NASA Marshall Space Flight Center photos from the 1960s

NASA officials, (left to right) Charles W. Mathews; Dr. Wernher von Braun, Director, Marshall Space Flight…

The Little Joe launch vehicle for the LJ1 mission on the launch pad at the wallops Flight Facility, Wallops…

Installation of the Mercury capsule on Redstone booster at the Redstone Test Stand

The launch of the Little Joe booster for the LJ1B mission on the launch pad from the wallops Flight Facility…

This photograph shows the Saturn V assembled LOX (Liquid Oxygen) and fuel tanks ready for transport from the…

This photograph shows the Saturn-I first stage (S-1 stage) being transported to the test stand for a static…

This photograph shows a Saturn V first stage (S-1C). This stage was assembled at the Manufacturing…

The powerful J-2 engine is prominent in this photograph of a Saturn V Third Stage (S-IVB) resting on a…

This small group of unidentified officials is dwarfed by the gigantic size of the Saturn V first stage (S-1C)…

A NASA technician is dwarfed by the gigantic Third Stage (S-IVB) as it rests on supports in a facility at…

This image illustrates the basic differences between the three Saturn launch vehicles developed by the…

This chart is an illustration of J-2 Engine characteristics

S-IVB-505 and S-IVB-211, the flight version of the S-IVB stages, in the McDornell Douglas' S-IVB Assembly and…

A J-2 engine undergoes static firing

Workmen inspect a J-2 engine at Rocketdyne's Canoga Park, California production facility

The J-2 engine for Saturn V S-IVB (third) stage blasted from the test stand at Douglas Aircraft Co.…

This chart provides the vital statistics for the F-1 rocket engine

The F-1 engine was developed and built by Rocketdyne under the direction of the Marshall Space Flight Center

This photograph shows a test firing of a Saturn V second stage (S-II) on the S-IC test stand at the…

This is a comparison illustration of the Redstone, Jupiter-C, and Mercury Redstone launch vehicles

Astronaut Virgil Grissom walks on the recovery ship after completing the 15-1/2-minute suborbital MR-4 mission

The Mercury-Redstone Booster Development vehicle (MR-BD) lifts off from Cape Canaveral March 24, 1961

Astronaut Virgil Grissom chats with Astronaut John Glenn prior to entering the Liberty Bell 7 capsule for the…

Astronaut Alan Shepard fitted with space suit prior to the first marned suborbital flight

This photo depicts the recovery operations of the MR-3 mission

Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. during suiting for the first manned suborbital flight, MR-3 mission

The launch of the Mercury Atlas (MA-2), an unmarned suborbital Mercury capsule test on February 24, 1961

This photo depicts the recovery of the Freedom 7 (MR-3) capsule by a U.S. Marine helicopter

A three-year-old chimpanzee, named Ham, in the biopack couch for the MR-2 suborbital test flight

Liftoff of MR-4 (Mercury-Redstone), Liberty Bell 7, on July 21, 1961

Ham, a three-year-old chimpanzee, in the spacesuit he would wear for the second Mercury- Redstone (MR-2)…

Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. lifts off in the Freedom 7 Mercury spacecraft on May 5, 1961

Assisted by Astronaut John Glenn, Astronaut Virgil Grissom enters the Mercury capsule, Liberty Bell 7, for…

Alan B. Shepard, Jr., America's first astronaut, stands in front of the Freedom 7 spacecraft shortly after…

A U.S. Marine helicopter attempts to retrieve the sinking capsule, Liberty Bell 7, of the MR-4 mission

Astronaut Alan Shepard underwent a physical examination prior to the first marned suborbital flight

The launch of the Mercury-Redstone (MR-3), Freedom 7. MR-3 placed the first American astronaut, Alan Shepard…

Astronaut Virgil Gus Grissom awaits America's second marned space mission, Mercury-Redstone 4 (MR-4) on July…

The static firing of a Saturn F-1 engine at the Marshall Space Flight Center's Static Test Stand

Progress in the Saturn program, depicted below, was described by Dr. Wernher von Braun, Marshall Space Flight…

This artist's concept illustrates the Module Nova concept - Solid C-3 Basis

The Apollo 16 Command Module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 27, 1972 after an 11-day moon…

The launch of the MA-6, Friendship 7, on February 20, 1962

Astronaut John Glenn enters the Mercury spacecraft, Friendship 7, prior to the launch of MA-6 on February 20…

Astronaut John Glenn in the Friendship 7 capsule during the first manned orbital flight, the MA-6 mission

In this 1962 artist's concept, a proposed Nova rocket, shown at right, is compared to a Saturn C-1, left, and…

This photograph depicts the Rocketdyne static firing of the F-1 engine at the towering 76-meter Test Stand…

Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, one of the original seven astronauts for Mercury Project selected by NASA on April…

The recovery operation of the Faith 7 spacecraft after the completion of the 1-1/2 day orbital flight (MA-9…

Astronaut Gordon Cooper leaves the Faith 7 (MA-9) spacecraft after a successful recovery operation

J-2 engines for the Saturn IB/Saturn V launch vehicles are lined up in the assembly area at Rocketdyne's…

A close-up view of the F-1 Engine for the Saturn V S-IC (first) stage depicts the complexity of the engine

Marshall Space Flight Center successfully conducted hydrostatic testing on the Saturn V S-IC (first) stage…

This image illustrates technicians working on a full scale engineering mock-up of a Saturn V S-IC stage…

At its founding, the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) inherited the Army’s Jupiter and Redstone test…

This drawing clearly shows the comparative sizes of the rocket engines used to launch the Saturn vehicles

The test laboratory of the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) tested the F-1 engine, the most powerful…

The test laboratory of the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) tested the F-1 engine, the most powerful…

The flame and exhaust from the test firing of an F-1 engine blast out from the Saturn S-IB Static Test Stand…

Two technicians apply insulation to the outer surface of the S-II second stage booster for the Saturn V moon…