Travel back to the 1960s, a decade when space exploration was still a daring experiment and NASA was writing history with every launch. These 20 images offer a rare glimpse into the early days of the agency, when engineers worked out calculations by hand, computers filled entire rooms, and each mission pushed the boundaries of what was possible.
1. This is how NASA scientists worked before PowerPoint, 1961
2. The Apollo 11 crew landed on the moon on July 20, 1969
3. JoAnna H. Morgan, one of NASA’s first female engineers in the control room before the Apollo 11 launch, 1969
4. Mathematician Katherine Johnson calculating spacecraft trajectories by hand, 1960s
5. NASA testing an early space suit design in the Mojave Desert, 1962
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6. NASA scientists working out calculations on a chalkboard, 1961
7. Frances Northcutt, the first female engineer in NASA’s Mission Control during the space race, 1968
8. NASA astronauts Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong with their families, four months before Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy, 1969
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9. President Kennedy holding a small model of the Apollo capsule that NASA staff gave him, 1962
10. The Apollo 1 crew getting some much-needed pool time, 1966
11. NASA mathematician Poppy Northcutt in the Mission Control Room, 1968
12. Wernher von Braun, chief architect of the Saturn V Rocket, standing next to his invention, 1960s
13. Annie Easley, computer scientist and mathematician at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, 1960
14. The Mission Control Room at Kennedy Space Center, 1960s
15. NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong posing for a photo inside the Lunar Module just after his first trip on the moon, 1969
16. NASA astronaut Michael Collins inside the Gemini 10 spacecraft, 1969
17. The Apollo 12 crew, the second crew to land and walk on the moon, 1969
18. The only two photos of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon, 1969
19. An artist recreating the lunar surface using paintbrushes and airbrushes for the Lunar Orbit and Landing Approach simulator at NASA in the early 1960s
20. Neil A. with the NASA North American X-15, 1960
Want to see more content from the 1960s?
Check out 20 Facts About Life in the 1960s, or take a look at 17 Odd Jobs Teenagers Took in the 1960s. Finally, if you want to see how people hung out in the sixties, take a look at 25 Vintage Photos of How People Hung Out Before The Internet (1960s).
