Project Mercury 1959-1963 3
Project Mercury 1959-1963 Project Mercury was America s first manned space program. It had three main goals: to orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth; to see if humans could function in space; and to return the astronaut and spacecraft safely to Earth. It was during Project Mercury that the first astronaut class was chosen. Known as the Mercury 7, NASA choose seven astronauts from a group of 110 military pilots. There were 20 unmanned flights that were used to test and develop different parts of the launch vehicles and computer systems. There were six manned flights during the Mercury program. The Mercury capsule was designed to hold one astronaut. It was a very tight fit for the astronaut, as noted by the astronaut John Glenn. Glenn stated, You don t climb into the Mercury spacecraft, you put it on. On May 5, 1961, America s first astronaut in space was Alan Shepard, Jr. His trip to space lasted a total of 15 min and 28 sec. The Russians had sent the first man to space, Yuri Gagarian, one month earlier than the United States. There were five additional missions after Alan Shepard including John Glenn s first flight that orbited Earth on February 20, 1962. Project Mercury was considered successful and laid the groundwork for the Gemini and Apollo programs. 4
Project Gemini 1962-1966 5
Project Gemini 1962-1966 Project Gemini was the second U.S. manned program. It got its name due to the fact that this capsule could hold two astronauts, unlike the Mercury missions that could hold one. Both Mercury and Gemini were designed to prepare NASA and astronauts for a mission to the Moon with the Apollo program. The three main goals of Gemini were to test the human body and equipment for up to two weeks in space, to rendezvous and dock with orbiting vehicles, and to improve methods of launch, reentry, and landing at a select point on land. The capsule may have held two astronauts, but that does not mean that the astronauts had any more space. The spacecraft was only 50% bigger so the astronauts actually had less space. Additionally the missions lasted longer than that of Mercury. The longest was 14 days where the two astronauts spent the majority of the trip strapped into their seats. There were two unmanned missions to test the space craft and ten manned missions. Some highlights from the Project Gemini are: Ed White became the first American to make an extravehicular activity (EVA or spacewalk ) during Gemini 4. Gemini 6A and 7 completed the first rendezvous. Edwin Buzz Aldrin proved that you could do work outside the spacecraft safely. 6
Project Apollo 1961-1972 7
Project Apollo 1961-1972 Project Apollo was the third manned spaceflight project. This project was part of the mission for NASA that was laid out by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 when he gave his famous We go to the Moon speech. In this speech, he gave the goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth by the end of the 1960s. The four goals of Apollo were to establish needed technology for space, attaining dominance in space for the U.S., scientific exploration of the Moon and to advance man s ability to work in a lunar environment. There were six unmanned missions including Apollo 4 6 which were test flights after the Apollo 1 disaster. During a test run of Apollo 1 on the launch pad, an electrical fire broke out. Virgil Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were the astronauts aboard Apollo 1 and all three were killed in the accident. Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to the Moon where they completed ten orbits of the Moon. Apollo 11 was the first mission to land on the Moon. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin would be the first humans to step foot on the Moon with astronaut Michael Collins remaining in the capsule. During the Apollo 13 flight, the service module failed and the astronauts had to abort their Moon landing, but thankfully returned safely. Apollo 15-17 all used the lunar rover to explore the Moon. The Apollo Moon missions returned with many samples of lunar soil and rock that scientists are still studying today. There were three more missions planned, but they were cut do to budget cuts. 8
SM Project Apollo 1961-1972 CM LM The Apollo capsule was a three man command module that could connect to one of many service modules. Command Module (CM) is the cone shaped crew cabin designed to carry three astronauts through launch, orbit and back to Earth. Service Module (SM) is the cylinder shaped module that carried engines with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuels. This would have been separated before reentry. Lunar Module (LM) was the section that would land on the Moon and then return to connect with the remaining parts in orbit around the Moon. This would have also been separated before reentry to Earth s atmosphere. 9
Space Shuttle 1981-2011 11
Space Shuttle 1981-2011 The Space Shuttle differed from NASA s first three manned programs because it was designed to carry large cargo unlike the small capsules used before. The shuttle was the 18-wheeler of the space program. It was a partially reusable vehicle with the orbiter and solid rocket boosters being able to be reused many times. The orbiter was 37 m (122 ft) long with a wing span of 23 m (78 ft). Launch would take 8 ½ min with an eventual speed of 17,500 mph. The shuttle flew 135 missions from 1981-2011. It helped build the International Space Station and launch and maintain the Hubble Space Telescope. The official name for the space shuttle was the Space Transportation System (STS) and consisted of seven different shuttles over the 30 years the program ran. The first shuttle was Enterprise which never flew in space. Columbia and Challenger were each lost due to tragedy. In 1983, Challenger exploded during launch with the loss of seven astronauts, including teacher Christa McAuliffe. In 2003, Columbia exploded upon reentry with the loss of all seven astronauts. Discovery, Endeavour, and Atlantis were retired from use in 2011. There have been 355 people to fly on the shuttles from 16 different countries. Each shuttle could hold seven astronauts. Some key astronauts are: John Young was the first person to fly a shuttle. Story Musgrave is the only astronaut to have flown on all five shuttles. Sally Ride was the first American woman in space in 1983. John Glen flew in 1998 and was the oldest person to ever fly at the age of 77. 12
Space Shuttle 1981-2011 ET SRB OV STS or Space Transportation System is a three part space craft. External Tank (ET): The orange tank that held liquid fuel. This is the only part that is not reusable. The ET disconnects after about 8 ½ min into launch and burns up in the atmosphere. Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB): These hold and burn solid fuel and help give the shuttle the push it needs to get out of obit. They disconnect about 2 ½ min into the launch. Orbiter Vehicle (OV): This is the part that looks like a plane and is referred to as the shuttle. It carries the crew and cargo. It is attached to the ET and SRB. It launches in a vertical position, like a rocket, but lands like a glider with landing gear and parachutes. 13