The Fascinating History of the U.S. Space Shuttle Program

President Nixon announced the Space Shuttle Program in 1972 as the Apollo Program was coming to an end. The first Space Shuttle was launched on April 12, 1981 and included many firsts in space flight history. Now that the Space Shuttle program has come to an end, the United States will move in a different direction of space travel. The Space Shuttle has seen the building of the International Space Station, the Hubble telescope and hundreds of projects in space. During these past 30 years, there have been great achievements along with tragic accidents. 

The Fascinating History of the Apollo Space Program

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy told congress he would put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Unfortunately President Kennedy didn’t live to see it happen, but by 1969, the United States landed the first man on the moon. Some have called the Apollo Space Program,  the greatest scientific achievement ever accomplished. Between July 1969 and December 1972, the US landed twelve Americans on the moon with six different moon landings.