Astronauts Gallery

Backpacking

Mission Specialist Bruce McCandless II ventured further away from the confines and safety of his ship than any previous astronaut ever has. This space first was made possible by the Manned Manuevering Unit or MMU, a nitrogen jet propelled backpack. After a series of test maneuvers inside and above Challenger's payload bay, McCandless went "free-flying" to a distance of 320 feet away from the Orbiter. The MMU is controled by joy sticks positioned at the end of the arm rests. Moving the joy sticks left or right or by pulling them fires nitrogen jet thrusters propelling McCandless in any direction he chooses. A still camera is mounted on the upper right portion of the MMU. This stunning view shows McCandless with the MMU out there amongst the black and blue of Earth and space

© NASA

Harvey Allen, US aeronautical engineer

Harvey Allen (1910-1977). Portrait of the US aeronautical engineer and director of NASA's Ames Research Center, Harry (Harvey) Julian Allen, standing in front of a blackboard with his Blunt Body Theory equations. Allen is best known for this Blunt Body Theory of re-entry aerodynamics. This theory permitted successful recovery of orbiting spacecraft and led to the design of ablative heat shields that protected the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts as their space capsules re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. He served as Center Director of the NASA Ames Research Center from 1965 to 1969. His techniques are still used to this day. Photographed at Ames Research Center, California, USA, in 1957

© NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Apollo 11 Moon landing, 1969, artwork

Apollo 11 Moon landing. Artwork of US astronauts Neil Armstrong (right) and Buzz Aldrin (left) placing the US flag on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission, the first manned mission to land on the Moon (20 July 1969). Early in the morning of 21 July, they descended from the lunar landing module to the surface. They spent 2.5 hours on the surface, deploying instruments, taking photographs and drilling for rock samples. The Lunar Flag Assembly (which included a horizontal strut to support the flag on the airless Moon) was erected at 03:41 UTC. The flag was later knocked over by the exhaust from the ascent module

© RICHARD BIZLEY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY