This gallery traces the development of manned spaceflight from its roots in early rocketry to the success of the Apollo lunar program and the Skylab space station. The United States' first program to launch a satellite was Project Vanguard. Yuri A. Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth on April 12, 1961. Although Shepard's flight lasted only 15 minutes, the Freedom 7 mission was the first step to the Moon. It gave President Kennedy the confidence 20 days later to make his speech about putting a man on the Moon.
Visitors can see a videotape of the speech near the spacecraft.
On an actual mission, the two astronauts traveling in the lunar module stood before the windows as they controlled the craft during both descent to and ascent from the lunar surface. T he Space Food exhibit illustrates the improvements in technology that have made eating in space much more like eating on Earth. A n exhibit case highlights Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 - the first and last Apollo missions to the Moon. The first manned exploration of the Moon occurred July 20 through 21, 1969. The suits worn by Armstrong and Aldrin are on exhibit in this case.