Search Results for: NASA

Beyond Astronaut Ice Cream: How Consumer America Engineered Food for Space Exploration

by Ivy Donnell, posted in Motion Pictures

What do corporations like Pillsbury and Whirlpool have to do with Apollo 11? Quite a lot, as it turns out. In fact, many consumer corporations contributed to the success of the moon landing. For example, engineers at Playtex designed the Apollo spacesuits and Westinghouse provided the cameras that transmitted video signals back to Earth. Pillsbury … Continue reading Beyond Astronaut Ice Cream: How Consumer America Engineered Food for Space Exploration

Practice Makes Perfect: How the Apollo 11 Crew Prepared for Launch

by Ivy Donnell, posted in Motion Pictures

You may have recently seen Todd Douglas Miller’s Apollo 11 documentary, featuring archival film from the National Archives’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) holdings. The film footage of Apollo 11 makes the July 16, 1969 launch and subsequent Moon landing look like a breeze. But the years leading up to the launch were full … Continue reading Practice Makes Perfect: How the Apollo 11 Crew Prepared for Launch

Big Shot 2: A Shiny Space Balloon

by Ashley S Behringer, posted in NASA

The NASA Science and Engineering Series (255-SE) consists of footage of experiments and events associated with various programs including Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. NARA staff have processed 5,848 film reels so far. Fortuitously, most of the films came to us labeled with excellent metadata including title, date, and location, or even with paper scene lists. … Continue reading Big Shot 2: A Shiny Space Balloon

Shooting the Moon: Photos of the Lunar Surface and Beyond

by Richard Green, posted in Digitization, Photographs

On August 26, 1966 an image graced the front page of the New York Times under the headline, “How the Earth Looks from the Moon.”  The image was of such low quality that the grey sphere which all of mankind calls home was barely recognizable.  Nevertheless, the photograph was remarkable.  For the first time, humans … Continue reading Shooting the Moon: Photos of the Lunar Surface and Beyond

What’s In a Name? American Vessels Called Enterprise

by Amy H Edwards, posted in Architectural and Engineering Drawings, Cartographic Records, Ship Plans, U.S. Navy

This Saturday, September 8th, marks the 52nd anniversary of the debut of the “Star Trek” series on television. For over two hundred years, ships called Enterprise have been helping us “Boldly Go”.  From vessels that sailed the Great Lakes of the United States in the War of 1812 to the most decorated ship of World … Continue reading What’s In a Name? American Vessels Called Enterprise

Capturing the Beauty of America’s National Parks: National Park Service Master Plan Covers

by Brandi K Oswald, posted in Architectural and Engineering Drawings, Cartographic Records, Maps, National Park Service, Uncategorized

August 25th marks the birthday of the National Park Service, which was established on that date in 1916. Over the course of the last 100 plus years, the National Park Service has grown, and now includes over 400 parks, representing America’s vast array of natural wonders and significant historic sites. The Cartographic Branch holds a … Continue reading Capturing the Beauty of America’s National Parks: National Park Service Master Plan Covers

In the Year 2000…

by Ashley S Behringer, posted in Audio Recordings, Fun

Throughout the decades of the Cold War, the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) produced a vast library of programs for distribution to stations around the world. Service personnel heard popular and classical music, news, entertainment shows that originated on commercial radio, and many, many public service announcements. Tens of thousands of AFRTS audio … Continue reading In the Year 2000…

Spotlight: The Launch of Sputnik 1

by chucik, posted in Films, Motion Pictures, Space, Uncategorized, Universal News Collection

Sixty years ago today, October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union sent into orbit the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1. The beach ball sized satellite, weighing 183.9 pounds, took 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. Sputnik’s launch captured the world’s attention and caught the American public off-guard. They feared the Soviets’ ability … Continue reading Spotlight: The Launch of Sputnik 1

Planning America’s Best Idea: Master Plans for National Parks

by Brandi K Oswald, posted in Architectural and Engineering Drawings, Cartographic Records, Graphic Materials, Maps, Uncategorized

On August 25, 1916, Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Organics Act, creating the National Park Service (NPS), a new federal bureau responsible for protecting the existing 35 national parks and monuments. In 1933, the National Park Service greatly expanded when all parks, monuments, and historical areas overseen by the government were transferred to the … Continue reading Planning America’s Best Idea: Master Plans for National Parks