Skip to main content

Search

Items tagged with: NASAHistory


Apollo 13 launched #OTD in 1970 with little fanfare. But on the spacecraft's flight to the Moon, an oxygen tank onboard exploded, transforming Apollo 13 into a hair-raising rescue mission that hinged on the ingenuity and grit of the crew, mission control, and @nasa engineers. 💪
#NASAhistory


The 3 astronauts who flew on Apollo 13, Fred Haise, John Swigert and Jim Lovell, are seen in this photo taken the day before launch #OTD in 1970.

Ken Mattingly, the prime Command Module Pilot, was bumped from the flight 3 days before launch after being exposed to German Measles.
#NASAhistory


Introducing the Mercury 7!

The first seven @nasa astronauts were revealed #OTD in 1959, just six months after the establishment of the space agency.

Learn more about their pioneering space flights: go.nasa.gov/43gnqpQ
#NASAhistory


30 years ago today, Ellen Ochoa (@Astro_Ellen) became the first Latina in space with the launch of STS-56!

Selected as an astronaut in 1990, Ochoa has flown to space four times, logging nearly 1,000 hours.

Learn more about her storied career: go.nasa.gov/3m4xuBo
#NASAhistory


In 1971, a sounding rocket detected polarized X-rays emitted from the Crab Nebula for the first time. More than 50 years later, NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) has revealed that the magnetic field is donut shaped!

go.nasa.gov/3ZQxO4F
#NASAhistory


An im-peck-able bird from our photo archives 🦅

NASA's SR-71A Blackbird is seen here over the California desert following air refueling in February 1997.

#ArchivesForTheBirds #ArchivesHashtagParty @NASAArmstrong @NASAaero
#NASAhistory


Mars Odyssey, launched #OTD in 2001, has been in Mars orbit for more than 21 years and is the longest-lasting spacecraft sent to the Red Planet. Its THEMIS instrument took this color-enhanced image where canyons meet to form a depression 4 km deep. go.nasa.gov/3nOpZPp
#NASAhistory


How far we've come in the last 50 years!

Back in 1972, a team at JPL spent days pasting together photographs taken by Mariner 9 by hand to create a 4-foot globe of Mars. nasa.gov/image-feature/technol…

[Video embedded in original tweet]
#NASAhistory


#40YearsAgo, astronauts were training to repair the Solar Max satellite in the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator at @NASAMarshall. A year later, #OTD in 1984, STS-41C launched to Solar Max, and went on to perform the first satellite retrieval and the first satellite repair in space!
#NASAhistory


See more photos and details about the flight of Apollo 6, 55 years ago. nasa.gov/feature/55-years-ago-…
#NASAhistory


#50YearsAgo today at 9:11 PM EST, Pioneer 11 launched from @NASAKennedy. The first spacecraft to study Saturn up close, it is one of five NASA spacecraft on a trajectory out of the solar system and carries a pictorial plaque about where it came from.
#NASAhistory


See where Pioneer 11 is now with NASA's Solar System Interactive: go.nasa.gov/3nIINQb

📷 Pioneer 11 launch on April 5, 1973
#NASAhistory


Welcome @NASAScienceAA! We are excited to have you at the helm of NASA's history-making science missions studying our home planet, solar system, and the universe.
#NASAhistory


Space Shuttle Challenger made its first flight 40 years ago today for STS-6. With a crew of 4 astronauts (dubbed "The Geritol Bunch" as it was the oldest crew flown up to that time), it deployed the first of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS). go.nasa.gov/3nJu5bM
#NASAhistory


Apollo 6, the second all-up uncrewed test of the Saturn V, launched #OTD in 1968, the same day Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.

While there were problems, NASA managers thought they were surmountable and the next launch would carry a crew. go.nasa.gov/3GDPNoj
#NASAhistory


These are the 24 humans who have traveled to the Moon to date, 12 of whom walked on its surface.

With #Artemis II, we look forward to adding @astro_reid, @AstroVicGlover, @Astro_Christina, and @Astro_Jeremy to this photo!
#NASAhistory


60 years ago, a spin-stabilized spherical silver satellite soared into space and successfully studied the sky!

Launched April 3, 1963, @NASAGoddard's Explorer 17 measured the density, composition, pressure, and temperature of Earth's upper atmosphere: go.nasa.gov/3Kmz2Ah
#NASAhistory


#Remembering Gus Grissom, NASA's 2nd astronaut, on his #birthday.

The 2nd American in space (Liberty Bell 7), first Gemini mission commander (Gemini III), and Apollo 1 commander, he had all the "Right Stuff."

Do you have a favorite Gus Grissom photo or story? Share it below ⬇️
#NASAhistory


Good morning Atlantis!
#OTD in 1992 STS-45 landed. On board: future NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, the first Belgian citizen in space Dirk Frimout, and the 1st Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS) experiments.

About the mission go.nasa.gov/3TM1Xke
#NASAhistory


In just three more days, the four astronauts that will fly to the Moon on #Artemis II will be revealed!

64 years ago on April 1, 1959, the first @NASA_Astronauts, the Mercury 7, were chosen (announced on April 9). Of them, Al Shepard went on to crew a mission to the Moon!
#NASAhistory


Patricia O'Donnell, who worked as a chemist for NASA for 44 years (1954–1998), won the Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal in 1991 for her work on nickel-hydrogen batteries. Her redesign of the electrodes improved the performance of the batteries by a factor of 10! … 🧵
#NASAhistory


The redesigned nickel-hydrogen batteries have since been used on the ISS, Hubble Space Telescope, and in numerous other space applications. #WomensHistoryMonth

Learn more about her career at @NASAglenn: go.nasa.gov/3TVMNc7
#NASAhistory


Mariner 10, the 1st spacecraft sent to study Mercury, took the first closeup photos of the planet as it made its first flyby #OTD in 1974. Pictured is a mosaic of images taken by the spacecraft about 6 hours before closest approach. @NASASolarSystem

But that's not all…
#NASAhistory


37 years later to the day, the MESSENGER spacecraft sent back the first photo of Mercury from orbit #OTD in 2011! MESSENGER gave scientists the first new data on the composition of Mercury's surface since Mariner 10's final 1975 flyby.

More about Mercury: go.nasa.gov/3lPVmIT
#NASAhistory


#60YearsAgo today the final test of the Saturn I's first stage, Saturn SA-4, launched from @NASAKennedy. The uncrewed suborbital test flight was successful, paving the way for tests of the second stage.
#NASAhistory


After working as a human computer for years, Christine Darden became one of the few women aerospace engineers at NASA in the '70s, becoming well known for her research into supersonic aircraft noise, especially sonic boom reduction. go.nasa.gov/3JE3nZd #WomensHistoryMonth
#NASAhistory


Higher res photos please!

Mariner 7, launched #OTD in 1969, along with its twin Mariner 6 launched a month earlier, were sent to Mars to study its surface and atmosphere during close flybys. @NASAMars

Left: Mariner 4 photo of Mars, 1965
Right: Mariner 7 photo of Mars, 1969
#NASAhistory


In this photo taken 50 years ago in 1973, a Vought TF-8A Crusader flies with NASA's experimental supercritical wing. The airfoil design increased cruising speed and fuel efficiency, and is now used on nearly every modern commercial aircraft. @NASAaero

🛫 go.nasa.gov/3lCuZpO
#NASAhistory


We just called to say "Happy Birthday"! 🥳

Astronaut Jim Lovell, veteran of the Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8, and Apollo 13 missions, turns 95 years young today! Join us in wishing him many happy days ahead.
#NASAhistory


Clocking a time of 11.2 years, the Opportunity @NASAMars Rover completed a marathon on the red planet #OTD in 2015, travelling 26.2 miles (42.2 km).

Planned to last 3 months, Opportunity's mission lasted to 2018: go.nasa.gov/3lqD0Oz

What enduring NASA mission is your fave?
#NASAhistory


100 points if you know the Gemini III spacecraft's nickname! 💯

The first crewed flight of the Gemini spacecraft and America's first space flight with TWO astronauts (Gus Grissom & John Young) was #OTD in 1961. More on the mission: go.nasa.gov/3n8COE9

📷 Gemini III training
#NASAhistory


On board was a crew of two: Commander Jack Lousma (right) had previously spent 59 days in space in 1973 with Skylab-3, but C. Gordon Fullerton (left), who had served on the support crew for Apollo missions 14 through 17, was making his first space flight.
#NASAhistory


In case anyone is curious about what this orb was really created for, this is Model 1 of the LOLA Project. images.nasa.gov/details/LRC-19…
#NASAhistory


This structure was built at @NASALangley in 1963. What is it? Wrong answers only!
#NASAhistory


Dee O’Hara (seen here with the Apollo 14 backup crew in 1971) was NASA’s first aerospace nurse, caring for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo astronauts. Her career helped define the occupation of space nursing.

Read her oral history: go.nasa.gov/3mMjbkY
#WomensHistoryMonth
#NASAhistory


#15YearsAgo today, astronomers using the Swift Observatory saw a stellar explosion that shattered the record for the most distant object visible with the naked eye. Originating 7.5 BILLION light years away, the light was emitted long before Earth formed! go.nasa.gov/3YL3XtZ
#NASAhistory


Radiation measurements from Voyager 2's flyby in 1986 suggest that two of Uranus's moons may have oceans beneath their surface!
#NASAhistory


65 years ago today in 1958, Vanguard 1, America's second satellite and the world's 1st solar-powered satellite was launched! It confirmed that the Earth is not a perfect sphere.

Contact with Vanguard 1 was lost in 1964, but it remains the oldest satellite orbiting Earth.
#NASAhistory


Comet me, bro!

Astronomer Caroline Herschel, born #OTD in 1750, was the first woman credited with discovering a comet and the first woman to earn a salary as a scientist. She went on to discover 7 additional comets in her lifetime! #WomensHistoryMonth
#NASAhistory


Gemini VIII launched #OTD in 1966 to conduct the first ever docking in space. The docking went smoothly, but a critical failure necessitated an immediate abort of the mission.

Read about Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott's wild ride: go.nasa.gov/3JyLhZQ
#NASAhistory

Lo, thar be cookies on this site to keep track of your login. By clicking 'okay', you are CONSENTING to this.