Historical Rocket Launches

Black-and-white photographs capturing the launches of various rockets from Cape Canaveral, depicting the evolution of space exploration.

Vintage Photograph. US Navy's Martin Viking number 9 high altitude research rocket

February 21, 1961 - In this Project Mercury test, a spacecraft booster by a modified Atlas was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Mercury capsule reached a peak altitude of 107 statute miles and landed 1.425 miles down range. Atlas was designed to launch payloads into low Earth orbit, geosynchronous transfer orbit or geosynchronous orbit.

Vintage Photograph. US Navy's Martin Viking number 9 high altitude research rocket

Cape Canaveral, Florida: February 6, 1959. A Titan missile, the Air Force's newest intercontinental ballistic missile for the Strategic Air Command (SAC), is readied for a test launching.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Apollo 15 Saturn V Space Vehicle soars into the skies after liftoff at Launch Pad 39A marking the beginning of NASA's fourth Manned Lunar Landing Mission. The astronauts aboard are David R. Scott, commander; James B. Irwin, Lunar Module pilot; and Alfred M. Worden Jr., Command Module pilot. The landing site for the Lunar Module is the Hadley-Apennine area of the Moon, about 465 miles north of the Lunar Equator. The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) will be used for the first time.

S61-03567 (13 Sept. 1961) --- View of the launch of Mercury-Atlas 4 (MA-4) spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Sept. 13, 1961.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Apollo 11 Saturn V space vehicle, at Launch Pad 39A, awaits the liftoff scheduled for 9:32 a.m. EDT today, along with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. During the planned eight-day mission, Armstrong and Aldrin will descend in a lunar module to the Moon's surface while Collins orbits overhead in the command module. The two astronauts are to spend 22 hours on the Moon, including two and one-half hours outside the lunar module. They will gather samples of lunar material and will deploy scientific experiments which will transmit data about the lunar environment. They will rejoin Collins the command module for the return trip to Earth

AS-201, the first Saturn IB launch vehicle developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, February 26, 1966. This was the first flight of the S-IB and S-IVB stages, including the first flight test of the liquid-hydrogen/liquid oxygen-propelled J-2 engine in the S-IVB stage. During the thirty-seven minute flight, the vehicle reached an altitude of 303 miles and traveled 5,264 miles downrange. In all, nine Saturn IB flights were made, ending with the Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) in July 1975.

The Apollo 11 mission, the first manned lunar mission, launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida via the Saturn V launch vehicle on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. The Saturn V vehicle produced a holocaust of flames as it rose from its pad at Launch complex 39. The 363 foot tall, 6,400,000 pound rocket hurled the spacecraft into Earth parking orbit and then placed it on the trajectory to the moon for mans first lunar landing. The Saturn V was developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) under the direction of Dr. Wernher von Braun. Aboard the spacecraft were astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module pilot. With the success of Apollo 11, the national objective to land men on the Moon and return them safely to Earth had been accomplished.

Photograph taken during the launch of Mercury-Atlas 9, the final manned space mission of the U.S. Mercury program. Dated 20th century

B60-00364 (4 Nov. 1959) --- Launch of Little Joe-2 from Wallops Island carrying Mercury spacecraft test article. The suborbital test flight of the Mercury capsule was to test the escape system. Vehicle functioned perfectly, but escape rocket ignited several seconds too late.

S66-32139 (1 June 1966) --- An Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA) atop an Atlas launch vehicle is launched from Kennedy Space Center's Pad 14 at 10 a.m., June 1, 1966. The ATDA is a rendezvous and docking vehicle for the Gemini-9A space mission.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- CCMTA, NASA:MERCURY, Pad 14Mercury Atlas-6 with Capsule #13.

Photograph taken during the launch an Orbiting Geophysical Observatory spacecraft. Dated 20th century

S68-56002 (21 Dec. 1968) --- The Apollo 8 (Spacecraft 103/Saturn 503) space vehicle is launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), at 7:51 a.m. (EST), Dec. 21, 1968. The crew of the Apollo 8 lunar orbit mission is astronauts Frank Borman, commander; James A. Lovell Jr., command module pilot; and William A. Anders, lunar module pilot. Apollo 8 was the first manned Saturn V launch. (F-ls 1/3 way from top of mobile launch tower.)

S62-08310 (29 Nov. 1961) --- View of the liftoff of Mercury-Atlas 5 (MA-5) carrying space chimpanzee Enos on Nov. 29, 1961 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

S69-34144 (18 May 1969) --- The Apollo 10 (Spacecraft 106/Lunar Module 4/Saturn 505) space vehicle is launched from Pad B, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, Florida at 12 49 p.m., May 18, 1969. Aboard the spacecraft are astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, commander; John W. Young, command module pilot; and Eugene A. Cernan, lunar module pilot. The eight-day, lunar orbit mission will mark the first time the complete Apollo spacecraft has operated around the moon and the second manned flight for the Lunar Module (LM). Two Apollo 10 astronauts, Stafford and Cernan, are scheduled to descend to within eight nautical miles of the moon's surface in the LM.

S69-39529 (16 July 1969) --- The huge, 363-feet tall Apollo 11 (Spacecraft 107/Lunar Module 5/Saturn 506) space vehicle is launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), at 9 32 a.m. (EDT), July 16, 1969. Onboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft were astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 is the United States first lunar landing mission. While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descend in the Lunar Module (LM) Eagle to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon, astronaut Collins will remain with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) Columbia in lunar orbit.

The launch of the Apollo 9 (Saturn V launch vehicle, SA-504), with astronauts James A. McDivitt, David R. Scott, and Russell L. Schweickart, took place on March 3, 1968. The Apollo 9 spacecraft, in the lunar mission configuration, was tested in Earth orbit. The mission was designed to rehearse all the steps and reproduce all the events of the Apollo 11 mission with the exception of the lunar touchdown, stay, and liftoff. The command and service modules, and the lunar module were used in flight procedures identical to those that would later take similar vehicles to the Moon, and a landing. The flight mechanics, mission support systems, communications, and recording of data were tested in a final round of verification. Astronauts Scott and Schweickart conducted Extravehicular Activity during this mission.

S62-00337 (20 Feb. 1962) --- Liftoff of Mercury-Atlas 6, Feb. 20, 1962, carrying astronaut John H. Glenn Jr.

The first Titan_Centaur lifted off from Complex 41 at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station at 9 48 a.m. EDT today. The Titan stages burned as programmed, but when the Centaur stage failed to ignite, it was destroyed by the Range Safety Officer. The new NASA rocket was launched on a proof flight designed to prepare it for twin Viking launches to Mars in 1975 and other missions involving heavy unmanned payloads. The 160-foot-tall rocket combines the Air Force Titan III with the NASA high-energy Centaur final stage. The twin solid rocket boosters have a combined liftoff thrust of 2.4 million pounds. Aboard Titan_Centaur on its proof flight were a dynamic simulator of the Viking spacecraft and a small scientific satellite (SPHYNX) designed to determine how high voltage solar cells, insulators and conductors are affected by the charged particles in space. Launch was conducted by KSC's Unmanned Launch Operations Directorate.

Lift-off of Atlas-Agena 7, Ranger V. (Test 5050)(ITEM 1.3- )

Vintage Photograph. Atlas blasting off.

Hermes A-1 Test Rocket at White Sands Proving Grounds

Vintage Photograph. X-8 "Aerobee" guided missile being launched at Holloman Air Force Base.

Photograph of the UGM-27 Polaris missile, a two-stage solid-fuelled nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) built during the Cold War by Lockheed Corporation for the United States Navy. Dated 20th Century

S66-53900 (12 Sept. 1966) --- The Gemini-11 spacecraft, carrying astronauts Charles Conrad Jr., command pilot, and Richard F. Gordon Jr., pilot, was successfully launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 19 at 9 42 a.m. (EST), Sept. 12, 1966.

S69-39961 (16 July 1969) --- The huge, 363-feet tall Apollo 11 (Spacecraft 107/Lunar Module S/Saturn 506) space vehicle is launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), at 9 32 a.m. (EDT), July 16, 1969. Onboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft are astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 is the United States' first lunar landing mission. While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descend in the Lunar Module (LM) Eagle to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon, astronaut Collins will remain with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) Columbia in lunar orbit.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Apollo 11 Saturn V space vehicle lifts off with Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. at 9:32 a.m. EDT July 16, 1969, from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A. During the planned eight-day mission, Armstrong and Aldrin will descend in a lunar module to the Moon's surface while Collins orbits overhead in the command module. The two astronauts are to spend 22 hours on the Moon, including two and one-half hours outside the lunar module. They will gather samples of lunar material and willl deploy scientific experiments which will transmit data about the lunar environment. They will rejoin Collins in the command module for the return trip to Earth

Vintage Photograph. Thor Missile blasting off from launch pad.

On Way To Record -- Viking rocket No. 7 roaring up 100 feet in air on way toward 135 mile altitude record at Navy proving ground. In background is gantry used to prepare rocket for shoot and San Andres mountains of southern New Mexico. August 07, 1951. (Photo by AP Wirephoto).

Moon launch. The liftoff of Apollo 11 on a Saturn V missile starts the Moon mission of astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin. July 16, 1969.

Launch of Apollo 17

1960S Atlas Icbm Launch

Rendezvous and approach of the Orbiter Discovery to the Mir Russian Space Station. Visible in the payload bay is the Spacehab module and Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) payload.

The space shuttle Columbia lifts off with Astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen aboard for the first mission into space to test the shuttle's systems. The Columbia is scheduled to land as an airplane at Edwards Air Force Base, California..

This Atlas/Centaur launch vehicle, carrying the High Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO)-3, lifted off on September 20, 1979. The HEAO-3's mission was to survey and map the celestial sphere for gamma-ray flux and make detailed measurements of cosmic-ray particles. It carried three scientific experiments a gamma-ray spectrometer, a cosmic-ray isotope experiment, and a heavy cosmic-ray nuclei experiment. The HEAO-3 was originally identified as HEAO-C but the designation was changed once the spacecraft achieved orbit.

Vintage Photograph. Titan blasting off.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - STS-6 orbiter Challenger on Complex 39A with rotating service structure retracted.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - STS-4 thunders away from Launch Pad 39A at 10:59:59 a.m. EDT, bound for a seven-day Earth orbital mission and the final developmental flight for the Space Transportation System. The fourth Space Shuttle mission is piloted by Commander Ken Mattingly and Pilot Henry Hartsfield Jr.

View of STS Atlantis

March 23, 1965 - Launch view of the Gemini-Titan 3 mission, Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Photographed on: 12 16 58. -- L58-1083a caption: Sequenced pictures showing events from release of boilerplate Mercury capsule from C-130 airplane to opening of recovery parachute, December 1958. Photograph published in A New Dimension Wallops Island Flight Test Range: The First Fifteen Years by Joseph Shortal. A NASA publication, page 644.

View of STS Discovery

S68-19459 (22 Jan. 1968) --- The Apollo 5 (LM-1/Saturn 204) unmanned space mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 37 at 5 48 09 p.m. (EST), Jan. 22, 1968. The Lunar Module-1 payload was boosted into Earth orbit by a launch vehicle composed of a Saturn IB first stage and a Saturn S-IVB second stage. The Apollo lunar module's first flight test was called a complete success. Ascent and descent propulsion systems and the ability to abort a lunar landing and return to orbit were demonstrated.

Space Shuttle Columbia, 2/82

Photograph taken during the launch of the Jupiter-C Rocket, an American research and development vehicle developed from the Jupiter-A. Dated 20th century

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Space Shuttle Discovery is hurled through a gossamer sky after launch today on mission STS-96. Lifting off at 6:49:42 a.m. EDT, the crew of seven begin a 10-day logistics and resupply mission for the International Space Station. Discovery carries about 4,000 pounds of supplies, to be stored aboard the station for use by future crews, including laptop computers, cameras, tools, spare parts, and clothing. The mission also includes such payloads as a Russian crane, the Strela; a U.S.-built crane; the Spacehab Oceaneering Space System Box (SHOSS), a logistics items carrier; and STARSHINE, a student-involved experiment. It will include a space walk to attach the cranes to the outside of the ISS for use in future construction. Landing is expected at the SLF on June 6 about 1:58 a.m. EDT

S61-03158 (1961) --- Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) missile standing alone on launch pad.

The first American-designed high-altitude research rocket, the Viking, built for the U.S. Navy by The Glenn L. Martin Company, was successfully launched at the White Sands Proving Grounds, Las Cruces, New Mexico, on May 3, and first pictures of the initial launching have just been released by the Naval Research Laboratory, under whose direction the Viking was built. Thesingle stage upper atmosphere rocket reached an altitude of 51½ miles, and attained a speed of 2250 miles per hour, three and o

This archival photo shows Voyager 2 at the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

A Dyna-Soar (Dynamic Soaring) vehicle clears the launch tower atop an Air Force Titan II launch vehicle in this 1961 artist's concept. Originally conceived by the U.S. Air Force in 1957 as a marned, rocket-propelled glider in a delta-winged configuration, the Dyna-Soar was considered by Marshall Space Flight Center planners as an upper stage for the Saturn C-2 launch vehicle.

S69-34320 (17 May 1969) --- Ground level view of the 363-feet tall Apollo 10 (Spacecraft 106/Lunar Module 4/Saturn 505) space vehicle on Pad B, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center. The service structure is in the right foreground. The crew of the Apollo 10 lunar orbit mission will be astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, commander; John W. Young, command module pilot; and Eugene A. Cernan, lunar module pilot.

View of STS Discovery

The Little Joe launch vehicle being readied for a test launch from Wallops in January 1960... Page 77. Photograph published in Winds of Change, 75th Anniversary NASA publication, by James Schultz. **note - see L59-5137 page 77 also. Photograph published in Engineer in Charge: A History of the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, 1917-1958 by James R. Hansen. Page 389. ...was conceived by Langley engineers Max Faget and Paul Purser even before STG (Space Task Group) was organized.

Anefo photo collection. Space exhibition "Lunaart 1969" in RAI. Preparations, scale model of Saturn (1:10), where Apolloabines are shot to the moon /. October 7, 1969. Amsterdam, Noord-Holland

Collection of 15 Delta Launch photographs including Echo 1 and Syncom Communications Satellite. Dated 20th century

Low angle view of a rocket taking off

Technicians attach the escape tower to the Mercury capsule prior to assembly with Little Joe launcher, August 20, 1959. Joseph Shortal describe this as follows (vol. 3., p. 33): The escape tower and rocket motors were taken from the Mercury capsule production. The tower is shown being attached to the capsule.... The escape rocket was a Grand Central 1-KS-52000 motor with three canted nozzles. The tower-jettison motor was an Atlantic Research Corp. 1.4-KS-785 motor. This was the same design tested in a beach abort test...and had the offset thrust line as used in the beach abort test to insure that the capsule would get away from the booster in an emergency. The escape system weighed 1,015 pounds, including 236 pounds of ballast for stability. The Little Joe booster was assembled at Wallops on its special launcher in a vertical attitude. It is shown in the on the left with the work platform in place. The launcher was located on a special concrete slab in Launching Area 1. The capsu

Vintage Photograph. Satellite orbiting Earth and collecting data.

Little Joe II liftoff from the Apollo Little Joe II launch area #3 at White Sands Missile Range, White Sands, New Mexico.

On October 27, 1961, the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and the Nation marked a high point in the 3-year-old Saturn development program when the first Saturn vehicle flew a flawless 215-mile ballistic trajectory from Cape Canaveral, Florida. SA-1 is pictured here, five months before launch, in the MSFC test stand on May 16, 1961. Developed and tested at MSFC under the direction of Dr. Wernher von Braun, SA-1 incorporated a Saturn I, Block I engine. The typical height of a Block I vehicle was approximately 163 feet. and had only one live stage. It consisted of eight tanks, each 70 inches in diameter, clustered around a central tank, 105 inches in diameter. Four of the external tanks were fuel tanks for the RP-1 (kerosene) fuel. The other four, spaced alternately with the fuel tanks, were liquid oxygen tanks, as was the large center tank. All fuel tanks and liquid oxygen tanks drained at the same rates respectively. The thrust for the stage came from eight H-1 engines, each producin

SL-4 space launch vehicle. Courtesy of Soviet Military Power, 1984. PHOTO No. 42, page 45. Country: Unknown

View of STS Discovery

Space rocket launchers developed since the 1950s. Dated 20th Century

Inspection tour of NASA installations: Huntsville Alabama, Redstone Army Airfield and George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, 9:35AM. President John F. Kennedy (lower right, with back to camera) views Saturn rocket displays, during a tour of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama; Director of the MSFC, Dr. Wernher von Braun (lower right), briefs President Kennedy. Also pictured: Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson; Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Dr. James E. Webb; chief scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defence of Great Britain, Sir Solly Zuckerman; Associate Administrator of NASA, Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr.; White House Communications Agency (WHCA) officer, Oscar N. Smith; White House Secret Service agent, Roy Kellerman. Photographers and members of the press observe at left. The President visited the MSFC as part of a two-day inspection tour of NASA field installations.

The Saturn V launch vehicle (AS-506) carrying the Apollo 11 spacecraft, arrived at the launch pad complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on May 20, 1969. On July 16, 1969, the 363 foot tall, 6,400,000 pound rocket, developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) under the direction of Werner von Braun, hurled the spacecraft into Earth parking orbit and then placed it on the trajectory to the moon for mans first lunar landing. Aboard the spacecraft were astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module (CM) pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module (LM) pilot. The crew safely splashed down into the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969. With the success of Apollo 11, the national objective to land men on the Moon and return them safely to Earth had been accomplished.

Inspection tour of NASA installations: Cape Canaveral Florida, 2:31PM. President John F. Kennedy (center right, in foreground) tours the Titan Launch Complex at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral, Florida; a Titan II Air Force rocket sits on launch pad in background. Also pictured: Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson; Secretary of the Air Force, Eugene M. Zuckert; Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara; Associate Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr.; Manager of Florida Operations for the Manned Spacecraft Center, G. Merritt Preston; Representative Victor L. Anfuso (New York); chief scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defence of Great Britain, Sir Solly Zuckerman; Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Dr. Jerome B. Wiesner; Director of the Bureau of the Budget, David E. Bell; White House Secret Service agents, Bill Greer, Rufus Youngblood, Gerald A. Jerry Behn, Ron Pontius, Bill Dunc

With gantry removed after final check-up, Viking rocket is ready for launching into upper atmosphere. It landed 10 miles northwest of firing point. The first American-designed high-altitude research rocket, the Viking, built for the U.S. Navy by The Glenn L. Martin Company, was successfully launched at the White Sands Proving Grounds, Las Cruces, New Mexico, on May 3, and first pictures of the initial launching have just been released by the Naval Research Laboratory, under whose direction the V

STS057-03-017 (21 June 1993) --- The external fuel tank falls toward Earth after being jettisoned from the Space Shuttle Endeavour as the spacecraft headed toward its ten-day stay in Earth orbit. A 35mm camera was used to record the ET jettison.

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