spacecraft
4 aircraft
Apollo Command Module
The Apollo Command Module brought astronauts home. Twelve humans traveled to the Moon and back in these conical spacecraft, surviving reentry at 25,000 mph. The ablative heat shield was designed to burn away — the charred exterior of a recovered capsule tells the story of human bodies protected from temperatures that would vaporize steel. Every recovered Command Module is a monument to what America accomplished when we decided to do something impossible.
Mercury Spacecraft
Mercury was America's first step into space. Alan Shepard became the first American in space aboard Freedom 7. John Glenn orbited the Earth in Friendship 7 and became a national hero. Each capsule was hand-built, each mission was a first. The Mercury Seven astronauts became the template for American heroism. Everything that came after — Gemini, Apollo, the Moon — started here.
Saturn V
The Saturn V remains the most powerful rocket ever flown. It sent humans to the Moon — all six landing missions, plus the Apollo 8 circumlunar flight. The F-1 engines at the base produced 1.5 million pounds of thrust each. The sound at launch was felt in your chest from miles away. No rocket since has matched its payload capacity. We could do it again, but we haven't.
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was supposed to make spaceflight routine. In some ways it did — 135 missions, the Hubble Space Telescope serviced, the International Space Station assembled. In other ways it didn't — Challenger and Columbia. But for 30 years, the Shuttle was human spaceflight. A generation grew up watching those launches. It remains the most complex machine ever built.