The seven men wearing spacesuits in this portrait made up the first group of astronauts announced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). They were selected in April of 1959 for the Mercury Program. In the front row, from left, are Walter M. Schirra Jr., Donald K. Slayton, John H. Glenn Jr., and M. Scott Carpenter. Standing in the back row, from left, are Alan B. Shepard Jr., Virgil I. Grissom and L. Gordon Cooper Jr.
Astronauts John W. Young (in front), command pilot, and Michael Collins, pilot, walk up the ramp at Pad 19 after arriving from the Launch Complex 16 suiting trailer during the prelaunch countdown for the Gemini-10 mission. Moments later, they entered the elevator that took them to the white room, where they could board the waiting spacecraft. Liftoff occurred at 5:20 p.m. ET on July 18, 1966.
Lunar module pilot Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., better known as Buzz Aldrin, walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the Lunar Module (LM) "Eagle" during the extravehicular activity (EVA) portion of the Apollo 11 mission. Neil A. Armstrong, commander, took this photograph with a 70 mm lunar surface camera. While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the Lunar Module (LM) "Eagle" to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon, astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) "Columbia" in lunar orbit.
Space Shuttle prime and backup astronaut crews prepare to be briefed on the use of the emergency pad escape system, known as the "slidewire," in this photo from January 6, 1981. From left to right are backup astronauts Joe Engle and Richard Truly, and primary crew commander John Young. The slidewire system provided a quick and sure escape from the upper pad platforms in case of a serious emergency.
In this photo captured in February 1984, astronaut Bruce McCandless II uses his hands to control his movement above Earth — and just few meters away from the Challenger — during the first-ever untethered extravehicular activity (EVA). Fellow crew members aboard the Challenger used a 70 mm camera to expose this frame through windows on the flight deck. McCandless was joined by Robert L. Stewart, one of two other mission specialists for this flight, on two sessions of EVA.
The astronaut crew members for NASA's STS-34 mission prepare to participate in emergency egress training at the shuttle landing facility while wearing their partially pressurized flight suits with attached cooling packs. This photo from September 13, 1989, features, from left, astronauts Michael J. McCulley, pilot; mission specialists Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, Ellen S. Baker and Shannon W. Lucid; and Donald E. Williams, mission commander.
NASA astronaut Michael Fincke (left), Expedition 18 commander; and cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov, flight engineer, attired in Russian Sokol flight suits, pose in the Unity node of the International Space Station in this photo from March 26, 2009.
Astronauts participate in NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 dry dress rehearsal in the suit room inside Kennedy Space Center's Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on April 20, 2022. A team of SpaceX suit technicians assisted crew members as they put on their custom-fitted spacesuits and checked the suits for leaks. Pictured, from left, are Jessica Watkins, mission specialist; Bob Hines, pilot; Kjell Lindgren, commander; and Samantha Cristoforetti, mission specialist.
NASA astronaut Eric Boe wears Boeing's new spacesuit designed for astronauts who will fly on the CST-100 Starliner. The suit is lighter and more flexible than previous spacesuits but retains the ability to pressurize in an emergency. Astronauts will wear the suit throughout the launch and ascent into orbit, as well as on the way back to Earth.
Dustin Gohmert, Orion crew survival systems project manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center, poses for a portrait while wearing the Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS) suit on October 15, 2019, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The suit is designed for a custom fit and incorporates safety technology and mobility features that will help protect astronauts while they're aboard the Orion spacecraft.
Kristine Davis, a spacesuit engineer at NASA's Johnson Space Center, wears a ground prototype of NASA's Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) during a demonstration on October 15, 2019, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The xEMU was designed to improve on the suits previously worn on the moon during the Apollo era and those currently in use for spacewalks outside the International Space Station.
The AxEMU Spacesuit, developed by Axiom Space, builds on the technology NASA incorporated into its xEMU prototype. The AxEMU, shown here with a black cover, were unveiled during an event on March 15, 2023. The suits worn by astronauts during the Artemis III mission will be white.