Shepard’s Shot
The first American spaceflight was a triumph—for an astronaut and for a nation.
First Up?
Even before NASA was created, civilian and military labs were in search of spacemen.
Saint Yuri
The Russians made their first cosmonaut a hero. Did they really know him?
How the Spaceship Got Its Shape
In the 1950s Harvey Allen solved the problem of atmospheric entry. But first he had to convince his colleagues.
The Seven
In 1959, a group of military pilots became Astronaut Heroes overnight, and created an American icon that survives to this day.
Flying the Gusmobile
It didn't look remotely like a fighter plane. So why did astronauts who flew the Gemini spacecraft compare it to one?
The Family He Left Behind
Fifty years ago, Yuri Gagarin left earth. When he came back, everything changed.
Spaceman
Sometimes an entire era is represented by a single career.
Great Hero Yang
In 2003, China's first astronaut stepped out of his space capsule and into the limelight.
Voices from the Moon
What it was like, in the astronauts’ own words. Excerpts from a new book by Andrew Chaikin.
A Sudden Loss of Altitude
Meet the MOL-men. Prepared to make space history, these military pilots instead became a footnote to it.
Top NASA Photos of All Time
50 indelible images from the first 50 years of spaceflight
The Nightmare of Voskhod 2
A cosmonaut remembers the exhilaration-and terror-of his first space mission.
Star City at 50
Change comes to the place where spaceflight was born.
