Saturday, July 20, marked the 50th anniversary of the first landing on the moon. News@Northeastern took a look back at the technological breakthroughs, the political decisions, and the feats of daring that made the landing possible; the lunar landing itself; and what the future might hold for space exploration. Northeastern’s Archives and Special Collections is the exclusive home of The Boston Globe’s Library Collection, and we used those images to highlight the space program and the university’s role in space exploration.

The space age takes flight

 

by Gregory Grinnell, Laura Castañón and Hannah Moore July 12, 2019 Twitter Facebook

In 1865, Jules Verne published From Earth to the Moon, a novel in which characters attempt to build a cannon large enough to lob three people up to our nearest celestial neighbor.

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Shooting for the Moon

 

by Gregory Grinnell, Laura Castañón and Hannah Moore July 15, 2019 Twitter Facebook

It was 1961 and the United States was in the uncomfortable position of playing catch-up with the Soviet Union.

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July 20, 1969

 

by Gregory Grinnell, Laura Castañón and Hannah Moore July 18, 2019 Twitter Facebook

On July 20, 1969, just after 8:15 p.m. on the East Coast, the American lunar module “Eagle” landed on the surface of the moon. Six hours later, Neil Armstrong was the first human being to set foot on a celestial body other than Earth.

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After The Moon

 

by Gregory Grinnell, Laura Castañón and Hannah Moore July 16, 2019 Twitter Facebook

NASA had a lot of questions to answer before it could send astronauts to the moon. Were there harmful effects from being in space for too long? Could astronauts work outside their capsule? How would two spacecraft detach from each other and later reconnect in flight?

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Mars and beyond

 

by Gregory Grinnell, Laura Castañón and Hannah Moore July 17, 2019 Twitter Facebook

Northeastern students and faculty reflect on the role of humanoid robots in deep space exploration, sending humans to Mars, and the need for reusable spacecrafts.

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Space Race 2.0?

 

by Molly Callahan July 11, 2019 Twitter Facebook

Space exploration “has always been about international cooperation and the betterment of humanity,” says Mai’a Cross, a professor at Northeastern whose newest research focuses on the international collaboration that fostered the Space Race of the 1960s. But some politicians and military officials describe space missions as necessary in order to “prepare for war in space,” she says.

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Can you guess which of these items came from the space program? We tried.

 

by Cam Sleeper July 18, 2019 – 4:04pm Twitter Facebook

Laptops or barcodes? Sneaker insoles or lava lamps? Wireless headphones or GPS? See if you can do better than we did.

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They know what astronauts are going to need once we put them on Mars

 

by Laura Castañón July 15, 2019 Twitter Facebook

A drill to extract frozen water from beneath the planet’s surface. A rover to accompany astronauts as they work. The Northeastern students who designed and built this technology recently showcased their work at Boston’s Museum of Science.

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