From the General Assembly’s first consideration of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) to welcoming astronauts fresh from a walk on the Moon, this #ThrowbackThursday, we looked back at the UN’s role in the space age ahead of the International Day of Human Space Flight, marked annually on 12 April.
Bill Nelson, American Democratic politician who represented Florida in the U.S. Senate from 2001 to 2019. He had previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1979–91). Nelson was the second sitting member of Congress to travel into space (1986). In 2021 he became administrator of NASA.
Ellen Ochoa, American astronaut and administrator who was the first Hispanic woman to travel into space (1993), working as a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle Discovery. She later served as director of the Johnson Space Center (2013–18). Learn more about Ochoa’s life and career.
Bruce McCandless, American naval aviator and astronaut, the first person to conduct an untethered free flight in space. McCandless was the son of an admiral and the grandson of a commodore. He received a B.S. from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1958. After two years of
When Indiana Jones Faces Off Against a Former Nazi Hired by NASA in 'Dial of Destiny,' the Villain's Backstory Closely Resembles Real-life SS Member Wernher Von Braun, Who Enjoyed a Glittering Post-war Career in America's Space Program. An Assessment of the Moral Compromises of This Era Is Far Overdue
Sally Ride, in full Sally Kristen Ride, (born May 26, 1951, Encino, California, U.S.—died July 23, 2012, La Jolla, California), American astronaut, the first American woman to travel into outer space. Only two other women preceded her: Valentina Tereshkova (1963) and Svetlana Savitskaya (1982), both from the former Soviet Union. Ride showed great early promise as a tennis player, but she eventually gave up her plans to play professionally and attended Stanford University, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in English and physics (1973). In 1978, as a doctoral candidate and teaching assistant in laser physics at Stanford, she was selected
A new analysis of NASA's quarantine protocols for Apollo 11 shows the mission's plan would not have been able to contain the dangerous lunar microorganisms that some scientists feared could break loose.