1980s Gallery

Crawler moving Space Shuttle to launch complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, USA, 1980s

Crawler moving Space Shuttle to launch complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida, USA, 1980s. Crawler-transporters, formally known as the Missile Crawler Transporter Facilities, were a pair of tracked vehicles used to transport spacecraft from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) along the Crawlerway to Launch Complex 39. They transported Space Shuttles from 1981 to 2011

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Two-image mosaic of Saturns Rings, seen from Voyager 1 spacecraft, 1980. Creator: NASA

Two-image mosaic of Saturn's Rings, seen from Voyager 1 spacecraft, 1980. Computer-assembled two-image mosaic of Saturn's rings, taken by NASA's Voyager 1 on 6 November 1980 at a range of 8 million kilometers (5 million miles). Approximately 95 individual concentric features in the rings can be seen. The extraordinarily complex structure of the rings is easily seen across the entire span of the ring system. The ring structure, once thought to be produced by the gravitational interaction between Saturn's satellites and the orbit of ring particles, has now been found to be too complex for this explanation alone. The 14th satellite of Saturn, discovered by Voyager 1, is seen just inside the narrow F-ring, which is less than 150 kilometers (93 miles wide)

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President George Bush and Apollo 11 Astronauts, Washington D.C. USA, 1989. Creator: NASA

President George Bush and Apollo 11 Astronauts, Washington D.C. USA, 1989. President Bush speaks at the National Air and Space Museum's 20th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Here, on July 20, 1989, Bush announced his new Space Exploration Initiative, which was to complete the space station, return man to the moon, and bring man to Mars for the first time. The plan fell apart when NASA offered an estimated budget of 500 billion over the next 20 to 30 years to achieve the President's goal. Congress balked, and NASA returned to its earlier program of primarily robotic space exploration. From left to right are NASA Administrator Admr. Richard Truly, First Lady Barbara Bush, Neil Armstrong, President George Bush, Vice President Dan Quayle, Michael Collins, Mrs. Marilyn Quayle, and Buzz Aldrin

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