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
Vintage Photograph. US Navy's Martin Viking number 9 high altitude research rocket
142 assets in this story
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A V-2 rocket takes flight at White Sands, New Mexico, in 1946. The German engineers and scientists who developed the V-2 came to the United States at the end of World War II and continued rocket testing under the direction of the U. S. Army, launching more than sixty V-2s.
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Just moments following ignition, the Space Shuttle Challenger, mated to its two solid rocket boosters and an external fuel tank, soars toward a week-long mission in Earth orbit. Note the diamond shock effect in the vicinity of the three main engines. Launch occurred at 5:00 p.m. (EDT), July, 29,1985.
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Instrument carrying rocket, the upper half of a satellite rocket some 200 miles above the earth, orbiting. It is not beyond the pull of gravity but stays up for the same reason as the moon does, - because of velocity. Only if it lost speed would it fall down. Three micro-wave aerials are extended to transmit automatic instrument readings back to earth and receive radio control. Readings would include cosmic ray intensity, magnetic field strength, temperature, solar radiation. At 200 miles it would circle the earth every hour and a half. May 04, 1955.
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Evel blasts off during Evel Knievel's jump at the Snake River Canyon in September 1974
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Two satellites orbiting in space, Transit 2A Satellite, Solar Radiation Measurement Satellite, US Navy
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Shock-absorbing pads fall away from the surface of an MGM-118A Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missile as it emerges from its launch canister. This is the first test launch of the Peacekeeper. Base: Vandenberg Air Force Base State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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Pre-launch alert of Atlas-Agena 7, Ranger V.
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S71-17620 (31 Jan. 1971) --- The huge, 363-feet tall Apollo 14 (Spacecraft 110/Lunar Module 8/Saturn 509) space vehicle is launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 4 03 02 p.m. (EST), Jan. 31, 1981, on a lunar landing mission. This view of the liftoff was taken by a camera mounted on the mobile launch tower. Aboard the Apollo 14 spacecraft were astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., commander; Stuart A. Roosa, command module pilot; and Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot.
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Neil Armstrong
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Flaming from a tall launching tower at the Holloman Air Force Base, Alamogordo, New Mexico, is a North American Aviation NATIV guided missile. NATIVS travel at supersonic speeds and reach trajectory altitudes of 10 miles. April 6, 1949. (Photo by North American Aviation, Inc.).
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Anefo photo collection. Launch of Apollo II from Cape Kennedy, USA. August 13, 1969. America
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ISS026-E-032262 (7 March 2011) --- The space shuttle Discovery is seen from the International Space Station as the two orbital spacecraft accomplish their relative separation on March 7 after an aggregate of 12 astronauts and cosmonauts worked together for over a week. During a post undocking fly-around, the crew members aboard the two spacecraft collected a series of photos of each others vehicle.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Apollo/Saturn V Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Apollo astronaut Walt Cunningham is introduced during NASA's 40th Anniversary of Apollo Celebration of the July 1969 launch and landing on the moon. Cunningham was joined by seven others involved in the program. Cunningham occupied the lunar module pilot seat for the 11-day flight of Apollo 7--the first manned flight test of the third-generation United States spacecraft.
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61A-S-139 (6 Nov 1985) --- Eight persons returning from space at one time is a record which was set at 9 45 39 a.m. (PST) today when the Space Shuttle Challenger's wheels came to a stop on the runway at Edwards Air Force Base. The main gear is seen touching down at 9 44 51 a.m. Inside the spacecraft are astronauts Henry W. Hartsfield Jr., Steven R. Nagel, Bonnie J. Dunbar, James F. Buchli, Guion S. Bluford Jr., Reinard Furrer, Ernst Messerschmid and Wubbo J. Ockels. A number of West German and other European experiments were performed during the week-long Spacelab D-1 mission.
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The Apollo 17 space vehicle towers over the astronauts it will launch to the moon on December 6, 1972 from KSC. The astronauts, L-R, Harrison H. Schmitt, Ronald E. Evans and Eugene A. Cernan participated in a walkdown of the emergency route at Launch complex 39A.
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Inspection tour of NASA installations: Huntsville Alabama, Redstone Army Airfield and George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, 9:35AM. President John F. Kennedy (center right) views models of the Saturn rocket, 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 (center right, with arm raised), briefs President Kennedy. Standing behind the President: Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson; Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Dr. James E. Webb; Minister of Defence of Great Britain, Peter Thorneycroft. President Kennedy visited the MSFC as part of a two-day inspection tour of NASA field installations.
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Apollo 11 Commander Neil A. Armstrong and his wife, Carol, were among the many special NASA STS-83 launch guests who witnessed the liftoff of the Space Shuttle Columbia April 4 at the Banana Creek VIP Viewing Site at KSC. Columbia took off from Launch Pad 39A at 2:20:32 p.m. EST to begin the 16-day Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1) mission
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Grenade head containing the inflammatory mechanism and the explosive charge for a 25-pin cannon. Right is a cross section of the same type. 25 Ponder: caliber 88 mm
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Jerrie Cobb Poses Beside Mercury Capsule
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S65-29601 (3 June 1965) --- Distant view of the launch of the Gemini-Titan 4 (GT-4) spacecraft from Pad 19 at 10 16 a.m. (EST) on June 3, 1965. The Gemini IV spacecraft carried astronauts James A. McDivitt, command pilot; and Edward H. White II, pilot, on a four-day, 62-revolution mission that lasted 97 hours and 56 minutes.
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S63-00693 (3 Oct. 1962) --- Landing with parachute extended of astronaut Walter M. Schirra's Mercury-Atlas 8 (MA-8) capsule, called the Sigma 7, after a world orbital flight. Photo is labeled "Splashdown".
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The drag-chute is fully deployed as the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-66) heads toward a stop at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California, ending a successful mission. The crew supported the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS-3), conducting approximately 80 experiments. The Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometer and Telescopes for the Atmosphere-Shuttle Pallet Satellite (CRISTA-SPAS), which was developed by German engineers, was successfully deployed and retrieved during this space mission.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Apollo 15 Saturn V Space Vehicle is seen from a camera located at the mobile launcher's 360-foot level at Launch Pad 39A during venting of the liquid oxygen during the 'wet' portion of the Countdown Demonstration Test today. Astronauts David R. Scott, Commander; James B. Irwin, Lunar Module Pilot; and Alfred M. Worden, Jr., Command Module Pilot, will participate tomorrow in the 'dry' portion of the Countdown Demonstration Test (CDDT), as a final dress rehearsal for the launch to the Moon, scheduled for no earlier than July 26, 1971.
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Dr. Wernher Von Braun, stands in front of a Saturn IB Launch Vehicle at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Dr. Von Braun was Marshall's first Center Director (1960-1970). Under his leadership Marshall was responsible for the development of the Saturn rockets, the Skylab project and getting the United States into Space and landing on the moon with the Apollo missions.
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1960s INTENT TEENAGE BOY BUILDING DETAILING MODEL OF MULTISTAGE LAUNCH VEHICLE ROCKET
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Truman Receives Rocket Models
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50th Anniversary Celebration of the Apollo Moon Landing
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Installation of Ares V Model
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1960s BOY WITH MODEL ROCKET DAYDREAMING LOOKING AT ROCKET ON DESK STAR GALAXY BACKGROUND
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Photograph of Soyuz rocket on the launch pad signed by astronauts and cosmonauts on display in a museum, Baikonur Space Museum, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
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USA, Florida, Titusville, Astronaut Memorial Plaza, Atlas-Agena Program Memorial
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Managed by Marshall Space Flight Center, the Space Tug was a reusable multipurpose space vehicle designed to transport payloads to different orbital inclinations. Utilizing mission-specific combinations of its three primary modules (crew, propulsion, and cargo) and a variety of supplementary kits, the Space Tug was capable of numerous space applications. This 1970 artist's concept depicts the Tug's propulsion module launching a space probe into lunar orbit.
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In January 1958, a modified Redstone rocket lifted the first American satellite into orbit just 3 months after the the von Braun team received the go-ahead. This modified Redstone rocket was known as a Jupiter-C. Its satellite payload was called Explorer I.