Video: 'Gemini 12 Full Mission - Audio, Footage, Narration, Buzz Aldrin, James Lovell, EVA, Agena, Docking'

(Friday, November 11, 1966, at 20:46:33 UTC/3:46 p.m. EST; during Project Gemini) — Gemini 12 blasted off today on a four-day mission with astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. aboard, steering their spacecraft to a successful rendezvous and linkup with an Agena target vehicle. Continue reading Astronauts chase Agena on final Gemini flight 60 years ago this hour (Nov 11 1966) →

Video: 'Viking First Views of Mars'

(Friday, September 3, 1976, 22:37:50 UTC/18:37:50 EDT) — America’s Viking 2 lander became the second automated visitor from Earth to land successfully on Mars today to take the first close-up, color photographs of the red planet’s surface.

Video: 'Viking I Lands on Mars, ABC News, July 20, 1976'

(Tuesday, July 20, 1976, 11:53:06 UTC/7:53:06 a.m. EDT) — An explorer from Earth, the robot craft Viking 1, made the first successful landing on Mars today and transmitted spectacular photographs of a rocky, wind-scoured desert plain, the site for the first direct search for life on another world. Continue reading Viking 1 makes first successful landing on Mars 50 years ago this hour (July 20 1976) →

Video: 'AC-10: Surveyor 1 launch (30.5.66)'

(Monday, May 30, 1966, 14:41:01 UTC/10:41:01 a.m. EDT) — Surveyor 1, an unmanned spacecraft making the nation’s first attempt at a soft landing on the moon, streaked toward its target today with bullseye accuracy. Continue reading Surveyor 1 heads for soft moon landing 60 years ago this hour (May 30 1966) →

Video: '1966: Gemini 8 (NASA)'

(Wednesday, March 16, 1966, 16:41:02 UTC) — Gemini 8 was launched today from Cape Kennedy, Florida, with astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott on a mission to rendezvous and dock with Agena, a target vehicle in orbit. Continue reading Gemini 8 launches from Cape Kennedy 60 years ago this hour (Mar 16 1966) →

Video: 'How The Soviets Conquered Venus'

(Tuesday, March 1, 1966, at 6:56 UTC/9:56 a.m. MSK) — The Soviet space probe Venera 3 crashed today on Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet’s surface. Continue reading Soviets hit Venus, linking man to the planets 60 years ago this hour (Mar 1 1966) →

Video: 'STS-75 launch & landing (2-22-96)'

(Thursday, February 22, 1996, 3:18 p.m. EST/20:18:00 UTC) — The space shuttle Columbia blasted into orbit today on a mission to unreel a satellite on the end of a 12.8-mile tether. (The cord broke just before being extended to its full length.)

Video: 'Mir Space Station Launch 1986'

(Thursday, February 20, 1986, 12:28:23 a.m. MSK) — The Soviet Union today sent up the core module of space station Mir (Peace), which would serve as a permanently manned base for the next generation in space.

Mir stayed in orbit until 2001, when it was brought down in a controlled descent, breaking up in the atmosphere.

Video: 'The Luna 9 Story - Space Vehicle Lands On The Moon (1966)'

(Thursday, February 3, 1966, 9:45:30 p.m. MSK/1:45:30 p.m. EST) — The Soviet probe Luna 9 today became the first man-made object to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, or any planetary body other than Earth, and to transmit photographic data to Earth from the surface of another planetary body.