National Aeronautics and Space Administration

PROJECT MERCURY

Mercury SpacecraftThe first U.S. spaceship was a cone-shaped one-man capsule with a cylinder mounted on top. Two meters (6 ft, 10 in) long, 1.9 meters (6 ft, 2 1/2 in) in diameter, a 5.8 meter (19 ft, 2 in) escape tower was fastened to the cylinder of the capsule. The blunt end was covered with an ablative heat shield to protect it against the 3000 degree heat of entry into the atmosphere.

The Mercury program used two launch vehicles: A Redstone for the suborbital and an Atlas for the four orbital flights. Prior to the manned flights, unmanned tests of the booster and the capsule, carrying a chimpanzee, were made. Each astronaut named his capsule and added the numeral 7 to denote the teamwork of the original astronauts.

The objectives of the Mercury Project, as stated at the time of project go-ahead, were as follows:Place a manned spacecraft in orbital flight around the earth. Investigate man's performance capabilities and his ability to function in the environment of space. Recover the man and the spacecraft safely.

PROJECT MERCURY

Mercury-Redstone 3FREEDOM 7May 5, 1961Alan B. Shepard, Jr.15 minutes, 28 secondsSuborbital flight that successfully put the first American in space.Mercury-Redstone 4LIBERTY BELL 7July 21, 1961Virgil I. Grissom15 minutes, 37 secondsAlso suborbital; successful flight but the spacecraft sank shortly after splashdown.Mercury-Atlas 6FRIENDSHIP 7February 20, 1962John H. Glenn, Jr.04 hours, 55 minutes 23 secondsThree-orbit flight that placed the first American into orbit.Mercury-Atlas 7AURORA 7May 24, 1962M. Scott Carpenter04 hours, 56 minutes, 5 secondsConfirmed the success of Mercury-Atlas 6 by duplicating flight.Mercury-Atlas 8SIGMA 7October 03, 1962Walter M. Schirra, Jr.09 hours, 13 minutes, 11 secondsSix-orbit engineering test flight.Mercury-Atlas 9FAITH 7May 15-16, 1963L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.34 hours, 19 minutes, 49 secondsLast Mercury mission; completed 22 orbits to evaluate effects of one day in space.

Alan Shepard, Jr.The First American in Space

Altitude: 116.5 statute miles Orbits: 0 Duration: 0 Days, 0 hours, 15 min, 28 seconds Distance: 303 statute miles Velocity: 5,134 mph Max Q: 580 psf Max G: 11

Altitude: 162.2 x 100 statute miles Inclination: 32.54 Orbits: 3 Period: 88min 29sec Duration: 0 Days, 4 hours, 55 min, 23 seconds Distance: 75,679 statute miles Velocity: 17,544 mph Max Q: 982 psf Max G: 7.7

First American in Orbit

JOHN GLENN

PROJECT GEMINI

Gemini Goals

The second U.S. manned space program was announced in January 1962.Its two-man crew gave it its name, Gemini, for the third constellation of theZodiac and its twin stars, Castor and Pollux. Gemini involved 12 flights,including two unmanned flight tests of the equipment. Like Mercury's, its major objectives were clear-cut:To subject man and equipment to space flight up to two weeks in duration. To rendezvous and dock with orbiting vehicles and to maneuver the docked combination by using the target vehicle's propulsion system; To perfect methods of entering the atmosphere and landing at a preselected point on land. Its goals were also met, with the exception of a land landing, which was cancelled in 1964.

The Spacecraft

The spacecraft was an enlargement of the familiar Mercury capsule--5.8m (19 ft) long, 3m (10 ft) in diameter, and about 3810 kilograms (8400 pounds) in weight. Engineering changes simplified maintenance and made it more maneuverable for the pilots. The Titan II rocket, more powerful than the Redstone, placed the larger spacecraft into orbit.

Sometimes referred to as Gemini-Titan for the craft and its launch vehicle, each flight was designated by a Roman numeral. Only the first capsule was nicknamed; Command Pilot Virgil Grissom called it the Molly Brown in reference to his Mercury spacecraft that sank.

Gemini 3

The Manned Flights

Gemini III, Molly BrownMarch 23, 1965Virgil I. Grissom, John W. Young

4 hours, 52 minutes 31 secondsFirst manned Gemini flight, three orbits. Gemini IVJune 03-07, 1965James A. McDivitt, Edward H. White II

4 days 1 hour 56 minutes 12 secondsIncluded first extravehicular activity (EVA) by an American; White's "space walk" was a 22 minute EVA exercise. Gemini VAugust 21-29, 1965L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., Charles Conrad, Jr.

7 days 22 hours 55 minutes 14 secondsFirst use of fuel cells for electrical power; evaluated guidance and navigation system for future rendezvous missions. Completed 120 orbits. Gemini VIIDecember 04-18, 1965Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr.

13 days, 18 hours, 35 minutes 1 secondsWhen the Gemini VI mission was scrubbed because its Agena target for rendezvous and docking failed, Gemini VII was used for the rendezvousinstead. Primary objective was to determine whether humans could live in space for 14 days. Gemini VI-ADecember 15-16, 1965Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Thomas P. Stafford

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1 Day 1 hour 51 minutes 24 secondsFirst space rendezvous accomplished with Gemini VII, station-keeping for over five hours at distances from 0.3 to 90 m (1 to 295 ft). Gemini VIIIMarch 16, 1966Neil A. Armstrong, David R. Scott

10 hours 41 minutes 26 secondsAccomplished first docking with another space vehicle, an unmanned Agena stage. A malfunction caused uncontrollable spinning of the craft; the crew undocked and effected the first emergency landing of a manned U.S. space mission. Gemini IX-AJune 03-06, 1966Thomas P. Stafford, Eugene A. Cernan

3 days 21 hoursRescheduled from May to rendezvous and dock with augmented target docking adapter (ATDA) after original Agena target vehicle failed to orbit. ATDA shroud did not completely separate, making docking impossible. Three different types ofrendezvous, two hours of EVA, and 44 orbits were completed. Gemini XJuly 18-21, 1966John W. Young, Michael Collins

2 days 22 hours 46 minutes 39 secondsFirst use of Agena target vehicle's propulsion systems. Spacecraft also rendezvoused with Gemini VIII target vehicle. Collins had 49 minutes of EVA standing in the hatch and 39 minutes of EVA to retrieve experiment fromAgena stage. 43 orbits completed. Gemini XISeptember 12-15, 1966Charles Conrad, Jr., Richard F. Gordon, Jr.

2 days 23 hours 17 min 8 secondsGemini record altitude, 1,189.3 km (739.2 mi) reached using Agena propulsion system after first orbit rendezvous and docking. Gordon made 33-minute EVA and two-hour standup EVA. 44 orbits. Gemini XIINovember 11-15, 1966James A. Lovell, Jr., Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.

3 days 22 hours 34 minutes 31 secondsFinal Gemini flight. Rendezvoused and docked with its target Agena and kept station with it during EVA. Aldrin set an EVA record of 5 hours, 30 minutes for one space walk and two stand-up exercises

Virgil Grissom James Lovell

PROJECT APOLLO

Apollo Goals"That's one small step for man.  One giant leap for mankind."    - Neil ArmstrongThe national effort that enabled Astronaut Neil Armstrong to speak those words as he stepped onto the lunar surface, fulfilled a dream as old as humanity. ButProject Apollo's goals went beyond landing Americans on the Moon and returning them safely to Earth:•To establish the technology to meet other national interests in space. •To achieve preeminence in space for the United States. •To carry out a program of scientific exploration of the Moon. •To develop man's capability to work in the lunar environment.

The Apollo Spacecraft Apollo was a three-part spacecraft: the command module (CM), the crew's quarters and flight control section; the service module (SM) for the propulsion and spacecraft support systems (when together, the two modules are calledCSM); and the lunar module (LM), to take two of the crew to the lunar surface, support them on the Moon, and return them to the CSM in lunar orbit.

The flight mode, lunar orbit rendezvous, was selected in 1962. The boosters for the program were the Saturn IB for Earth orbit flights and the Saturn V for lunar flights.

Step one: Unmanned Saturn I Missions

• These missions included SA-1 through SA-10.• Pad Abort Test I and II• Little Joe II Tests A-001 through A-004

Step Two: Unmanned Apollo-Saturn Missions

• AS-201• AS-202• AS-203• Apollo 4• Apollo 5• Apollo 6

STEP THREE: TO THE MOONAPOLLO MANNED MISSIONS

TRAGEDY

On January 27, 1967, tragedy struck the Apollo program when a flash fire occurred in command module 012 during a launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle being prepared for the first piloted flight, the AS-204 mission. Three astronauts, Lt. Col. Virgil I. Grissom, a veteran of Mercury and Gemini missions; Lt. Col. Edward H. White, the astronaut who had performed the first United States extravehicular activity during the Gemini program; and Roger B. Chaffee, an astronaut preparing for his first space flight, died in this tragic accident. A seven-member board, under the direction of the NASA Langley Research Center Director, Dr. Floyd L. Thompson, conducted a comprehensive investigation to pinpoint the cause of the fire. The final report, completed in April 1967 was subsequently submitted to the NASA Administrator. The report presented the results of the investigation and made specific recommendations that led to major design and engineering modifications, and revisions to test planning, test discipline, manufacturing processes and procedures, and quality control. With these changes, the overall safety of the command and service module and the lunar module was increased substantially. The AS-204 mission was redesignated Apollo I in honor of the crew.

Apollo 7Saturn 1B (AS-205, CSM-101)October 11-22, 1968Walter M. Schirra Jr. (commander), Donn F. Eisele (CM pilot), R. Walter Cunningham (LM pilot)

10 days, 20 hours163 Earth orbits. First manned CSM operations in lunar landing program. First live TV from manned spacecraft. Apollo 8Saturn V (AS-503, CSM-103)December 21-27, 1968Frank Borman (commander), James A. Lovell Jr. (CM pilot), William A. Anders (LM pilot)

06 days, 03 hoursIn lunar orbit 20 hours, with 10 orbits. First manned lunar orbital mission. Support facilities tested. Photographs taken of Earth and Moon. Live TV broadcasts.

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND MISSION RESULTS

Apollo 9 (Gumdrop and Spider)Saturn V (AS-504, SM-104, CM-104, LM-3)March 03-13, 1969James A. McDivitt (commander), David R. Scott (CM pilot), Russell L. Schweickart (LM pilot)

10 days, 01 hourFirst manned flight of all lunar hardware in Earth orbit. Schweickark performed 37 minutes EVA. Human reactions to space and weightlessnesstested in 152 orbits. First manned flight of lunar module.

Apollo 10 (Charlie Brown and Snoopy)Saturn V (AS-505, SM-106, CM-106, LM-4)May 18-26, 1969Thomas P. Stafford (commander), John W. Young (CM pilot), Eugene A. Cernan (LM pilot)

08 days, 03 minutesDress rehearsal for Moon landing. First manned CSM/LM operations in cislunar and lunar environment; simulation of first lunar landing profile. In lunar orbit 61.6 hours, with 31 orbits. LM taken to within 15,243 m (50,000 ft) of lunar surface. First live color TV from space. LM ascent stage jettisoned in orbit.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED• Apollo 11 (Columbia and Eagle)

Saturn V (AS-506, SM-107, CM-107, LM-5)July 16-24, 1969Neil A. Armstrong (commander), Michael Collins (CM pilot), Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr. (LM pilot)

08 days, 03 hours, 18 minutesFirst manned lunar landing mission and lunar surface EVA. "Houston, Tranquility base here. The eagle has landed." - July 20th, 1969

• Landing site: Sea of Tranquility.Landing Coordinates: 0.71 degrees North, 23.63 degrees East

1 EVA of 02 hours, 31 minutes. Flag and instruments deployed; unveiled plaque on the LM descent stage with inscription: "Here Men From Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon the Moon. July 1969 A.D. We Came In Peace For All Mankind." Lunar surface stay time 21.6 hours; 59.5 hours in lunar orbit, with 30 orbits. LM ascent stage left in lunar orbit. 20kg (44 lbs) of material gathered.

Neil ArmstrongMichael Collins Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr.

OUR FINEST HOUR

James Lovell Jr. Fred Haise Jr.

Thomas Mattingly III

Apollo 13Thirty-five years ago, on April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 lifted off for the Moon with Commander Jim Lovell, Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert and Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise aboard. Two days later, with the spacecraft well on its way to the Moon, an oxygen tank exploded, scrubbing the lunar landing and putting the crew in jeopardy.

Working with Mission Control in Houston, the crew used their lunar module as a "lifeboat," and even rigged an adapter so than a command module "air scrubber" would work in the lunar module, preventing a dangerous buildup of carbon dioxide.

The mission ended safely when the crew splashed down on April 17, 1970, but it's "can-do" spirit lives on at NASA. It shows in the efforts of thousands to return the Shuttle fleet to flight, and it will ultimately help NASA fulfill its exploration Vision -- returning to the Moon, journeying to Mars and beyond.

Clockwise from left: The launch, damage from the explosion, the lunar module Aquarius, the improvised air scrubber, (from left) Haise, Lovell and Swigert.

AFTER APOLLO: SKYLAB, Apollo-Soyuz Test Projet, STS, AND ISS

SKYLAB

Skylab was America's first space station and orbital science and engineering laboratory.

The mission itself began with the Soyuz launch from Baykonur Cosmodrome on 15 July 1975, followed by the Apollo launch from Kennedy Space Center 7 hours later. The docking in space of the two spacecraft took place at 2:17 p.m. U.S. Central Daylight Time on 17 July. Two days of joint operations followed. After separation, the Soyuz remained in space for almost two days before landing in the USSR on 21 July. The Apollo spacecraft remained in space for another three days before splashing down near Hawaii on 24 July. The mission was a resounding success for both Americans and Soviets. They achieved their goal of obtaining flight experience for rendezvous and docking of human spacecraft. In addition, they also demonstrated in-flight intervehicular crew transfer, as well as accomplished a series of scientific experiments.

APOLLO-SOYUZ PROJECT

STSSPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM

The Space Shuttle Columbia 1981

Challenger

Sally Ride: The firstwoman in space 1983

Atlantis

Discovery

Image above: STS-51L Crew photo with Commander Francis R. Shobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialists Judith A. Resnik, Ellison S. Onizuka, Ronald E. McNair and Payload Specialists Gregory B. Jarvis and Sharon Christa McAuliffe.

Challenger Disaster January 28, 1986

Columbia remembered:Columbia and crew lost during entry on February 1, 2003

Image above: STS107-735-032 -- The STS-107 crewmembers pose for their traditional in-flight crew portrait aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. From the left (bottom row) are astronauts Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist; Rick D. Husband, mission commander; Laurel B. Clark, mission specialist; and Ilan Ramon, payload specialist. From the left (top row) are astronauts David M. Brown, mission specialist; William C. McCool, pilot; and Michael P. Anderson, payload commander.

International Space Station

A: Well, I was inspired by the men who walked on the moon. It really was my inspiration, I think, you know, as a kid of 9 years old — I know I’m dating myself but — I thought what a cool job! It really didn’t become a reality to me to become a goal until I graduated from high school, which was coincidentally the same year they picked the first set of female astronauts. I think that was when I decided I wanted to become an astronaut. Still, I knew very little about the whole process or what it would take to get in. But I do have a healthy dose of that stubborn thing going for me which, I think, kept me pursuing the goal. I knew I wanted to be a part of NASA in any case, and so I chose my goals in education to be consistent with working at NASA even as, you know, a scientist.

Q: There are hundreds of thousands of pilots and scientists out there in the world but there are only about 100 astronauts. What made you try to become one of them, one of those people who flies in space?

PEGGY WHITSON

Peggy A. Whitson (Ph.D.)NASA AstronautPERSONAL DATA: Born Feb. 9, 1960 in Mt. Ayr, Iowa. Hometown is Beaconsfield, Iowa. Married to Clarence F. Sams, Ph.D. She enjoys weight lifting, biking, basketball, and water skiing.EDUCATION: Graduated from Mt. Ayr Community High School, Mt. Ayr, Iowa, in 1978; received a bachelor of science degree in biology/chemistry from Iowa Wesleyan College in 1981, and a doctorate in biochemistry from Rice University in 1985.AWARDS/HONORS: NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal (2006); NASA Space Flight Medal (2002). Two patents approved (1997, 1998); Group Achievement Award for Shuttle-Mir Program (1996); American Astronautical Society Randolph Lovelace II Award (1995); NASA Tech Brief Award (1995); NASA Space Act Board Award (1995, 1998); NASA Silver Snoopy Award (1995); NASA Exceptional Service Medal (1995, 2003, 2006); NASA Space Act Award for Patent Application; NASA Certificate of Commendation (1994); Selected for Space Station Redesign Team (March-June 1993); NASA Sustained Superior Performance Award (1990); Krug International Merit Award (1989); NASA-JSC National Research Council Resident Research Associate (1986-1988); Robert A. Welch Postdoctoral Fellowship (1985-1986); Robert A. Welch Predoctoral Fellowship (1982-1985), Summa Cum Laude from Iowa Wesleyan College (1981); President’s Honor Roll (1978-81); Orange van Calhoun Scholarship (1980); State of Iowa Scholar (1979); Academic Excellence Award (1978).EXPERIENCE: From 1981 to 1985, Whitson conducted her graduate work in biochemistry at Rice University, Houston, Texas, as a Robert A. Welch Predoctoral Fellow. Following completion of her graduate work she continued at Rice University as a Robert A. Welch Postdoctoral Fellow until Oct. 1986. Following this position, she began her studies at NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, as a National Research Council Resident Research Associate. From April 1988 until Sept. 1989, Whitson served as the Supervisor for the Biochemistry Research Group at KRUG International, a medical sciences contractor at NASA-JSC. In 1991-1997, Whitson was also invited to be an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Human Biological Chemistry and Genetics at University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas. In 1997, Whitson began a position as Adjunct Assistant Professor at Rice University in the Maybee Laboratory for Biochemical and Genetic Engineering.

NASA EXPERIENCE: From 1989 to 1993, Whitson worked as a Research Biochemist in the Biomedical Operations and Research Branch at NASA-JSC. From 1991-1993, she served as Technical Monitor of the Biochemistry Research Laboratories in the Biomedical Operations and Research Branch. From 1991-1992 she was the Payload Element Developer for Bone Cell Research Experiment (E10) aboard SL-J ( STS-47), and was a member of the US-USSR Joint Working Group in Space Medicine and Biology. In 1992, she was named the Project Scientist of the Shuttle-Mir Program ( STS-60, STS-63, STS-71, Mir 18, Mir 19) and served in this capacity until the conclusion of the Phase 1A Program in 1995. From 1993-1996 Whitson held the additional responsibilities of the Deputy Division Chief of the Medical Sciences Division at NASA-JSC. From 1995-1996 she served as Co-Chair of the U.S.-Russian Mission Science Working Group. In April 1996, she was selected as an astronaut candidate and started training, in Aug. 1996. Upon completing two years of training and evaluation, she was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Operations Planning Branch and served as the lead for the Crew Test Support Team in Russia from 1998-99. From Nov. 2003 to March 2005 she served as Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office. From Mar 2005-Nov. 2005 she served as Chief of the Station Operations Branch, Astronaut Office. Whitson trained as the backup ISS Commander for Expedition 14 from Nov. 2005-Sept. 2006. Whitson is currently serving a six month tour of duty aboard the International Space Station as the ISS Commander for Expedition 16. The crew launched on Oct. 10, 2007 aboard a Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft, docking with the station on Oct. 12, 2007. This is Whitson’s second long-duration spaceflight. SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: The Expedition-5 crew launched on June 5, 2002 aboard STS-111 and docked with the International Space Station on June 7, 2002. During her 6-month stay aboard the Space Station, Dr. Whitson installed the Mobile Base System, the S1 truss segment, and the P1 truss segment using the space station remote manipulator system, performed a 4 hour and 25 minute Orlan EVA to install micrometeoroid shielding on the Zvezda Service Module, and activated and checked out the Microgravity Sciences Glovebox, a facility class payload rack. She was named the first NASA Science Officer during her stay, and she conducted 21 investigations in human life sciences and microgravity sciences, as well as commercial payloads. The Expedition-5 crew (one American Astronaut and two Russian Cosmonauts) returned to Earth aboard STS-113 on Dec. 7, 2002. Completing her first flight, Dr. Whitson logged 184 days, 22 hours and 14 minutes in space.OCTOBER 2007

Current information on Peggy Whitson Peggy Whitson multimedia

Cost v. Spinoffs

• Project Mercury: $392.6 million• Project Gemini: $1.3 billion• Project Apollo: $25 billionAfter the Moon• Skylab: $2.6 billion• Apollo-Soyuz: $250 million• STS-Endeavour: $1.7 billion to build/launch $450

million per mission• ISS: TBD

Uses of Funds for the Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2007 (Dollars in

Millions)

Total Uses of Funds: $15,078 billion Source: AFR Addendum: Consolidated Statement of Net Cost, Unaudited.

Sources of Funds for the Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2007 (Dollars in

Millions)

Total Sources of Funds: $20,246 billion Note: Nonexpenditure transfers of $1 M do not appear in the chart.Source: AFR Addendum: Combined Statement of Budgetary Resources, Unaudited.

So what does it cost me?

• $50.26 per person per year or• $.14 cents per day

Costs v. Spinoff

• NASA around you(http://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/index.html)Spinoff: There have been over 30,000

applications of space technology over the past 40 years.

Examples: insulin infusion pump, advanced wheelchairs, vehicles controls for the disabled

Costs v. Spinoffs

Additional examples:Advanced turboprops, dental braces, Magnetic

Resonance Imaging (MRI), voice activation, scratch-resistant glasses, reading machines for the blind, water recycling, breathing systems for firefighters, speech autocuer, cell phone technology, television communication

The Future?

For more information, images and multimedia, explore NASA athttp://www.nasa.gov

Presentation created by Jack R. VanderflughtMarch 2008