By Kaero

During the Apollo 8, Apollo 10, and Apollo 11 missions, Helicopter Sikorsky Sea King SH-3D with number 66 was the primary recovery vehicle which hoisted returning astronauts from the spacecraft command modules.

By Eiffleman

American manned spaceplane used for hypersonic research. Conducted tests for ballistic flight, winged reentry, and gliding recovery. The X-15 was intended to evolve to a manned orbital spacecraft until the urgent need for the Mercury and Gemini programs surfaced. Research from the X-15 eventually led to the techniques...

By Eiffleman

Launch site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Site of the Mercury-Redstone 3 flight, America's first manned space flight with Astronaut Alan Shepard. LEGO LC-5 model with 976 bricks

NASA launch vehicle used to test the Apollo program spacecraft and later to ferry astronauts to Skylab.

By Eiffleman

Mobile launcher for the Little Joe II rocket.

Successor to the Hubble Telescope, the JWST will enable a detailed astronomical and cosmological investigations. The 6.5 meter primary mirror will observe some of the most distant objects in the Universe.

By Eiffleman

America's first crewed suborbital launch vehicle. Member of the Redstone rocket family derived from the U.S. Army's Redstone missile and the Jupiter-C LV. Used for six suborbital Mercury flights carrying astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom.

By Eiffleman

Four stage rocket derived from the Jupiter-C sounding rocket. After the "Sputnik Crisis" and the failure of the Vanguard program, a Juno I rocket was used to launch America's first satellite, Explorer 1.

By Eiffleman

Transport for Apollo astronauts to launchpad. Modified Cortez motorhome.

By Eiffleman

SpaceX partially reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Falcon 9. Consists of a strengthened Falcon 9 first stage center core and two Falcon 9 first stage strap-on boosters. As of 2021, Falcon Heavy had the highest payload capacity of operating rockets and the third highest of...

By Eiffleman

NASA modified Army M113s used as armored rescue vehicles.

By Kevin Huang

First American orbital human-rated launch vehicle. Used to launch the Mercury capsule to low Earth orbit.

By Eiffleman

Four stage rocket derived from the Jupiter missile and using MGM-29 Sergeant solid rocket motors for the upper stages. Launched Pioneer 3 (failure) and Pioneer 4 which became the first American lunar probe.

By SkySaac

Heavy Lift launch vehicle developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. First to use non-hypergolic liquid fuels. As of 2021 it is the 3rd most powerful launch vehicle.

By Eiffleman

American launch vehicle derived from the Titan II missile. Launched twelve Gemini program missions featuring the first flights with two astronauts.

by Kevin Huang

USAF expendable launch vehicle used from 1965 until 1982. First Titan family rocket to use large solid rocket motors. Intended for launch of the Dyna-Soar (cancelled) but primarily launched DoD payloads.