Night launch - Endeavour

Credit: NASA

Atlantis

Credit: NASA

Endeavour

Credit: NASA

Columbia and Discovery

The Space Shuttle Columbia on Pad 39A during the picture-perfect ascent of sister ship Discovery after lift off of STS-31.

Credit: NASA

Endeavour - amateur photographer

Credit: NASA

GT-4 Launch 1965

Gemini-Titan 4 (GT-4) lift-off from Pad 19. This flight included the first spacewalk by an American astronaut.

Credit: NASA

Gemini-Titan 11 Launch 1966

Lift-off of Gemini-Titan 11 (GT-11) on Complex 19. The Gemini 11 mission included a rendezvous with an Agena target vehicle.

Credit: NASA

Launch of Freedom 7 1961

Launch of Freedom 7, the first American manned suborbital space flight. Astronaut Alan Shepard aboard, the Mercury-Redstone (MR-3) rocket is launched from Pad 5.

Credit: NASA

Launch of Friendship 7 1962

Launch of Friendship 7, the first American manned orbital space flight. Astronaut John Glenn aboard, the Mercury-Atlas rocket is launched from Pad 14.

Credit: NASA

STS-1 Pre-Launch 1981

A timed exposure of the Space Shuttle, STS-1, at Launch Pad A, Complex 39.

Credit: NASA

Bumper V-2 Launch 1950

The Bumper V-2 was the first missile launched at Cape Canaveral on July 24, 1950.

Credit: NASA

Ham Launch 1961

Mercury-Redstone 2 (MR-2) Launch with chimpanzee Ham aboard. Monkeys had been flown into space before, but Ham was the first higher primate to test a spacecraft.

Credit: NASA

Apollo 11 Launch 1969

The Apollo 11 Saturn V space vehicle lifts off with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., at 9:32 a.m. EDT July 16, 1969, from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A.

Credit: NASA

Gemini 10 launch time exposure 1966

A time-exposure photograph shows the configuration of Pad 19 up until the launch of Gemini 10. Onboard the spacecraft are John W. Young and Michael Collins. The two astronauts would spend almost three days practicing docking with the Agena target vehicle and conducting a number of experiments.

Credit: NASA

ASTP Launch 1975

Surveyor 1 Launch 1966

The Atlas-Centaur 10, carrying the Surveyor 1 spacecraft, lifting off from Pad 36A. The Surveyor 1 mission scouted the lunar surface for future Apollo manned lunar landing sites.

Credit: NASA

Electrical Storm 1983

A powerful electrical storm created an eerie tapestry of light in the skies near Complex 39A in the hours preceding the launch of STS-8.

Credit: NASA

Viking 1 Launch 1975

Viking 1 was launched by a Titan/Centaur rocket from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 5:22 p.m. EDT to begin a half-billion mile, 11-month journey through space to explore Mars. The 4-ton spacecraft went into orbit around the red planet in mid-1976.

Credit: NASA

Apollo 11 Launch and Flag 1969

Credit: NASA

Space Shuttle Atlantis 2009

The final mission to the Hubble Telescope.Credit: NASA

CONTOUR Launch 2002

The Boeing Delta II rocket carrying NASA’s Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft streaks across the night sky above pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft was lost before it could complete its primary mission.Credit: NASA

The Max Launch Abort System 2009

The unpiloted test was part of an assessment by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) of a potential alternate launch abort system concept which could be used for future piloted spacecraft.Credit: NASA

Ares I-X test rocket 2009

This was the first launch from Kennedy’s pads of a vehicle other than the space shuttle since the Apollo Program’s Saturn rockets were retired.Credit: NASA

The Last Titan 2005

Carrying a payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office, the successful Titan IV B launch brings to a close the Titan program whose first launch was in 1959.Credit: NASA

Launch of the Skylab-1 1973

This photograph shows the launch of the SA-513, a modified unmarned two-stage Saturn V vehicle for the Skylab-1 mission, which placed the Skylab cluster into the Earth orbit on May 14, 1973.Credit: NASA

Orion Artist concept

NASA’s Constellation Program is getting to work on the new spacecraft that will return humans to the moon and serve as the building blocks for trips to Mars and other destinations in our solar system. This artist’s rendering represents a concept of the Orion crew launch vehicle liftoff.Credit: NASA