A Very Unusual Machine

A VR "Walkaround" of Space Shuttle Discovery (0:27)

The crew of Apollo 11 had made history by landing on the moon and coming back to Earth in one piece. But before the celebrations could begin, they would have to spend some time in quarantine

Why the Apollo 11 Crew Was Quarantined Upon Return (2:59)

To prepare him for landing the lunar module, Neil Armstrong practiced on a training vehicle right here on Earth. It was designed to replicate flying within a gravitational pull that was 1/6 that of Earth

How Neil Armstrong Trained to Land the Lunar Module (2:13)

After the success of Apollo 11, NASA unveiled an ambitious agenda for more missions into space. But interest among the public was beginning to drop—and the Nixon administration balked at the high costs

Why Interest in Space Travel Waned After Apollo 11 (2:48)

A former Grumman worker talks about the lunar lander he and his colleagues built. Video by Mike Marcucci

“An Engineering Masterpiece” (2:29)

Animation showing how the TESS exoplanet-hunting telescope will observe the sky. TESS will watch each observation sector for at least 27 days, before rotating to the next one, covering first the south and then the north to build a map of 85 percent of the sky.

TESS Telescope View of the Sky (0:26)

During a February 2013 U.N. meeting on international strategies for protecting Earth from incoming asteroids, astronaut Chris Hadfield, a member of the Association of Space Explorers, addresses attendees from onboard the International Space Station. Video: Association of Space Explorers

Chris Hadfield On the Asteroid Threat (6:44)

In this clip from the 1967 Soviet movie A Cruise to the Stars, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is shown training for his historic mission as engineers test various systems of the Vostok capsule. Accepting the task before him, Gagarin tells space officials that if he encounters any difficulties in space, I will overcome them as the communists do. On launch day, April 12, 1961, Chief Designer Sergei Korolev radios his best wishes as Gagarin takes off. After his 108-minute flight, Gagarin becomes an international sensation, with parades and celebrations in his honor.A Cruise to the Stars, which runs 52 minutes, was made to commemorate the first 10 years of the Soviet space program. We do not consider the conquest of space as the achievement of only our people but as that of all mankind, the narrator says. We happily place it at the disposal of all nations and peoples in the name of progress, happiness, and welfare of all men.

Excerpt: "A Cruise to the Stars" (13:54)

Before John Young and Robert Crippens STS-1 mission in April 1981, no astronauts had ever landed a spaceship on a runway. In their postflight briefing, Young (the first voice in this clip) and pilot Crippen describe their first-time return of a shuttle from orbit, during which the vehicle executed a series of S-turns, or roll reversals, like a skier slaloming downhill to manage speed.

STS-1: The First Shuttle Landing (5:55)