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Period: to
1958-1969
The United States space program (NASA) 's operations from 1958 until the year 1969. -
The NCST is created by NASA.
headed by Guyford Stever.[6] Stever's committee included consultation from the ABMA's large booster program, referred to as the Working Group on Vehicular Program, headed by Wernher von Braun,[6] a German scientist who became a naturalized US citizen after World War II. -
NACA Director Hugh Dryden published "A National Research Program for Space Technology"
He stated,It is of great urgency and importance to our country both from consideration of our prestige as a nation as well as military necessity that this challenge [Sputnik] be met by an energetic program of research and development for the conquest of space... It is accordingly proposed that the scientific research be the responsibility of a national civilian agency... NACA is capable, by rapid extension and expansion of its effort, of providing leadership in space technology. -
Alan Shepard became the first American in space.
On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space when he piloted Freedom 7 on a 15-minute suborbital flight. -
John Glenn orbited the Earth.
John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962 during the flight of Friendship 7. -
Project Gemini Begins
Project Gemini focused on conducting experiments and developing and practicing techniques required for lunar missions. The first Gemini flight with astronauts on board, Gemini 3, was flown by Gus Grissom and John Young on March 23, 1965. Nine missions followed, showing that long-duration human space flight and rendezvous and docking with another vehicle in space were possible, and gathering medical data on the effects of weightlessness on humans. -
Moon Landing.
The Apollo program landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969 with astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, while Michael Collins orbited above. Five subsequent Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon, the last in December 1972. In these six Apollo spaceflights twelve men walked on the Moon. These missions returned a wealth of scientific data and 381.7 kilograms (842 lb) of lunar samples.
