A Museum Tour Through Aviation History

The Space Race (Gallery 114)

A large part of the history of spaceflight and the manned space programs of the United States and Russia is told in the Space Race gallery.

German V-1 and V-2 Rockets
(1942)

The first practical rockets were developed in Germany, not for spaceflight, but as weapons of war. The V-2 actually came first. The V-2 was designed by a team headed by scientist Wernher von Braun at the direction of Germany's Nazi regime. Known to the designers as the "A-4," but designated by the Nazi propanda ministry as the "V-2" (for Vengeance Weapon 2), the rocket first flew in October 1942. It was deployed in 1944 and by the end of World War II, more than 3,000 had been launched against England and Belgium. After the War, von Braun and many of his scientists surrendered to American forces and were taken, with unused V-2s, to the United States, where they formed the core of America's fledgling space program. The smaller V-1 "Buzz Bomb" was a forerunner of today's cruise missile. First used in June 1943, more than 30,000 were built, with about 2,400 actually reaching England. Because of its relatively slow speed of about 360 mph, the V-1s were often easy targets for anti-aircraft gunners.

American Vanguard and Jupter C Rockets
(1958)

America's first operational rocket was the WAC Corporal, which used the basic V-2 first stage with a smaller second stage attached. But the two best known early American rockets were the Vanguard and the Jupiter C. In December 1957, a Vanguard rocket made a very public and inauspicious attempt to answer Russia's October 1957 launch of Sputnik 1, crashing back on the launch pad just second after lift-off. The Vanguard 1 satellite was eventually launched successfully in March 1958. But in the meantime, von Braun's team had successfully launched America's first satellite, Explorer 1, on January 21, 1958 atop a Jupiter C rocket. The "space race" had begun.

Russian Voskhod EVA Suit
(1963)

Following the pioneering manned spaceflights of the Russian Vostok and American Mercury projects, by 1963 the United States was getting ready to begin to experiment with doing productive work in space. This was to take the form of a space walk or EVA (extra-vehicular activity) during the upcoming Gemini 4 mission. But Russia again upstaged the U.S. by launching Voskhod 2 just a few weeks before Gemini 4. During the Voskhod 2 flight, cosmonaut Alexi Leonov donned a spacesuit like the one pictured above and emerged from his spacecraft, becoming the first human to walk in space.

American M2-F3 Lifting Body
(1966)

While development of the Saturn V moon rocket and Apollo spacecraft progressed, the United States was looking to the future with test flights of unpowered and powered craft called "lifting bodies." With their strange, wingless shapes, craft like the M2-F3 Lifting Body would eventually become the basis for the design of the space shuttle. From 1966 to 1972, seven different pilots flew the M2-F3 a total of 43 times over the desert of Edwards Air Force Base, California. On its last flight, in December 1972, the M2-F3 reached an altitude of 71,500 feet.

American Saturn V and Russian N-1 Moon Rockets
(1968)

The 36-story tall Saturn V rocket was the workhorse of America's Apollo project to land men on the Moon. From the lunar orbit mission of Apollo 8 in December 1968 to the 6th and last successful lunar landing mission of Apollo 17 in 1972, Saturn Vs successfully launched 8 Apollo crews (24 astronauts) on their way to the Moon. Apollos 8 and 10 were lunar orbit missions, Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 were successful lunar landing missions, and Apollo 13 saw its crew return safely to Earth after an explosion aboard the Apollo spacecraft resulted in the planned lunar landing being aborted. In contrast, the Russian N-1 Moon rocket never had a successful launch. All four launch attempts during 1969 to 1971 ended in launch failures.

American Apollo EVA Suit
(1969)

During six successful Apollo lunar landing missions, a total of 12 American astronauts walked on the Moon. The Apollo EVA Suit pictured above is one of the ones actually worn on the Moon. Some suits had the distinctive red stripes, while others didn't, to allow ground observers to distinguish between the moonwalking astronauts.

American Skylab Orbital Workshop
(1973)

Having lost the race to the Moon, Russia took the lead in long-duration spaceflight by launching the first dedicated space station, Salyut 1, in 1971. America's answer was Project Skylab, which put three astronaut teams aboard the Skylab Orbital Workshop during 1973 to early 1974. The Skylab astronauts conducted a number of important physiology, astronomy, Earth observation, and materials processing experiments during missions of up to 84 days in space. The actual spare Skylab Orbital Workshop is on display in the Museum.

American Skylab EVA Suit
(1973)

The Skylab EVA Suit was lighter and more flexible that the one used by the moonwalking Apollo astronauts. During the three Skylab missions, the astronauts made a total of 10 space walks (one lasting more than 7 hours) to make repairs to the exterior of Skylab, retrieve film canisters and other experiment packages, and for other scientific and "housekeeping" chores.

American Apollo and Russian Soyuz
(1975)

The space race gave way to "space detante" in 1975, when an American Apollo and a Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked while in Earth orbit for several days of joint experiments. Although the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, as it was designated, was more about space politics than space exploration, it was an important milestone that would eventually lead to joint American/Russian missions aboard the Russian Mir space station and the International Space Station.

Russian Salyut/Mir EVA Suit
(1980s)

Although the Russian Salyut/Mir EVA Suit looks very similar to the American EVA suits used for Skylab and Space Shuttle missions, its design is actually quite unique. While the American EVA suits are designed in two pieces -- upper torso and lower torso -- the Russian EVA suits are made in one piece with a hatch in the rear, through which the cosmonaut enters. What looks like a large backpack in the photos above, is actually the entry hatch.

American Space Shuttle
(1981)

A new era in spaceflight began in April 1981 with the launch of the Space Shuttle "Columbia." The first of six space shuttles built for extended use, Columbia brought with it the era of reusable spacecraft. Through December 2002, more than 110 successful space shuttle missions had been flown by Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. Tragically, Challenger and her crew of seven were lost in the launch explosion of January 1986. With no viable replacement for the Space Shuttle likely in the foreseeable future, the Space Shuttle fleet is expected to continue to take humans into space well into the early decades of the 21st Century.

International Space Station
(2000)

The first component of an International Space Station was launched by a Russian expendable rocket in 1998. Other Russian and American components have since been launched, as construction of the space station progresses into the 21st Century. The first designated crew for the space station was launched, again aboard a Russian expendable rocket, in October 2000. Subsequent station crews have been launched by the American space shuttle, with European and Japanese laboratory modules still to be added to the growing station sometime after 2003.

Another look back at the "golden age" of manned spaceflight is highlighted in the Apollo to the Moon gallery, which will be our next stop.

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Last Updated: January 1, 2003