By Kevin Huang

First launch of the Mercury program. Launched a boilerplate Mercury capsule to test the ablative heat shield, afterbody heating, and reentry dynamics.

By Eiffleman

America's first crewed suborbital launch vehicle. Member of the Redstone rocket family derived from the U.S. Army's Redstone missile and the Jupiter-C LV. Used for six suborbital Mercury flights carrying astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom.

By Eiffleman

Cancelled USAF program to develop a multipurpose spaceplane.

By Kaero

During the Apollo 8, Apollo 10, and Apollo 11 missions, Helicopter Sikorsky Sea King SH-3D with number 66 was the primary recovery vehicle which hoisted returning astronauts from the spacecraft command modules.

Successor to the Hubble Telescope, the JWST will enable a detailed astronomical and cosmological investigations. The 6.5 meter primary mirror will observe some of the most distant objects in the Universe.

By Eiffleman

America's second manned launch vehicle and the first to reach orbit for the Mercury program. Manufactured by Convair and derived from the SM-65D Atlas missile making it a member of the Atlas family of rockets. Launched a total of four crewed Mercury spacecraft.

By Eiffleman

SpaceX partially reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Falcon 9. Consists of a strengthened Falcon 9 first stage center core and two Falcon 9 first stage strap-on boosters. As of 2021, Falcon Heavy had the highest payload capacity of operating rockets and the third highest of...

By Eiffleman

Launch site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Site of the Mercury-Redstone 3 flight, America's first manned space flight with Astronaut Alan Shepard. LEGO LC-5 model with 976 bricks

By Kaero, Mark Balderama, and Wolfram Broszies

The Aggregat 4 (A-4), later renamed the V-2 for Vengeance Weapon 2, was the world's first long range missile and the first to pass the Karman line reaching 'space'. Much of the development team went on to help develop rocket programs for both...

By Kevin Huang

NASA trainer aircraft

By Kevin Huang

First American orbital human-rated launch vehicle. Used to launch the Mercury capsule to low Earth orbit.

By Kevin Huang

American manned spaceplane used for hypersonic research. Conducted tests for ballistic flight, winged reentry, and gliding recovery. The X-15 was intended to evolve to a manned orbital spacecraft until the urgent need for the Mercury and Gemini programs surfaced. Research from the X-15 eventually led to the...

By Eiffleman

Derivative of the Thor-Delta rocket using the Thor DM-21 configuration with a Delta D second stage and an Altair solid rocket motor third stage. Launched the first geosynchronous satellite, Syncom-2.

By Kevin Huang

Titan III configuration launched four times to test the Titan transtage and later incorporated as the core stage for the Titan IIIC.

By Eiffleman

Mobile launcher for the Little Joe II rocket.

By Eiffleman

NASA vehicle used to quarantine astronauts returning from the first four Apollo lunar missions. An Airstream trailer was converted by Melpar, Inc. to house three crew, a physician, and an engineer.