A pair of NASA astronauts, who were stranded in space for more than nine months, returned to Earth on Tuesday, landing in the Gulf of America off Tallahassee, Florida, bringing an end to an unforeseen odyssey.
Apollo 14, piloted by astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa,was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a manned mission to the moon.
On February 5, after suffering some initial problems in docking the lunar and command modules, Shepard and Mitchell were able to descend to the lunar surface on the third U.S. moon landing.
Upon stepping out of the lunar module, Shepard, who in 1961, aboard Freedom 7, was the first American in space, became the fifth astronaut to walk on the moon.
Shepard and Mitchell remained on the lunar surface for nearly 34 hours, conducting simple scientific experiments, such as hitting golf balls into space with Shepard’s golf club, and collecting 96 pounds of lunar samples. On February 9, Apollo 14 safely returned to Earth.
The crew of Apollo 14 in their spacesuits: Edgar D. Mitchel, Alan B. Shepard and Stuart A. Roosa.
Before and after shuttle explosion (first visible signs of danger on left, just after explosion on right).
At 11:38 a.m. EST, on January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Christa McAuliffe is on her way to becoming the first ordinary U.S. civilian to travel into space.
McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies teacher from New Hampshire, won a competition that earned her a place among the seven-member crew of the Challenger.
She underwent months of shuttle training but then, beginning January 23, was forced to wait six long days as the Challenger‘s launch countdown was repeatedly delayed because of weather and technical problems. Finally, on January 28, the shuttle lifted off.
Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground, including Christa’s family, stared in disbelief as the shuttle broke up in a forking plume of smoke and fire.
Millions more watched the wrenching tragedy unfold on live television. There were no survivors.
The Final Crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger.
President Ronald Reagan addressing the nation from the White House on the day of the space shuttle Challenger explosion.
The Apollo 1 crew, from left, Edward H. White II, Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and Roger B. Chaffee.
A launch pad fire during Apollo program tests at Cape Canaveral, Florida, killed all three astronauts of Apollo 1 on this day in 1967.
An investigation indicated that a faulty electrical wire inside the Apollo 1 command module was the probable cause of the fire.
The astronauts, the first Americans to die in a spacecraft, had been participating in a simulation of the Apollo 1 launch scheduled for the following month.
Theentrance to the tribute to the three astronauts who died in the fire.
The three-part hatch that was in place on the Apollo 1 spacecraft is shown in the tribute.This is the first time any part of the Apollo 1 spacecraft has been displayed publicly.
On Christmas morning, Apollo 8 left its lunar orbit and began its journey back to Earth, landing safely in the Pacific Ocean on on this day in 1968 after an historic six-day journey.
On December 21, Apollo 8 was launched by a three-stage Saturn 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, astronauts FrankBorman, James Lovell, Jr., and William Anders were aboard.
On Christmas Eve, the astronauts entered into orbit around the moon, the first manned spacecraft ever to do so.