Tracing back to the early days of NASA, space exploration was all at once a bold new frontier. It was filled with wildly unexpected discoveries, fearless astronauts, and continual moments of unprecedented innovation. This collection of rare vintage images captures some of the highlight moments experienced over at NASA in its earlier days.
1. NASA Scientists in 1961
They’re ready to solve it all.
2. Brainpower: Six of NASA’s early female scientists pose for a photo, 1959.
Too much brainpower to even begin to try to comprehend. NASA scientists were on another level entirely.
3. Someone’s dad taking it all in on his first day at NASA.
It’s a big moment to take in.
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4. NASA Apollo 1 crew in 1966
Now that’s just too much cool to realistically handle.
5. A throwback image to someone’s mom enjoying her first day at NASA in 1974.
Looks like mom is living her best life.
6. NASA testing an early space suit design in the Mojave Desert (1962)
Can’t think of a better place to test it out.
7. Annie Easley, NASA rocket scientist (1960)
She means business.
8. NASA astronaut Winston Scott against a backdrop of ocean water during space walk in 1997
What a profound moment to take in.
9. Margaret Hamilton, NASA Software Engineer, in a mock-up of the Apollo Command Module (November 25, 1969)
She seems to be having a great time.
10. Two NASA engineers test a scale model of a Saturn I rocket in a wind tunnel in the 1960s
That looks like quite the intense job to hold down.
11. NASA Flight Director during many of the Gemini and Apollo missions in the 1960s
He’s very clearly locked in.
12. NASA test pilot Neil A. Armstrong dons a full-pressure suit before his first flight in the North American Aviation X-15
Ready for greatness.
13. Neil Armstrong with the North American X-15 Rocket Plane
Neil was clearly just having a ball of it all.
14. Margaret Hamilton and the software code that helped with the Apollo 11 landing in 1969
To say a job well done would be its own kind of vast understatement.
15. Judy Sullivan, NASA’s first female spacecraft operations engineer, monitors astronauts’ biomedical sensors during the Apollo 11 mission, 1969
Judy out there holding it down like an undeniable legend. No other way about it.
