Through the decades, rockets have been modified and improved, built bigger, faster, and more powerful. They have launched astronauts, scientific instruments, experiments, and spacecraft that are still exploring deep space.

In today’s photo gallery, take a look back on some of these impressive shots of rocket launches, and don’t forget to stop by our SpaceX Falcon 9 booster exhibit during your next visit!

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This fall, we are exploring how space inspires progress. In anticipation of its upcoming launch, solve space today by unscrambling this image of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Later this week, the world’s most powerful space telescope will launch to provide scientists with an unparalleled gaze into our universe.

With a sunshield the size of a tennis court and a primary mirror far larger than any other space telescope’s, the JWST was made to make discoveries. The telescope will slowly, and very carefully, unfold as it travels to its destination at the second Lagrange point (L2), where it will begin to make observations as it orbits the Sun.

This Friday, the JWST will finally fly, and set out on a million mile journey to become the leading orbital observatory of its time, like its predecessor the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronomers and scientists from all over the globe will use the telescope to build upon Hubble’s foundation, uncovering more clues about the formation of the universe and the evolution of our solar system.

What will the JWST discover? We will have to wait and see!

Read more about the James Webb Space Telescope in our latest Launch Pad post, or here on its official site.

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Thanks to New Horizons, we now know a lot more about Pluto, its moons, and the Kuiper Belt, which will give researchers more insight into our solar system’s ancient history.

The space probe launched almost 16 years ago, and it was a record-breaker from the start, as it remains the fastest human-crafted object to ever leave the Earth. Its mission objectives were to conduct a flyby of Pluto, and later of a Kuiper Belt Object.

New Horizons has successfully completed both its mission objectives, having performed a flyby of Pluto and its moons in 2015, and of a Kuiper Belt Object (2014 MU69) four years later.

Now almost 5 billion miles away, it has reached an extraordinary milestone. It has become one of only five spacecraft (joining the two Pioneer (10 and 11) and Voyager (1 and 2) probes) to venture that far into deep space.

New Horizons is currently in the Kuiper Belt, where it will continue to collect data on Kuiper Belt objects and faraway worlds like Neptune and Uranus for the foreseeable future.

New Horizons is designed and developed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), which also oversees mission operations.

New Horizons Major Firsts:

• According to NASA, it is the first space probe to get an up-close look at Pluto, its moons, and a second Kuiper Belt Object.
• During its Jupiter flyby in 2007 (for a gravity assist on its way to Pluto), New Horizons filmed for the first time a volcanic eruption off the Earth!
• When New Horizons photographed Voyager 1, it marked the first time that a spacecraft in the Kuiper Belt had captured an image of a spacecraft even farther away.

Watch the NASA clip below to observe New Horizon’s flyover of Pluto, compiled from elevation models and the space probe’s data:

Click here to continue reading about New Horizons, or here to watch our New Horizons Thought Leader Series with Alan Stern and David Grinspoon.

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This fall, we are exploring how space inspires progress. Solve space today by unscrambling this image of the Hubble Space Telescope, an orbital observatory that has helped scientists better understand our universe.

The Hubble Space Telescope is named after an American astronomer, Edwin Hubble, who made many groundbreaking discoveries in the early twentieth century, like finding new galaxies.

Throughout its time in service, the Hubble Space Telescope has contributed many more significant findings about our universe, such as the discovery of dark energy. Thanks to Hubble, scientists are even able to estimate the age of the universe, approximately 14 billion years.

Hubble weighs about the same as two adult African elephants, is roughly the same length as a large school bus, and orbits the Earth at a speed of 17,000 miles per hour. Since its became operational on May 20, 1990, Hubble has made over one million observations. Its data has also been used in more than 15,000 published scientific papers.

Last year marked Hubble’s 30th year in service. While the telescope will no longer be repaired, it is still functioning. Later this month, a new space telescope which is larger than Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), will launch. Unlike Hubble, the JWST will orbit the sun. It will build upon Hubble’s foundation to uncover more clues about the formation of our universe and the evolution of our solar system.

Click here to learn more about the Hubble Space Telescope, see some of our favorite Hubble images, or take a live look at what Hubble is exploring next!

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Thanks to space photography, we can all tag along on missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond! From snapping photos in orbit above our world to capturing images on another, photography has been, and will continue to be, a vital tool for human space exploration.

Test out your knowledge on space photography – past, present, and future – with today’s pop quiz!

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This fall, we are exploring how space inspires progress. Solve space today by unscrambling the iconic Apollo 8 “Earthrise” image. This photograph was the first shot of the Earth from the Moon captured by the first men to travel there.

On Christmas Eve 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 (NASA astronauts Jim Lovell, Bill Anders, and Frank Borman) witnessed a spectacular sight never before seen by any other astronauts.

During their fourth lunar orbit, Anders captured the “Earthrise” photograph of the Earth rising above the Moon’s horizon. It was a first in human spaceflight history, and a Christmas Eve treat for the crew who spent the holidays 240,000 miles from home.

Images of the Earth taken from the Moon and photos of the lunar surface were shared with the world later that evening during the astronaut’s live Christmas Eve broadcast. “Earthrise” became a major highlight of the Apollo 8 mission. Never before had humans seen the Earth from such a perspective.

Across the years, this picture has remained among NASA’s most famous images. The U.S. Postal Service even featured “Earthrise” on the Apollo 8 commemorative stamp, which was issued in the summer of 1969.

Though the photograph was taken over half a century ago, its significance has not waned. The timeless Earthrise image serves as a reminder of how fragile our home is, and serves to inspire the next generation of deep space explorers to return to the Moon and go beyond.

Take a look at this commemorative video shared by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, which allows viewers to relive the historic moment the Earth was first viewed from above the lunar surface by the crew of Apollo 8.

Click here to read more about the Apollo 8 mission.

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This fall, we are exploring how space inspires progress. Solve space today by unscrambling this image of NASA’s mighty Space Launch System (SLS). This powerful rocket will launch astronauts to the Moon for the Artemis lunar missions, paving the way for future deep space exploration.

Next year, the uncrewed Artemis I mission will prove to be the ultimate test for NASA’s SLS and Orion spacecraft. Learn more about each of these modern marvels below.

The SLS: NASA’s mightiest rocket

With the Artemis generation comes a new, more powerful lunar rocket, the SLS.

It’s NASA’s exploration class rocket, and it’s built to launch Artemis astronauts to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. It can lift heavier payloads and was designed to travel farther and faster than rockets that have preceded it. The SLS is NASA’s mightiest rocket, and will generate 15 percent more thrust than the Apollo-era Saturn V launch vehicle.

Designed to evolve into more robust launch configurations, the SLS will be able to adapt to increasingly complex missions. Just as the Saturn V paved the way for lunar exploration, the SLS will help NASA return astronauts to the Moon, and launch missions to worlds not yet explored.

Click here to learn more about NASA’s SLS and Artemis I.

Orion: NASA’s most advanced space capsule

The SLS will launch astronauts to the Moon, but it will be Orion that carries them there.

This cutting-edge spacecraft has been carefully crafted by NASA to be their safest ever. It has been rigorously tested, and next year, it will be tested again with the Artemis I flight.

The capsule will carry a crew of four and is comprised of three main elements: a launch abort system, a crew module, and a service module.

For Artemis I, Orion will also journey farther than any human-rated spacecraft has ever gone, flying approximately 40,000 miles farther than the Moon.

Click here to learn more about Orion and Artemis I.

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This fall, we are exploring how space inspires progress. Solve space today by unscrambling this image of the world’s first reusable spacecraft, NASA’s space shuttle. This unique vehicle had a profound impact on the history of human spaceflight and paved the way for future exploration.

While SpaceX is credited with launching the world’s first reusable rocket, NASA made history with the launch of the world’s first reusable spacecraft decades before.

Spanning 30 years, NASA’s Space Shuttle program was revolutionary. No one had ever seen anything like the shuttle orbiters. The shuttle lifted off into space like a rocket, but it landed like a plane. They appeared to have flown straight out of a science fiction movie.

This large aircraft-like space vehicle could accommodate much larger crew sizes than the spacecraft that came before. Whereas Apollo could launch a crew of three, the shuttle could launch eight (although seven crew members seemed to be the average).

Since it was a much bigger spacecraft, the shuttle could also launch heavier and larger payloads into space, like International Space Station (ISS) modules and the Hubble Space Telescope! In fact, the shuttle was used to construct and sustain the ISS, carrying spare parts and supplies to the orbital laboratory over the years.

In total, NASA constructed five shuttle orbiters for spaceflight: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. A sixth prototype shuttle orbiter, Enterprise, was used in glide tests in 1977, prior to the launch of the first shuttle mission (STS-1) on April 12, 1981.

Though the shuttle had many triumphs, the program also suffered tragedies. In 1986, Challenger was lost during launch, and, in 2003, Columbia was lost during reentry. Both crews lost their lives.

The final shuttle flight (STS-135) launched on July 8, 2011. Atlantis landed 13 days later, safely returning the crew of STS-135 home in a final farewell to NASA’s historic Space Shuttle Program.

The remaining shuttles were retired to museums around the country following the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. Atlantis was moved to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Discovery was placed in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Virginia, and Endeavour is on display at the California Science Center.

Enterprise, which never flew in space, can be viewed at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City and the shuttle replica Independence can be seen at Space Center Houston in Independence Plaza during your next visit.

NASA’s five shuttle orbiters didn’t just leave their mark in history, they left a lasting impression upon the hearts and minds of people all across the globe, and paved the way for the future of human space exploration.

Click here to learn more about NASA’s Space Shuttle Program.

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This fall, we are exploring how space inspires progress. Solve space today by unscrambling this image of a mighty Saturn V rocket. These powerful rockets launched men to the Moon for the Apollo lunar missions, paving the way for future lunar exploration with Artemis.

The mighty Saturn V was an Apollo-era rocket, that was the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful of its time.

The Saturn V, which got its start at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, was just one type of Saturn rocket. NASA had built two others, the Saturn I and IB, which were utilized for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) human spaceflight missions. The Saturn V had a much more difficult objective: launching men to the Moon.

To accomplish this tall order, the Saturn V had to be powerful. The rocket was made up of three mighty stages. These stages would each burn their engines until the fuel was used up, then they would separate from the rocket.

The first stage (S-IC Stage), the most powerful of the three, lifted the rocket off the ground at launch with its five F-1 engines, propelling the Saturn V to an altitude of approximately 42 miles above Earth. Once the fuel was used up, the first stage fell back to the ocean.

The second stage (S-II Stage) would then propel the mighty Saturn V into space. After the second stage had burned through its fuel, it fell back to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere.

The third stage (S-IVB Stage) put the Apollo spacecraft into Earth orbit and placed it on a trajectory to the Moon. While some third stages were left to float in space, others were crashed into the lunar surface to create “Moon quakes” which were measured by NASA.

The debut launch for the Saturn V took place in 1967 for the Apollo 4 flight. Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, the Saturn V launched six successful lunar landing missions. The final launch of a Saturn V took place in 1973 to place Skylab, our nation’s first space station, into orbit.

Though the Saturn V was used for a short period of time, just six years, its 13 successful launches led to some of humanity’s greatest accomplishments, like orbiting and landing the first men on the Moon, something that was once thought to be an impossibility.

Saturn V Fun Facts:

• The Saturn V was once the world’s tallest rocket. It stood on the launchpad at 363 feet, taller than the NASA’s new lunar rocket (in the Block 1 Configuration), the Space Launch System (SLS).
• Fully fueled on the launchpad, the mighty Saturn V weighed in at approximately 6.2 million pounds!
• The Saturn V generated 7.6 million pounds of thrust at liftoff!
• It wasn’t called a Heavy Lift Vehicle for nothing. Saturn V rockets could launch roughly 50 tons to the Moon!

Learn more about the Saturn V rocket in our Mission Apollo Minute:

Want to see a Saturn V rocket up close and in-person? Hop on our NASA Tram Tour and catch a ride over to Rocket Park at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for an opportunity to see one of only three remaining Saturn V rockets on display worldwide, and the only Saturn V on display that is made up of all flight-certified hardware!

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Test out your knowledge on launch and re-entry vehicles with today’s pop quiz!

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