picturing vintage space

stunning images chronicling our discovery and exploration of space

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That's six annoyed astronauts and smiling for the cameras. Amazing. 

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John Young and Gus Grissom. Just another day at the office. 

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Three awesome vintage Tang ads playing off its association with the space program. Contrary to popular belief, NASA didn't invent Tang. Charles Williams Post did. But NASA did make it really, really popular.

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This is what it looks like when you test how the Mercury capsule will fare landing on hard ground. It turns out the answer is "hard."

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The launch of Apollo 18

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It was a dark and stormy morning the day Apollo 12 got hit by lightning. 

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Dirt bikes on the Moon... Lunar dust bikes?

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A comparison of NASA rockets shows puts the new Space Launch System (SLS) to scale with existing vehicles as well as the Saturn V that took Apollo to the Moon and the space shuttle.

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photo: NASA. This iconic picture was taken in 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission. 

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photo: NASA. Composite of all the Mercury launches. 

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Love this. If ever a crew had fun going to the moon, it was Apollo 12. 

lightthiscandle:

The Apollo 12 crew with their matching gold Corvettes, 1969.

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photo: NASA. The X-15 cockpit. For something so powerful, doesn't look like much, does it!

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photo: NASA. The first colour image sent back from Mars by Viking 1 in 1976. 

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photo: NASA. Apollo 13 the night before launch. 

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photo: NASA. John Glenn does balance training in a bow tie. 

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photo: NASA. Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad on their way to Gemini 5. 

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photo: NASA. Saturn's shadow across its rings.