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NASA—Recapturing the Spirit

NASA—Recapturing the Spirit
NASA—Recapturing the Spirit The Space Race of the 1960s spawned a robust, energetic agency to conduct the American space program. NASA launched a series of human missions, working its way, step by step, to the Moon. On June 3, 1965, Gemini astronaut Edward H. White II became the first American to "walk" in space, while his orbital companion, James A. McDivitt, remained inside the two-man capsule. (Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was the first human to "walk" in space.) The Gemini program served as a bridge between the Mercury program, which sent the original seven American astronauts into space, and the Apollo program, which would send three-man crews to their lunar destination. Johnson Space Center, NASA