Join us today at noon as we host special guests from NASA and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum! A panel of space experts will discuss the American space program as it developed under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald R. Ford, including the Apollo missions to the Moon, the decision to develop the Space Shuttle, and the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz test project. The event is free at the National Archives in Washington, D.CThursday, June 13, at noonWilliam G. McGowan Theater You can also watch this event live on our Ustream channel [www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives]. Presented in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives. While you are at the National Archives don’t miss the special display on The Space Program and President Nixon.  You can see a set of moon tongs used by Apollo astronauts and much more! Photo courtesy of NASA: Astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr., Lunar Module pilot of the Apollo 16 mission, is photographed collecting lunar samples at Station no. 1 during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity at the Descartes landing site. Duke is standing at the rim of Plum crater, which is 40 meters in diameter and 10 meters deep. The parked Lunar Roving Vehicle can be seen in the left background.
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Join us today at noon as we host special guests from NASA and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum!

A panel of space experts will discuss the American space program as it developed under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald R. Ford, including the Apollo missions to the Moon, the decision to develop the Space Shuttle, and the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz test project.

The event is free at the National Archives in Washington, D.C
Thursday, June 13, at noon
William G. McGowan Theater

You can also watch this event live on our Ustream channel [www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives].

Presented in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.

While you are at the National Archives don’t miss the special display on The Space Program and President Nixon.  You can see a set of moon tongs used by Apollo astronauts and much more!

Photo courtesy of NASA: Astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr., Lunar Module pilot of the Apollo 16 mission, is photographed collecting lunar samples at Station no. 1 during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity at the Descartes landing site. Duke is standing at the rim of Plum crater, which is 40 meters in diameter and 10 meters deep. The parked Lunar Roving Vehicle can be seen in the left background.

Astronauts and Cosmonauts — Pioneers for the International Space Station via the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum This stamp honors the five astronauts and cosmonauts who participated in the July 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first international joint human spaceflight mission.  Aleksei Arkhipovich LeonovValerii KubasovThomas P. StaffordVance D. BrandDonald K. Slayton This week we’re counting down to our Thursday space program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.
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Astronauts and Cosmonauts — Pioneers for the International Space Station


via the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

This stamp honors the five astronauts and cosmonauts who participated in the July 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first international joint human spaceflight mission. 

Aleksei Arkhipovich Leonov
Valerii Kubasov
Thomas P. Stafford
Vance D. Brand
Donald K. Slayton

This week we’re counting down to our Thursday space program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.

Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union… Apollo-Soyuz Cosmonauts on Launch Day Photo courtesy of nasa.gov and the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences: Cosmonauts [Alexey A.] Leonov (left) and [Valery N.] Kubasov prepare to board their Soyuz spacecraft at the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstanfor liftoff on July 15, 1975.   This week we’re counting down to our Thursday noontime space program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.  Watch it live on our UStream channel: www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives
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Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union… Apollo-Soyuz Cosmonauts on Launch Day

Photo courtesy of nasa.gov and the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences: Cosmonauts [Alexey A.] Leonov (left) and [Valery N.] Kubasov prepare to board their Soyuz spacecraft at the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstanfor liftoff on July 15, 1975.  

This week we’re counting down to our Thursday noontime space program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives. 

Watch it live on our UStream channel: 
www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives

Liftoff! On July 15, 1975, The Americans and the Soviets both launched their respective Apollo-Soyuz spacecrafts into orbit.   Photo courtesy of NASA.gov: The Saturn IB rocket lifts off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 15, 1975, carrying [Thomas P.] Stafford, [Vance D.] Brand and [Donald K.] Slayton in an Apollo capsule.  This week we’re counting down to our Thursday noontime space program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.  Watch it live on our UStream channel: www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives
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Liftoff! On July 15, 1975, The Americans and the Soviets both launched their respective Apollo-Soyuz spacecrafts into orbit.  

Photo courtesy of NASA.gov: The Saturn IB rocket lifts off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 15, 1975, carrying [Thomas P.] Stafford, [Vance D.] Brand and [Donald K.] Slayton in an Apollo capsule. 

This week we’re counting down to our Thursday noontime space program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives. 

Watch it live on our UStream channel: 
www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives

The Astronauts and Cosmonauts of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project The U.S. astronauts took Russian language courses; the Soviets took English courses. Both teams agreed that in space, the Americans would speak to their Soviet counterparts in Russian who in turn would speak English to the Americans. Photo courtesy of  NASA.gov: Astronauts (L-R Donald K. Slayton, Vance D. Brand and Thomas P. Stafford) and cosmonauts (L-R Valery N. Kubasov and Alexey A. Leonov) of the Apollo-Soyuz mission at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.  This week we’re counting down to our Thursday noontime space program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.  Watch it live tomorrow on our UStream channel: www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives
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The Astronauts and Cosmonauts of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

The U.S. astronauts took Russian language courses; the Soviets took English courses. Both teams agreed that in space, the Americans would speak to their Soviet counterparts in Russian who in turn would speak English to the Americans.

Photo courtesy of  NASA.gov: Astronauts (L-R Donald K. Slayton, Vance D. Brand and Thomas P. Stafford) and cosmonauts (L-R Valery N. Kubasov and Alexey A. Leonov) of the Apollo-Soyuz mission at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. 

This week we’re counting down to our Thursday noontime space program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives. 

Watch it live tomorrow on our UStream channel: 
www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives

Double Happy Birthdays to George and Barbara Bush! George Bush celebrates his 89th birthday today, June 12; Barbara Bush’s 88th birthday was on Saturday, June 8.  This First Couple has been married for 68 years.  President and Mrs. Bush will celebrate their birthdays with family and friends in Kennebunkport, Maine. If you are around College Station, Texas today, you can celebrate at the Bush Presidential Library with free Blue Bell ice cream, birthday cake, and refreshments in the Rotunda from 11am to 3pm CT. -from the Bush Library Photo: George and Barbara Bush with their bicycles in China, where he was serving as Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office. 1974.
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Double Happy Birthdays to George and Barbara Bush!


George Bush celebrates his 89th birthday today, June 12; Barbara Bush’s 88th birthday was on Saturday, June 8.  This First Couple has been married for 68 years.  President and Mrs. Bush will celebrate their birthdays with family and friends in Kennebunkport, Maine.

If you are around College Station, Texas today, you can celebrate at the Bush Presidential Library with free Blue Bell ice cream, birthday cake, and refreshments in the Rotunda from 11am to 3pm CT.

-from the Bush Library

Photo: George and Barbara Bush with their bicycles in China, where he was serving as Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office. 1974.

Apollo-Soyuz — An end to the Space Race During President Ford’s administration, capsules from the world’s two largest competitors in the decades long space race met in what became known as the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). The historic docking of the two spacecraft brought a symbolic end to the 20-year space race. The Apollo and Soyuz spacecrafts both launched on July 15, 1975. They docked in outer space at 12:10 p.m. EDT on July 17. Joint scientific and logistics experiments were conducted by the crews, and the docking served a greater symbolic purpose too. The crews of both spacecraft spent much of their time talking to President Ford and Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev.  This unique mission, combining both diplomacy and science, demonstrated that U.S./Soviet space cooperation was possible and laid the foundation for the current International Space Station.  This 1974 painting by artist Robert McCall painting depicts the planned docking of American and Soviet spacecraft. Courtesy of NASA.gov. More on Apollo Soyuz from the Ford Library This week we’re counting down to our Thursday noontime space program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.  Watch it live on our UStream channel: www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives
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Apollo-Soyuz — An end to the Space Race

During President Ford’s administration, capsules from the world’s two largest competitors in the decades long space race met in what became known as the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). The historic docking of the two spacecraft brought a symbolic end to the 20-year space race.


The Apollo and Soyuz spacecrafts both launched on July 15, 1975. They docked in outer space at 12:10 p.m. EDT on July 17.

Joint scientific and logistics experiments were conducted by the crews, and the docking served a greater symbolic purpose too. The crews of both spacecraft spent much of their time talking to President Ford and Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev.  This unique mission, combining both diplomacy and science, demonstrated that U.S./Soviet space cooperation was possible and laid the foundation for the current International Space Station. 

This 1974 painting by artist Robert McCall painting depicts the planned docking of American and Soviet spacecraft. Courtesy of
NASA.gov.

More on Apollo Soyuz from the Ford Library

This week we’re counting down to our Thursday noontime space program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives. 

Watch it live on our UStream channel:
www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives

lbjlibrary: June 11, 1965. LBJ examines a console during his visit to the NASA Space Center in Houston. Lady Bird and astronaut James McDivitt (with his hand on the console) are to his left.  LBJ Library image A641-30, public domain. 
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lbjlibrary:

June 11, 1965. LBJ examines a console during his visit to the NASA Space Center in Houston. Lady Bird and astronaut James McDivitt (with his hand on the console) are to his left. 

LBJ Library image A641-30, public domain. 

Developing the Space Shuttle Program Nixon holds a model of the Space Shuttle and its transport plane while standing near the Presidential helicopter with Governor Claude Kirk and Congressman Bill Cramer at the St. Petersburg Airport (St. Petersburg, Florida). 10/28/1970. -from the Nixon Library This week we’re counting down to our Thursday space program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.
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Developing the Space Shuttle Program

Nixon holds a model of the Space Shuttle and its transport plane while standing near the Presidential helicopter with Governor Claude Kirk and Congressman Bill Cramer at the St. Petersburg Airport (St. Petersburg, Florida). 10/28/1970.

-from the Nixon Library


This week we’re counting down to our Thursday space program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.

Countdown to the space program — Apollo 17 Lunar Rover Join us on Thursday at noon (or watch on Ustream at www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives) to learn more about the American space program as it developed under Presidents Nixon and Ford, including the Apollo missions to the Moon, the decision to develop the space shuttle, and the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz test project. The event is free at the National Archives in Washington, D.CThursday, June 13, at noonWilliam G. McGowan Theater Photo Courtesy of NASA: Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 mission commander, makes a short checkout of the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the early part of the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity. The mountain in the right background is the East end of South Massif.
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Countdown to the space program — Apollo 17 Lunar Rover

Join us on Thursday at noon (or watch on Ustream at www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives) to learn more about the American space program as it developed under Presidents Nixon and Ford, including the Apollo missions to the Moon, the decision to develop the space shuttle, and the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz test project.

The event is free at the National Archives in Washington, D.C
Thursday, June 13, at noon
William G. McGowan Theater

Photo Courtesy of NASA: Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 mission commander, makes a short checkout of the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the early part of the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity. The mountain in the right background is the East end of South Massif.