It's a Space Station! Blog

Dawn is a retired space probe that NASA launched in September 2007 to study Ceres and Vesta, two of the three known protoplanets of the asteroid belt

Gemini XI was the ninth crewed spaceflight in the Gemini project, which flew from September 12 to 15, 1966 and saw the first-ever direct-ascent rendezvous with an Agena Target Vehicle.

Genesis was a NASA sample-return space probe that collected and returned solar wind particles for analysis. It was the first NASA sample-return mission since the Apollo program to return material and...

Gemini V was a crewed spaceflight in NASA's Project Gemini that launched on August 21, 1965. Gemini V marked the first time an American crewed space mission held the world record for flight duration...

Vostok 2 was a space mission that took Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov into orbit for a full day on August 6, 1961. This mission aimed to study the effects weightlessness had on the human body over a...

Apollo 15 launched from Cape Canaveral on July 26, 1971 as the first Apollo J mission capable of staying longer on the Moon and greater surface mobility due to the inclusion of the Lunar Rover.

Apollo 11 was the first spaceflight that landed humans on the lunar surface, with the crew consisting of Commander Neil Armstrong, Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, and Command Module Pilot Michael...

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a robotic orbiter operated by NASA that is currently mapping the Moon. Data collected by LRO has essential in planning future human and robotic missions to...

Gemini 9A was a crewed spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program that took place from June 3–6, 1966.

Gemini IV was the second crewed spaceflight in the Gemini Project. The mission's highlight was the first American spacewalk completed by Ed White when he free-floated outside the spacecraft while...

Surveyor 1 was the first uncrewed lunar soft-lander in the NASA Surveyor program. It gathered data about the lunar surface that was needed for the upcoming Apollo Moon landings

Apollo 10 launched on May 18, 1969, making it the fourth crewed Apollo program mission and the second crewed mission to orbit the Moon.

Mercury-Atlas 9 was the final mission of the Mercury program. The spacecraft, named Faith 7, was piloted by astronaut Gordon Cooper and completed 22 Earth orbits before splashing down in the Pacific...

On May 5, 1961, Mercury-Redstone 3 became the first United States human spaceflight. It was the first crewed flight of the Mercury program, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard.

Ulysses was the robotic space probe sent to orbit and study the Sun at all latitudes that launched on October 6, 1990, and made three "fast latitude scans" of the Sun.

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains operational 30 years later. The Hubble Space Telescope has contributed to record-setting amounts of scientific...

Apollo 16 was the fifth crewed and penultimate mission to land on the Moon and the first mission to land in the lunar highlands. The second of Apollo's "J missions" was crewed by Commander John...

Apollo 13 was the nearly disastrous seventh crewed Apollo space program mission launched on April 11, 1970. It was meant to be the third Moon landing, but an abort occurred after an oxygen tank...