Space Exploration

The Exploration of Space: From ancient observatories in India and Uzbekistan to modern telescopes in Indonesia, Hawaii and Australia; The Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, the site of American space missions (1980 and 2016); the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, NASA's manned spacecraft centre in Houston, Texas (1980); the Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, where European Ariane, Vega and Russian Soyuz rockets are launched (2016). And displays in the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC (1980 and 2016), Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China and the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia.

Delhi, India, 1979 - Jantar Mantar (“instruments for measuring the harmony of the heavens”), one of five observatories built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur in 1723; at left behind is the Misra Yantra (“mixed instrument”), five instruments designed as a tool to determine the shortest and longest days of the year.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The control panel for the Gemini flights, from 1961 to 1966.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The launch tower at Launch Complex 39, the rocket launch site at the John F. Kennedy Space Center, originally built for the Apollo program and later modified for the Space Shuttle program.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - Launch Complex 39, the rocket launch site, originally built for the Apollo program and later modified for the Space Shuttle program. The launch record lists the various missions.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, designed to assemble large space vehicles, such as the massive Saturn V and the Space Shuttle. It is the largest single-story building in the world, 160.3 metres high.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - Saturn V, the three-stage liquid-fuelled super heavy-lift launch vehicle that was developed to support the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, designed to assemble large space vehicles, such as the massive Saturn V and the Space Shuttle. The largest single-story building in the world, it is over 160 metres high.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - An Apollo capsule and the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), as used on the Moon in the last three missions of the American Apollo program (15, 16, and 17) during 1971 and 1972.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - Detail of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), the battery-powered four-wheeled rover as it was used on the Moon in the last three missions of the American Apollo program during 1971 and 1972.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - A Gemini space capsule for two astronauts, with overhead a model of the Soviet Soyuz capsule and in the background an Apollo cabin.

Washington DC, USA, 1980 - A mockup of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, conducted in July 1975, the first joint U.S.–Soviet space flight. It involved the docking of an Apollo Command/Service Module with the Soviet Soyuz 19.

Washington DC, USA, 1980 - A display of various satellites in the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution.

Washington DC, USA, 1980 - A display of the Apollo Lunar Module (LM) with the two astronauts on the surface of the moon. The lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft was built for the US Apollo program by Grumman Aircraft to carry a crew of two from lunar orbit to the surface and back.

Houston, Texas, 1980 - Mission Control in the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC), NASA's Manned Spacecraft Centre, where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted.

Houston, Texas, 1980 - Moon rocks, collected during the Apollo missions to the moon, in the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC).

Houston, Texas, 1980 - Little Joe II, a rocket used from 1963–66 for five unmanned tests of the Apollo spacecraft Launch Escape System (LES); and the Mercury/Redstone combination, the first American manned space booster, used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960–61, including the first and second Americans in space.

Houston, Texas, 1980 - The Saturn V, the three-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle, developed for the Apollo program; at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, NASA's Manned Spacecraft Centre where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted.

Mauna Kea, Hawai'i, 1989 - Telescopes of the Mauna Kea observatories, on the summit of the Mauna Kea volcano on Hawai'i island, at an elevation of 4,207 metres above sea level.

Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2010 - Model of Lunokhod, an unmanned moon rover that was landed on the moon by the Soviets in the seventies, displayed in the Sydney Powerhouse Museum.

Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2010 - Models of two docked Soviet Soyuz modules with in the foreground the Space shuttle, in the Sydney Powerhouse Museum.

Samarkand, Uzbekistan, 2013 - The Ulugh Beg Observatory, built in the 1420s by Timur's grandson, ruler and astronomer Ulugh Beg, and considered by scholars to have been one of the finest observatories in the Islamic world. It was destroyed by religious fanatics in 1449 and only re-discovered in 1908.

Kourou, French Guiana, 2016 - Entrance to the Centre Spatial Guyanais, with an Ariane rocket and flags of the participating countries in the European Space Agency, near Cayenne.

Kourou, French Guiana - The launch site of Russian Soyuz rockets at the Centre Spatial Guyanais.

Kourou, French Guiana - The final assembly buildings of Russian Soyuz rockets.

Kourou, French Guiana - The control room of ArianeSpace, in the central building associated with the launches of Ariane and Vega rockets.

Kourou, French Guiana - The final assembly building for Ariane 5 rockets at the Centre Spatial Guyanais.

Kourou, French Guiana - The railroad for transporting the Ariane 5 rockets from the assembly building to the launching site.

Kourou, French Guiana - Models of Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega rockets at the Launch Control Centre.

Kourou, French Guiana - The Launch Control Centre at the Centre Spatial Guyanais.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, 2016 - The rocket Garden display at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, - The Space Shuttle Atlantis, the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was from 3 to 7 October 1985. It made 33 flights; the last one was launched on 8 July 2011 and lasted over 12 days.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The cabin of the Space Shuttle Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. It made 33 flights, between 1985 and 2011.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The loading bay of Space Shuttle Atlantis, the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was from 3 to 7 October 1985. It made 33 flights; the last one was launched on 8 July 2011 and lasted over 12 days.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - View of the cabin and loading bay of Space Shuttle Atlantis, the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built, making 33 flights between 1985 and 2011.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The coated ceramic tiles as used on the Space Shuttle, like Atlantis. It is a reusable barrier that protected the Space Shuttle Orbiter during the extreme heat (up to 1,650 °C) during reentry into the atmosphere.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The Spirit/Opportunity Rover, of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission. In 2003 two rovers, MER-A Spirit and MER-B Opportunity were sent to Mars to explore the surface and geology. Both outlived their planned missions of 90 Martian solar days by far. MER-A Spirit was active until 2010.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The Sojourner, the Mars Pathfinder robotic Mars rover that landed on 4 July 1997 in the Ares Vallis region, and explored Mars for around three months; at the Journey to Mars exhibition.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - A mockup of the Orion Space capsule (Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle or Orion MPCV), a partially reusable crewed spacecraft used in NASA's Artemis program, designed to return astronauts to the moon and, later, to Mars.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The Astronauts Memorial, of the American astronauts and pilots who died during their missions, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The bronze Astronauts Memorial plaque, honouring the American astronauts and pilots who died during their missions.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The crawler-transporters, a pair of tracked vehicles used to transport spacecraft from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39. Originally used to transport Saturn IB and Saturn V rockets during the Apollo, Skylab and Apollo–Soyuz programs, they were later used to transport Space Shuttles, from 1981 to 2011.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The “Crawlerway”, the crawler-transporter way at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, used to transport spacecraft from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to Launch Complex 39.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - Mission Control at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, where launches are monitored.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The first stage of Saturn V, the three-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle, developed to support the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The first stage of Saturn V with the emblems of the different Apollo missions to and around the moon, at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - Alongside the huge Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle, with the emblems of Apollo 11, the first landing on the lunar surface on 20 July 1969, and the subsequent Apollo 12 mission, four months later.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The third stage of the three-stage Saturn V, with a moon lander and the emblems of the Apollo missions.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The Apollo 14 capsule, used in the eighth manned mission in the Apollo program, and the third to land on the Moon. Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell launched on their nine-day mission on 31 January 1971. They landed safely in the Pacific Ocean on 9 February.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), the rover used on the Moon in the last three missions of the Apollo program (15-17), in 1971 and 1972. It was popularly known as “moon buggy”; three of those are still on the moon.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - View from the Banana Creek Launch Viewing spot, at the Apollo/Saturn V Center, to the Vehicle Assembly Building for the Saturn V and the Space Shuttle. It is the largest single-story building in the world, over 160 metres high.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - Information about the Dream Chaser, a reusable lifting-body space plane, to resupply the International Space Station. Launched vertically on an Atlas V, Ariane 5 or Falcon Heavy rocket, it can land horizontally autonomously on conventional runways.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA - The entrance to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Cape Canaveral, the site of American space missions.

Dayton, Ohio, USA, 2016 - A Space capsule of Project Gemini, NASA's second human spaceflight program, conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew; ten Gemini crews flew low Earth orbit missions between 1965 and 1966.

Dayton, Ohio, USA, 2016 - The Command Module of Apollo 15, the fourth successful moon landing mission (named “Endeavour”) in July 1971. It was the only Apollo mission with an all-U.S. Air Force crew: Col. David R. Scott, Lt. Col. James B. Irwin, and Maj. Alfred M. Worden.

Washington, DC, USA - The North American X-15 rocket-powered research aircraft, designed to subject pilots to conditions future astronauts would face. It made the first manned flights to the edges of space and became the fastest winged aircraft ever made: On 3 October 1967 pilot William J. “Pete” Knight reached 7,273 km/hour.

Washington, DC, USA - The Viking Lander, used on Earth to simulate the behaviour of the vehicles going to Mars and to test their responses to radio commands. Viking 1 was launched on 20 August 1975, and, after placing an orbiter in orbit around Mars, landed on 20 July 1976. Viking 2 was launched on 9 September 1975 and landed on 3 September 1976.

Washington, DC, USA - A mockup of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, conducted in July 1975, the first joint U.S.–Soviet space flight, which involved the docking of an Apollo Command/Service Module with the Soviet Soyuz 19. The unnumbered Apollo vehicle was a surplus from the terminated Apollo program and the last one to fly.

Washington, DC, USA - The Apollo 11 Command Module, “Columbia”, the living quarters for the first manned lunar landing mission. On 16 July 1969 Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins were launched from Cape Kennedy atop a Saturn V rocket. This Command Module, manufactured by North American Rockwell, was one of three parts of the complete Apollo spacecraft.

Washington, DC, USA - The Surveyor Lunar Lander, an engineering model for the Surveyor 3 or later, with a scoop and claw surface sampler. These were the first U.S. probes to soft-land on the Moon, to provide data about its surface and possible atmosphere, and provide detailed TV pictures of the surface.

Washington, DC, USA - A Development Test Model (DTM) for the Voyager spacecraft, designed for a “grand tour” of the solar system, when the planets were aligned in the 1970s. Voyager 2 sent back the first images of Uranus and Neptune, finding 11 new moons, a magnetic field around Uranus and that Jupiter's Red Spot is a large storm in its atmosphere. Both Voyagers are still in space, exploring what lies outside our solar system.

Dayton, Ohio, USA, 2018 - The Apollo 15 Command Module, “Endeavour”. Apollo 15 was the first mission to use a lunar rover vehicle. David Scott and James Irwin spent 67 hours exploring and setting up scientific experiments while Alfred Worden remained in orbit conducting experiments and photographing the moon. Just over 12 days after launch, the crew returned safely, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.

Warrumbungle NP, NSW, Australia, 2012 - View to the Siding Spring Observatory, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the Australian National University; it incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with other telescopes owned by the Australian National University, the University of New South Wales, and other institutions.