After Hours

NASA spacecraft and aircraft in flight

By // September 2, 2010, 3:10 AM PST // sonjathompson

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  • Apollo 11 Launch

    Recapture some moments in NASA history by viewing these photographs of iconic spacecraft and aircraft taking flight.

    These photos are taken from NASA's new Commons page on Flickr. For more information, read "NASA brings historic photos to Flickr Commons."

    All photos, titles, and captions are courtesy of NASA.

  • Apollo 10 Liftoff

    Albert Siepert points out highlights of Apollo 10 Liftoff to Belgium King and Queen.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Liftoff of Space Shuttle Endeavour

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Workers at Cape Kennedy watched a Saturn 1B lift off

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Titan IVB/Centaur

    Liftoff of a Titan IVB/Centaur carrying the Cassini orbiter and its attached Huygens probe.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Bumper V-2 Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • DC-8 during takeoff in Kiruna, Sweden

    This was the second flight of the SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE).

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Russian Tu-144LL SST Flying Laboratory

    Takeoff at Zhukovsky Air Development Center.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • X-34 mated to modified L-1011

    During takeoff on first captive carry flight.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Hermes A-1 Test Rockets

    Photo credit: NASA

  • First JATO assisted Flight

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Soyuz TMA-8

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Spirit Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Launches

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Magnetic Launch Assist Demonstration Test

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Magnetic Launch Assist System Demonstration Test

    Photo credit: NASA

  • First Saturn (SA-1) Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Return to Flight

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Guppy

    Photo credit: NASA

  • The Atlas V Clears the Tower

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Lighting Up the Night

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Lunar Prospector

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Mars Climate Orbiter

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Delta II rocket with the Mars Polar Lander

    Photo credit: NASA

  • C-8A Buffalo Augmentor Wing Jet STOL Research Aircraft

    Photo credit: NASA

  • X-43A and its booster rocket tucked under B-52B wing

    Photo credit: NASA

  • X-15 #2 just after launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • SR-71 Takeoff with Afterburner Showing Shock Diamonds in Exhaust

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Perseus A High Altitude Remotely Piloted Aircraft

    Being Towed in Flight.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Theseus Take-off from Rogers Dry Lake

    Photo credit: NASA

  • X-36 Carried Aloft by Helicopter

    Taken during Radio and Telemetry Tests.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Eclipse program F-106 aircraft

    Takeoff from airport in Mojave, California.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • X-38 Ship #2 in Free Flight

    After Release from B-52 Mothership.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Solar-powered Gossamer Penguin in flight

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) in flight

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Helios Prototype flying wing

    Photo credit: NASA

  • NASA's modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

    With the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142A

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Paresev 1-B in Tow Flight

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Ham Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Carpenter Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Launch of Mercury-Atlas

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Apollo 11 liftoff

    Personnel within the Launch Control Center watch the Apollo 11 liftoff.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Liftoff of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Orbiter Atlantis (STS-110) Launch

    With New Block II Engines.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Space Shuttle Discovery

    Photo credit: NASA

  • The First Redstone Rocket Firing

    Photo credit: NASA

  • F-100A Super Sabre Airplane

    Photo credit: NASA

  • The second X-43A hypersonic research aircraft

    And its modified Pegasus booster rocket accelerate.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Shuttle Endeavour Mated to 747 SCA Takeoff

    For Delivery to Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Eclipse project QF-106 and C-141A takeoff

    On first tethered flight December 20, 1997.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • One of NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

    Flying over the Dryden Flight Research Center.
    Photo credit: NASA

  • XV-15 tilt rotor takeoff

    The first NASA Dryden flight.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Little Joe (LJ6) Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • HL-10 on Lakebed with B-52 flyby

    Photo credit: NASA

  • STS-31 Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Launch of Friendship 7

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Vertol VZ-2 (Model 76)

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Expedition 13

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Launch of Apollo 4

    Activity in the Mission Control Room during launch of Apollo 4.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Early moments of the Apollo 11 launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • STS-121 Shuttle Mission

    Photo credit: NASA

  • STS-112 Shuttle Mission

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Delta II rocket - ICESat and CHIPSat

    Photo credit: NASA

  • WB-57f takeoff

    Photo credit: NASA

  • STS-131 Discovery Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Kepler Launches

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Soaring Spaceward

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Moonfest

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Delta Liftoff

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Monitoring the Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Apollo 11 Pre-Launch Activities

    Apollo Director Phillips Monitors Apollo 11 Pre-Launch Activities.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Apollo 11 Launched Via Saturn V Rocket

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Apollo 11 Launched

    Apollo 11 Launched Via the Saturn V Rocket-High Angle View.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • STS-96 Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • HL-10 in flight after launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • D-558-2 launch from B-29 mothership

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Dryden Aerospike Rocket Test

    Photo credit: NASA

  • X-15 contrail after launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Pegasus Engine Ignites

    After Drop from B-52 Mothership.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • SR-71B - Mach 3 Trainer in Flight at Sunset

    Photo credit: NASA

  • X-33 air drop model

    Takeoff with mothership.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • XB-70A #1 liftoff with TB-58A chase aircraft

    Photo credit: NASA

  • X-24A in Powered Flight

    After Drop from B-52 Mothership.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • STS-1 Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Apollo 11 Lift Off

    Thousands of News Reporters Watch Apollo 11 Lift Off.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Gemini 8 Launched by Titan Booster

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Ikhana

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Scout Project

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Viking 1 Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Nixon and Paine at Apollo 12 Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Apollo 16 television transmission

    Apollo 16 television transmission of lunar module ascent stage liftoff.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Apollo 11 Launch Spectators

    Photo credit: NASA

  • The Launch of Mercury-Redstone

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Apollo 11 Launch Spectators

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Apollo Project

    Liftoff of Lunar Orbiter III.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Apollo 11 Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Gemini-Titan 11 Launch

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Apollo 11 Launch Spectators

    Photo credit: NASA

  • After Apollo 11 Liftoff

    Apollo 11 Mission Official Relax After Apollo 11 Liftoff.

    Photo credit: NASA

  • View of the liftoff of Little Joe II

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Inside the Launch Control Center

    Photo credit: NASA

  • Scout Project

    Photo credit: NASA

Apollo 11 Launch

Recapture some moments in NASA history by viewing these photographs of iconic spacecraft and aircraft taking flight.

These photos are taken from NASA's new Commons page on Flickr. For more information, read "NASA brings historic photos to Flickr Commons."

All photos, titles, and captions are courtesy of NASA.

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By Sonja Thompson

Sonja Thompson started at TechRepublic in October 1999. She is a former Senior Editor at TechRepublic.