Space Exploration

Space exploration, one of the greatest technological achievements in human history, includes the Apollo missions, the Space Shuttles Columbia and Challenger, and people like Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong.

NASA's Early Years

The fastest ever spacecraft just entered Jupiter’s orbit. Kristen Francis has been remotely flying Juno for the past five years. Will NASA now be able to unlock the secrets of our solar system?

On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia was returning from its 28th mission when, 16 minutes to touchdown, the shuttle incinerated and broke apart over Texas. Communication between the Columbia crew and Mission Control captures the last moments of the flight.

On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union voted to reclassify Pluto as a "dwarf planet," shrinking the solar system from nine planets to eight and setting off a controversy within the scientific community. In a broadcast following the announcement, James Zimbelman from the Smithsonian Institution shares his opinion about the "oddball" of outer space.

In what he described as the most historic phone call ever made from the White House, President Richard Nixon speaks to astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin shortly after they became the first humans to set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969.

See existing footage alongside newly restored video of Neil Armstrong reading the commemorative plaque affixed to the lunar module. From NASA.