.

People walk past an F.W. Woolworth five and dime store on a city street, 1940s.

These aspiring astronauts were part of the little-known 'Mercury 13' program.

John Glenn looks into a Celestial Training Device during training in 1961.

At the beginning of the U.S. space program, NASA's selection process sought men who weren't too tall, could handle pressure and isolation.

Grissom, White, and Chaffee in front of the launch pad containing their Apollo 1 space vehicle.

NASA’s first fatal spacecraft accident happened not in deep space but right on the launch pad.

The human computers pose for a group photo in 1953.

These ground-breaking female mathematicians, engineers and scientists produced calculations crucial to the success of NASA's early space missions.

John Glenn (Credit: NASA)

Check out seven things you might not know about John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.

Halley's Comet

The famous comet named for astronomer Edmond Halley only passes by the Earth roughly once every 76 years, but its appearances have often played a surprising role in historical events.

IN SPACE - JULY 14: In this handout provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Pluto nearly fills the frame in this image from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, taken on July 13, 2015, when the spacecraft was 476,000 miles (768,000 kilometers) from the surface. This is the last and most detailed image sent to Earth before the spacecraft's closest approach to Pluto. New Horizons spacecraft is nearing its July 14 fly-by when it will close to a distance of about 7,800 miles (12,500 kilometers). The 1,050-pound piano sized probe, which was launched January 19, 2006 aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, is traveling 30,800 mph as it approaches. (Photo by NASA/APL/SwRI via Getty Images)

Look back at the controversial decision to give Pluto the pink slip and shrink the solar system from nine planets to eight.

Little-Known Facts About the Moon Landing

Explore 10 surprising facts about the most ambitious project in the history of the space program.

Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin, taken during his visit to Admiralty House where he met Harold Macmillan. (Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

Seven years after becoming the first man to fly into outer space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin died in a plane crash under mysterious circumstances.

The Chinese spacecraft is the first to ever land on this unexplored area of the moon.

On Christmas Eve 1968, Apollo 8’s astronauts captivated the world with a live broadcast from lunar orbit.

Collage of some planets in the solar system.

Most are named after Roman gods and goddesses.

Laika, the first dog in space, in the sputnik 2 capsule. (Photo by: Sovfoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Though far less famous than later non-human astronauts, the first animals in space were a group of fruit flies, launched to an altitude of 42 miles at the tip of a V-2 rocket, developed and used by the Germans during World War II and later by American military scientists on February 20, 1947. The flies, […]

IN SPACE: (FILE PHOTO) In this handout from the National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA), the Hubble Space Telescope drifts through space in a picture taken from the Space Shuttle Discovery during Hubble?s second servicing mission in 1997. NASA annouced October 31, 2006 that hte space agency would send a space shuttle to the Hubble Telescope for a fifth repair mission no earlier than May of 2008. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)

Get the lowdown on the telescope that helped revolutionize humanity’s understanding of the cosmos.

Apollo 13

What was supposed to be the third space mission to land on the moon ended in disaster. But NASA learned from its mistakes.

buran, soviet union, space shuttle

On the 25th anniversary of the launch of Buran, look back at the one and only flight of the Soviet version of the space shuttle.

Earthlings have entertained many theories about the moon throughout history.

From Sputnik to Spacewalking: 7 Soviet Space Firsts

On the anniversary of Sputnik's launch, explore seven of the Soviet Union’s firsts in the history of space exploration.

Surface of Mars, taken by Viking 1. The round areas are impact craters where asteroids have hit the planet. 1975.

As NASA’s rover Curiosity continues the quest to find life on Mars, explore five key events that piqued the public interest in the Red Planet.

Skylab floats above Earth in February 1974.

The world celebrated, feared and commercialized the spectacular return of America's first space station.

On April 12, 1981, NASA launched the first space shuttle into orbit.

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As new research casts doubt on a leading theory about how the moon came into being, explore various lunar formation models.

HISTORY: Apollo 13

Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the Apollo Space program (1961-1975) and the third lunar landing mission, though the three astronauts aboard never reached the moon and scrambled to survive what became a hair-raising rescue mission.

Pilot Michael Collins adjusts the helmet of his space suit in the Ready Room at Cape Kennedy in Florida, before NASA's Gemini 10 mission, July 1966. (Photo by Space Frontiers/Getty Images)

In 1969, Michael Collins was part of the historic Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Known as the "forgotten astronaut," Collins remained in the command module as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon.