Space Exploration
Information about the United States' space flight programs, including NASA missions and the astronauts who participate in the efforts to explore Earth's galaxy.
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NARA Resources
Finding Aids for NARA Records on Space Exploration
- Guide to the Records of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Describes the records of NASA held by the National Archives - Guide to the Records of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident (The Rogers Commission Report)
Describes the records available regarding the Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident - Guide to the Records of the U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Science and Astronautics
Explains the types of records available on the House Committee on Science and Astronautics and its predecessor committees from 1958 to the present - Guide to the Records
of the U.S. Senate: Committee on Commerce and Related Committees
Includes records of the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, 1958-1976
Mars taken by Hubble Space Telescope.
(Courtesy of NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team)
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Library And Museum: Space Sources
- Guides to Documentation on Sputnik and the Early History of National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Short box listing of collections at the Eisenhower Library containing documentation on Sputnik and the early history of NASA - Sputnik and the Space Race Documents
Provides digital images of records on Sputnik held at the Eisenhower Library, including press conferences, presidential addresses, and minutes to cabinet meetings
John F. Kennedy Library & Museum: Space Sources
Located under the heading "Americans in Space" in the Student Resources section of the Kennedy Library site
- President Kennedy's Telegram to Premier Khrushchev, April 12, 1961
Congratulates the Soviet Union on the first manned space flight - President Kennedy's Memorandum, April 20, 1961
Memo to Vice President Johnson asking for an evaluation of the U.S. Space Program - Vice President Johnson's Response, April 28, 1961
Provides suggestions to improve the U.S. Space Program - President Kennedy's Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs, May 25, 1961
Establishes the goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth - White House Tape on Space Race, November 21, 1962
73-minute White House meeting on November 21, 1962, during which President Kennedy made clear his administration's priority that the United States land on the moon before the Soviet Union - Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort, September 12, 1962
Outlines the status of the space program and the drive to put a man on the moon. - Remarks at the Dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center, November 21, 1963
Given by Kennedy on the day before his assassination, discusses the role of medicine and health research in space exploration - John Glenn Oral History Interview, June 12, 1964
Glenn's memories about President Kennedy's involvement in the space program
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum: Space Resources
- Cooperation with the U.S.S.R. on Outer Space Matters, March 3, 1964
Memo from Johnson to the Administrator of NASA endorsing cooperation with the Soviet Union in space - Remarks at the Signing of the Treaty on Outer Space, January 27, 1967
Celebrate the treaty which prohibited installation of "implements of war" in space, and the use of space or any celestial body for military purposes - Oral History Project: Interview with James E. Webb, Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1961-1968, April 29, 1969
Recalls Webb's tenure at NASA - LBJ Library's List of Holdings
Includes paper and microfilm NASA records
Richard Nixon Library: Space Resources
- National Security Council Files
Look for space-related information in the Folder Title List under box numbers 307, 308, 392, and 393
Gerald R. Ford Library and Museum: Space Resources
- Telephone Conversation of President Gerald R. Ford With Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Crews Following Rendezvous and Docking of the Spacecraft, July 17, 1975
Broadcast live on radio and television - White House Central Files Subject File OS: Outer Space
Contains materials from the Ford administration on planning, programming, researching, exploring, and developing outer space
Picture of the Trifid Nebula taken by Gemini North 8-meter Telescope.
(Courtesy of the Gemini Observatory/GMOS Image)
Jimmy Carter Library and Museum: Space Resources
- A Coherent U.S. Space Policy, March 28, 1977
Directs the Policy Review Committee to develop an overall statement of national goals in space - National Space Policy, May 11, 1978
Explains the national policies in regard to the conduct of space-related programs and activities - Civil and Further National Space Policy, October 10, 1978
Establishes civil and further national policies on space programs and activities in compliance with the National Space Policy
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library: Space Resources
- Address to the Nation on the Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, January 28, 1986
Echoes the nation's mourning for the Challenger crew - Proclamation 5434 - Death of American Astronauts on Board Space Shuttle Challenger, January 28, 1986
Commands flags to be flown at half-staff in memory of the seven astronauts of the Challenger - Remarks at the Memorial Service for the Crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger in Houston, TX, January 31, 1986
Transcript of President Reagan's speech at the Challenger memorial service - Executive Order 12546 - Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, February 3, 1986
Establishes a Presidential Commission to examine the circumstances surrounding the Challenger explosion - Resources at the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library: Future of Space: Commercialization, Technology Transfer, International
Cooperation, and the Space Station
Includes resources on space exploration
George Bush Presidential Library and Museum: Space Resources
- Finding Aid: White House Office of Records Management: Outer Space
Lists the records pertaining to plans, programs, research, exploration, and development of outer space
Clinton Presidential Materials Project: Space Resources
- Space Station Redesign, July 17, 1993
History of the redesign of the Space Station programs under President Clinton, includes the pertinent reports - Statement on National Space Transportation Policy, August 5, 1994
Outlines a clear course for the nation's space program, providing a coherent strategy for supporting and strengthening U.S. space launch capability - Fact Sheet: National Space Policy, September 19, 1996
Details the goals and guidelines of the future of America's space policy - Remarks by the President and Colonel Eileen Collins at the Announcement of First Woman Shuttle Commander, March 5, 1998
Includes the text of the speeches of the first woman shuttle commander, Col. Eileen Collins, and President Clinton - Space Station, June 19, 1998
Staff paper prepared for the President's Commission to Study Capital Budgeting, describes the investment needed for a space station - The Future Management and Use of the U.S. Space Launch Bases and Ranges, February 8, 2000
Examines the role of government agencies and the U.S. commercial space sector in the policy and management issues of space launches - Joint Statement of the Space Station Partnership, December 6, 1993
Announces the invitation to Russia to join the international Partnership
Neptune taken by Voyager spacecraft.
(Courtesy of NASA, JPL, and CALTech)
Space Exploration Timeline
Documents achievements in space since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957
General Space Exploration Resources
- Apollo to the Moon
Extensive site by the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, covers the history of spaceflight - Astronaut Fact Book (1998)
Gives information on astronaut candidate selection and astronaut alma maters, lists former and current astronauts - Encyclopedia Astronautica
Entries on all things space-related - Laika, the first dog in space
Brief history of Laika and other early space dogs - Joint Statement by President George W. Bush and President Vladimir VP Putin on U.S.-Russian Cooperation in Space, June 1, 2003
Confirms the U.S. and Russia's mutual commitment to maintaining the work done on the International Space Station - Johnson Space Center (JSC) Digital Image Collection
Image database of NASA's flights
Jupiter's red spot taken by Voyager spacecraft.
(Courtesy of NASA, JPL, and CALTech)
- Legislative Origins of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Act of 1958
Chronicles the history of the act creating NASA, includes oral histories of those who were instrumental in its creation - Mission Control Center, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
Includes a Mission Control FAQ sheet, interactive graphics explaining the function of each Mission Control console, and an image gallery - National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Official site, full of historical and up-to-date information on the space program - NASA Human Spaceflight
Contains extensive information about the various space programs, including the shuttles and the space stations - National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958
Public Law #85-568, 72 Stat. 426, establishes NASA and is designed to "provide for research into problems of flight within and outside the earth's atmosphere." - Solar System
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory site, gives information about and images from NASA's unmanned spacecraft - Solar System Simulator
Allows the user to see one planet from the perspective of satellites and other planets - Space Today
Covers general space topics, includes information about animals in space - StarDate Online
Maintained by the popular radio show StarDate, highlights today's stargazing tip and radio snippet - Views of the Solar System
Photos and scientific facts, including a description, exploration timeline, statistics, animations, and statistics for each planet in our solar system - Voyage to the Milky Way
Based on the PBS program, looks at space exploration from the practical, commercial point of view - Windows to the Universe
Features interactive resources on Earth and space sciences, graphics intensive site
Fireworks at star formation taken by Hubble Space Telescope.
(Courtesy of NASA and the Hubble Heritage
Team)
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports: Space
- CRS Report for Congress: Military Space Programs: Issues Concerning DoD's Space-Based Infra-Red System (SBIRS)
Department of Defense (DoD) report, highlights the SBIRS system, designed to replace existing 'early warning' satellites - CRS Report for Congress: Space Activities of the United States, CIS, and Other Launching Countries/Organizations: 1957-1993
Historical overview of the space exploration progress made between the 1950s and the 1990s - CRS Issue Brief for Congress: Space Launch Vehicles: Government Activities, Commercial Competition, and Satellite Exports
Covers the U.S. launch vehicle policy, programs and issues, and information about the commercial launch services industry - CRS Issue Brief for Congress: Space Stations
Covers the early space stations from 1984, international partners in space station creation, and other issues for Congressional consideration - CRS Issue Brief for Congress: U.S. Space Programs: Civilian, Military, and Commercial
Reports on current civilian, commercial, and military U.S. space programs, government space budgets and other space program issues
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