Those were the words Alan Shepard used 60 years ago Wednesday to note his cockpit timepiece had begun running. This meant his Redstone rocket booster had left the ground sending him and his one-man ...

Part 2 explores the dramatically different approaches to the launch systems, and the surprising similarities in the factors that contributed to their success. Although they served very different ...

Don’t look now, but rocket science is the new, uh, rocket science. In addition to long-time players on the private spaceflight scene like Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Arianespace, the potential profits ...

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. When the Smithsonian received this ...

On January 31, 1961, a chimpanzee named Ham became the first hominid to travel into space, marking a critical milestone in the early days of the U.S. space program. Launched aboard NASA’s ...

The Redstone engine is one of the most significant developments in US rocket technology. This collection consists of 36 pages of 17 x 11 inch schematic drawings of the Redstone launch vehicle's ...

Jan. 31 marks the day Ham, a chimpanzee, was launched into sub-orbital space in a Mercury capsule aboard a Redstone rocket to become the first great ape in space. Related Articles How to watch the ...