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  • John H. Glenn Jr.: Aviator and Astronaut

    In John Glenn's long aviation career, he flew with the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Air Force, set a speed record, and shot down enemy aircraft. But he is best known as the first American to orbit the Earth and, later in life, as the oldest person to fly in space.In World War II, Glenn volunteered for

  • Gen. Bernard A. Schriever

    "Father of Air Force Space and Missiles"Bernard A. Schriever was the chief architect of the U.S. Air Force's early ballistic missile and space programs. His visionary leadership in the 1950s and 1960s made the USAF a world leader in developing military science and technology. He directed the

  • Gen. T.D. White: Pioneer Airman and Scholar

    Gen. Thomas Dresser White was the fourth Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force (1957-1961). He was a visionary military leader and a brilliant scholar who helped bring the USAF into the space age.Born in 1901 in Minnesota, Thomas D. White started his military career in the U.S. Army as an infantry

  • Five Stars in Space: Hap Arnold's Rank Insignia Orbit the Earth

    These 5-star general's insignia belonged to Henry "Hap" Arnold, and they flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2011. Flying Arnold's insignia in space symbolized the U.S. Air Force's drive to expand the limits of technology. In 1945 Gen. Arnold anticipated that spaceflight would eventually

  • Moon Rock

     The Apollo 16 mission took place from April 16-27, 1972. The 11-day journey was the fifth mission in which astronauts walked on the moon. U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Charles M. Duke and U.S. Navy Capt. John W. Young flew the lunar module Orion to the moon's surface, while Navy Lt. Cdr. Thomas K.

  • Manned Orbiting Laboratory

    When the Dyna-Soar program was cancelled in December 1963, the Air Force continued its efforts to develop a capability for manned space operations. In the spring of 1964, the USAF began work on the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL), an evolution of the earlier "Blue Gemini" program, which was

  • SV-5D PRIME Lifting Body

    The PRIME project was the second part of the Spacecraft Technology and Advanced Re-entry Tests (START) program. It had the dual objective of testing advances in space hardware and further exploring the development of manned and unmanned lifting body vehicles. Four SV-5D vehicles were built by the

  • ASV-3 ASSET Lifting Body

    The ASSET program was the first phase of Spacecraft Technology and Advanced Re-entry Tests (START). This was a USAF research program designed to develop a reusable, maneuverable, re-entry vehicle capable of being flown from earth orbit to a precise landing point on earth. Since wings provide no lift

  • Dyna-Soar X-20A

    As the Aerobee and other programs, including the X-15, were testing the edges of the atmosphere, the Air Force was at work on a vehicle to realize the reusable spacecraft concept. Titled Dyna-Soar for "Dynamic Soaring," the new program (actually an amalgamation of several earlier programs)

  • Aerojet Aerobee Rocket

    The Aerobee was designed to carry instruments aloft to collect data on the upper atmosphere and to place small animals in a weightless condition for physiological studies. It was launched by a solid-propellant booster engine of 18,000 pounds thrust that burned for only two and a half seconds. After