NASA History Office

The wording of our post could be clearer. The Shuttle did have wings, though stubby ones. Neither the lifting bodies nor the Shuttle had much in the way of lift, but the lifting body research showed how an unpowered vehicle travelling at high speeds could be maneuvered to a runway landing.

@NASAhistory The space shuttle was neither wingless nor did it achieve much in the way of lift.

As the Apollo 11 vehicle was rolling to the launch pad in Florida OTD in 1969, across the country in the California desert NASA test pilot Bill Dana (right) was flying the wingless HL-10 lifting body (left). NASA's lifting body program paved the way for the space shuttle by showing that a wingless craft could glide to a landing like an airplane.

Good question! The lift for these vehicles was created by the shape of their bodies rather than wings. The modified half-cone shape with a rounded bottom and flat top, along with the rounded nose and twin tail-fins allowed the lifting bodies to be maneuvered both in a lateral and a longitudinal direction. nasa.gov/aeronautics/na…

The shape is unexpected. I thought wings were flat on the bottom and curved on the top, to force faster airflow across the top. The lifting body here looks like the opposite. Anyone know how this works?

May 18, 1969: Tom Stafford, John Young, and Gene Cernan begin the second crewed mission to the Moon. Apollo 10 was the final critical test flight before Apollo 11's lunar landing, just 2 months later.

Today would have been Dr. Roman’s 101st birthday! 🎉 We are honored to have @NASA’s next space telescope, launching later this year, named after such an inspiration who understood the importance of leaving Earth's atmosphere to better understand our universe. Learn more: go.nasa.gov/4fpIHWo

"Liftoff for the final launch of Endeavour!" 15 years ago today, Endeavour launched into space for its 25th and final time. STS-134, the penultimate mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program, delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 and critical supplies to the space station.

@deaninsavannah So underrated! Not only did Skylab break new ground in long-duration spaceflight, it made huge strides in human physiology, solar science, and Earth-observation.

@NASAhistory Skylab feels underrated compared to Apollo, but it was a huge step for long-duration spaceflight.

America's first space station—and the last Saturn V—take flight! 🚀 Launched OTD in 1973, the main structure of Skylab—its Orbital Workshop—was built from a converted Saturn S-IVB rocket stage roughly 22.8 feet (6.7 m) in diameter.

At a time when it was still unclear whether humans could endure more than a few hours in weightlessness, Cooper’s mission was an essential step toward the goal of landing astronauts on the Moon less than 8 years later. How the chief of NASA's Medical Operations Office tested the limits of human endurance in space in the 1960s: go.nasa.gov/4nzLwGv

Two years after NASA's first astronaut launched to space, Gordon Cooper launched for the sixth and final crewed mission of Project Mercury OTD in 1963. Cooper's 34-hour mission in the cramped Faith 7 spacecraft was the longest of any NASA astronaut to that point.

Skylab Orbital Workshop provided about 10,000 cubic ft (283 cubic m) of habitable space for its three 3-person crews. The International Space Station, by comparison, offers 13,696 cubic ft (~388 cubic m) of habitable volume—within a structure of connected modules. That's roughly the interior space of a 1,700-square-foot home in the U.S.

And room to play Skylab astronauts used the forward dome area for microgravity “acrobatics” and to flight test the maneuvering equipment, including the Automatically Stabilized Maneuvering Unit (ASMU)—a precursor to later jetpacks used outside the Shuttle.

@TexSandlin This is amazing!!! Thank you so much for sharing your photo!

@NASAhistory Here's Scooter and the rest of the Eight Tomcat crew who flew on the movie. It's our "wrap photo". Scooter is top right. I'm bottom right 😎

"Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby." During his service with the Navy, astronaut Scott "Scooter" Altman doubled for Tom Cruise and other actors in F-14 flight scenes for the original Top Gun movie, released 40 years ago this week! Altman didn't just buzz the traffic control tower once, he did it nine times to get the right take for the movie!

Wind tunnel testing? We’ve been at it for decades. 💁 Seen here in the ‘60s is an Apollo Command Module model being tested in our Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel. Generations of air and spacecraft have had their critical safety checks here to ensure they’re ready to take to the skies to fly. Explore more: go.nasa.gov/4rPeao1

55 years ago, the Apollo 15 spacecraft was on the move. The 363-foot-tall vehicle left the Vehicle Assembly Building on May 11, 1971, for its slow 8-hour trip to Pad 39A at @NASAKennedy. Apollo 15, the fourth Apollo lunar landing mission, was scheduled to lift off on July 26.

Today we wish Vance Brand a very happy 95th birthday! Selected as an astronaut 60 years ago, Brand's first spaceflight, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, was followed by three shuttle missions and various administrative positions. He retired from NASA in 2008.

A little love for our OG mom, Earth. 💙🌍 Happy Mother’s Day weekend. At NASA’s Johnson Space Center, teams work every day to better understand and protect our home planet — a fitting reminder to celebrate the world that cares for us, and the mothers, caregivers, and communities who do the same.

The new kid on the block takes flight OTD in 1992, Space Shuttle Endeavour, the fifth and final operational orbiter to be built, was launched into space for its first mission: STS-49. Endeavour made 25 flights over 19 years, completing its final flight 15 years ago this month!