History of the NASA space program

[0:01] Welcome back. On the eve of NASA's Artemis II launch, we take a look at the space race [0:06] and the history of NASA's space program. Here's ABC's Elizabeth Schulze. [0:13] Long before astronauts dreamed of Mars or walked on the moon, the goal was simpler, [0:18] leave Earth. It was the 1950s. The Cold War was escalating, and the U.S. and Soviets, [0:26] locked in a geopolitical battle, turned their attention skyward. The Soviets sent Sputnik 1, [0:32] the very first artificial satellite, into orbit in 1957, and the U.S. didn't want to fall behind. [0:39] The space race was on. By 1959, the first American astronaut corps was introduced. [0:47] The Mercury 7, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper, Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, [0:53] John Glenn, and Scott Carpenter were selected. All seven eventually flew into space. [1:00] The ABC television network presents... [1:04] Soviet in space. Today's spectacular and historic accomplishment of the Soviet Union. [1:10] In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human to orbit Earth. [1:20] But it was Alan Shepard just one month later who became the first American to enter space. [1:26] This is Freedom 7. The fuel is go. One flight to the king. [1:31] Taking the Mercury Redstone 3, the Freedom 7, on a 15-minute suborbital flight. [1:42] A year later... [1:43] John Glenn, aboard the Friendship 7, became the first American to complete an orbit of the Earth. [1:48] Zero G, and I feel fine. Capsule is turning around. [1:56] And President John F. Kennedy set a challenge for the American space program. [2:00] We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon. [2:08] We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things. [2:12] Not because they are easy, but because they are hard. [2:15] By the mid-60s, sites were set firmly on the moon. [2:19] Project Gemini was underway to develop and test the techniques and procedures needed for lunar missions. [2:26] 1965, just four years after Alan Shepard's suborbital flight, [2:31] astronaut Ed White became the first American to complete a spacewalk. [2:36] Gemini's multi-day missions taught NASA how to fly in space. [2:40] But the Apollo program, the Moonshot, would eventually take them to the moon. [2:45] It was a tragic start for Apollo. A cabin fire during a 1967 mission. [2:49] In 1967, Apollo 1 pre-flight test killed all three astronauts on board. [2:54] Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. [2:57] NASA was forced to rethink design and safety after the setback. [3:02] By 1968, Apollo 8 left Earth's orbit. [3:07] There goes the first TV from Apollo 8, 123,000 miles out in space. [3:12] Flying around the far side of the moon for the first time. [3:15] Five, four, three, two, one. [3:20] Zero. All engine running. [3:23] Liftoff. We have a liftoff. [3:25] One year later, in 1969, Apollo 11 launches Neil Armstrong, [3:30] Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to make the historic landing. [3:33] The Eagle has landed. [3:35] Neil Armstrong, the first human to set foot on the moon. [3:39] That's one small step. [3:40] Armstrong and Aldrin spent two and a half hours exploring the lunar surface, [3:52] planting the American flag, taking these now iconic photos. [3:56] The landing was a success. [3:57] The landing broadcast worldwide on live TV. [3:59] An estimated 650 million people around the world watching. [4:04] The seventh crewed mission to the moon was Apollo 13. [4:08] Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Hayes successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center in 1970. [4:14] We have commit and we have liftoff at 2-13. [4:17] But two days into the mission, an oxygen tank in the service module exploded, [4:22] disabling its electrical and life support systems. [4:25] The astronauts making that change. [4:26] Making that chilling call. [4:30] The moon landing was aborted. [4:31] The three astronauts were marooned 200,000 miles from Earth. [4:36] Their lunar module, Aquarius, became a lifeboat. [4:39] They faced a cold cabin, limited power, and a shortage of drinking water. [4:44] Mission control in Houston improvised procedures and engineered Aquarius to keep all three men alive. [4:50] Their saga immortalized in a blockbuster film. [4:53] Gentlemen, let's go home. [4:56] Tens of millions of people were watching. [5:01] And they were alive as the capsule finally splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean. [5:05] There's the splash. [5:06] And there they come. [5:08] By 1972, Apollo 17 carried the final group of astronauts to land on the moon, [5:14] closing the first chapter of lunar landings in the Apollo era. [5:18] As public and political appetite for space flight waned, so did the funding. [5:23] We have main engines start. [5:25] A shuttle program, a more economical alternative to expendable rockets, became NASA's goal. [5:31] And the fire went out without a discovery. [5:32] The idea was to save the planet. [5:33] It was simple. [5:34] Build a reusable space vehicle that could be launched vertically, [5:37] attached to rocket boosters, and land like an airplane. [5:40] But the engineering challenges were daunting. [5:43] In 1981, the first orbiter, Columbia, along with crew John Young and Robert Crippen, [5:49] successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center. [5:53] Orbited the Earth 37 times. [5:56] It is really fun. [5:56] You could do that in your living room without breaking your leg. [6:00] You sure would. [6:01] Then landed on a runway at Edwards Air Force Base in California. [6:05] NASA projected they could launch 12 to 14 shuttle missions a year, [6:09] an ambitious schedule that came at a devastating cost. [6:13] On a freezing morning in January 1986, STS-51L lifted off from Cape Canaveral. [6:20] We saw 25th space shuttle mission, and it has cleared the tower. [6:25] Carrying Commander Dick Scobie, Pilot Mike Smith, [6:29] Mission Specialists Judy Resnick, Ron McNair, and Ellison Onizuka, Payload Specialist Greg Jarvis, [6:35] and High School Teacher Krista McAuliffe. [6:38] Challenger, go with throttle up. [6:40] 73 seconds into the flight, an O-ring seal in the right solid rocket booster failed [6:46] due to the cold temperatures, allowing hot gas to breach the external fuel tank. [6:52] Challenger broke up 46,000 feet above the Earth. [6:56] All seven astronauts were killed. [6:58] The Rogers Commission was formed to investigate the accident, uncovering flaws in Challenger's hardware [7:10] and NASA's management system. [7:12] The O-ring seal in the right solid rocket booster failed due to the cold temperatures, [7:14] allowing hot gas to breach the external fuel tank. [7:14] Almost three years later, the shuttle program launched again, with discovery in 1988. [7:23] After 17 years of relative safety and success with the shuttle program, [7:27] STS-107, the 113th flight of the program, launched in January 2003. [7:33] Carrying Commander Rick Husband, Pilot William McCool, [7:37] Mission Specialists Kalpa Nachola, David Brown, and Laurel Clark, [7:41] Payload Commander Michael Anderson, and [7:43] Specialist Elon Ramon on a microgravity research mission. [7:48] During the launch, a piece of insulating foam broke off and fell from the external fuel tank, [7:54] damaging the left wing of the orbiter. [7:56] Columbia broke up during re-entry, scattering debris across hundreds of miles of Texas. [8:02] All seven aboard were killed. [8:04] The Columbia report blamed physical damage to the left wing, [8:08] and again a culture of budget cuts and schedule pressure at NASA. [8:12] The fleet was grounded while the O-ring seal in the right solid rocket booster failed due to the cold temperatures, [8:13] while NASA focused on new safety measures. [8:16] A stark reminder of the ignored risks that doomed Challenger. [8:22] The final shuttle missions performed research, serviced the Hubble telescope, [8:26] and assembled and supplied the International Space Station. [8:29] Culminating in the final mission of Atlantis in 2011, [8:33] ending the shuttle era after nearly 30 years and 135 flights. [8:38] Thank you Columbia, Challenger, Re-Endeavor, Atlantis, for protecting us. [8:45] Today, NASA depends on commercial and commercial equipment to make the most out of the mission. [8:51] NASA depends on commercial partnerships with companies like SpaceX, [8:59] and seats on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to take astronauts up to space. [9:04] And when NASA's uncrewed Artemis 1 mission successfully circled the Moon in 2022, [9:10] it marked a major milestone for the agency in its goal of returning humans to the Moon [9:15] and establishing a permanent lunar base. [9:19] More than 50 years since Gene Cernan, [9:21] took humanity's last steps on the Moon, [9:24] Artemis 2 astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen [9:29] will continue the work started by Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury all those years ago.