22 Images From NASA That Will Make You Want to Be An Astronaut

[John Keefer]

22 Images From NASA That Will Make You Want to Be An Astronaut

A collection of more than 270 unretouched vintage photos from the heyday of NASA's space program have gone on display in a London gallery. Take a look at this sampling and relive the excitement.

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[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

As if people didn't want to be astronauts before these. Astronauts get to go to space. SPACE! The final frontier. There is nothing cooler than that.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

OMG!!! A picture of the Keys!!! From SPACE!! Thats mah home!!!! AWESOMEBLARGH!!!

As if I needed reasons to want to be a fricken' astronaut... I've always wanted to be one, but life didn't turn out that way... and we're not as far advanced as I thought we'd be by now to where it seemed viable I'd be able to venture out into space commercially. *sniff*

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

22 Images From NASA That Will Make You Want to Be An Astronaut

A collection of more than 270 unretouched vintage photos from the heyday of NASA's space program have gone on display in a London gallery. Take a look at this sampling and relive the excitement.

Permalink

A little editorial side note, your last page incorrectly dates the beginning as "2964" instead of "1964". Would be interesting though.

 

[John Keefer]

A little editorial side note, your last page incorrectly dates the beginning as "2964" instead of "1964". Would be interesting though.

Fixed, thanks!

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

It's funny how I sometimes forget that we are on a ball that is flying in the middle of nowhere, which would be wondering aimlessly if it wasn't caught into the pull of the Sun.

The Universe can be so fascinating.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

As if people didn't want to be astronauts before these. Astronauts get to go to space. SPACE! The final frontier. There is nothing cooler than that.

I don't mean to be that guy, but you don't get to go very far. It's like going outside your house, maybe to visit the neighbors, and then coming back in.

 

[MrMixelPixel]

Literally zero of those horrifying pictures made me want be anything close to an astronaut. Keep that space away from me okay?

 

[Barbas]

As if people didn't want to be astronauts before these. Astronauts get to go to space. SPACE! The final frontier. There is nothing cooler than that.

I don't mean to be that guy, but you don't get to go very far. It's like going outside your house, maybe to visit the neighbours, and then coming back in.

Only if you live in a neighbourhood where nobody had ever left their house before then.

 

[Ldude893]

For those looking for images of NASA that will make you NOT want to be an astronaut, just go rent a DVD copy of Gravity. Your space-related nightmares will come shortly.

 

[Vigormortis]

As if people didn't want to be astronauts before these. Astronauts get to go to space. SPACE! The final frontier. There is nothing cooler than that.

Except for getting to come back. Alive.

;D

It's funny how I sometimes forget that we are on a ball that is flying in the middle of nowhere, which would be wondering aimlessly if it wasn't caught into the pull of the Sun.

The Universe can be so fascinating.

Fascinating, and humbling. Especially when one tries to quantify the scales involved when comparing ourselves to...well, anything else in the universe.

Still fascinates me that strings; as those predicted by String Theory; are several orders of magnitude smaller than us than we are compared to the size of the entire (presumed) universe.

 

[Moloch Sacrifice]

It always seems to me that most people react in one of two ways when thinking about astronauts, and both of them are wrong. The first is to see them in the ISS, and being content with that. The second way people seem to react is to dismiss it as a futile and petty endeavour, often citing the scale of the universe to undermine it.

What I think is the right way to consider it is to be impressed, but crave more. If we cannot get people excited about space travel, and eager to see it develop further, we may well end up jeopardising our long term survival as a species. Space travel and expansion should be (in this humble Escapist's opinion) the number one priority of all human civilisation. Without it, we are doomed to die in a terrible cataclysm, or wither away on the hollowed, spent husk of the Earth.

 

[hotdogoctopus]

The forgot the pictures of the crippling bone-density loss and the golden of age of shitting all over yourself up in your suit...

 

[Lionsfan]

It always seems to me that most people react in one of two ways when thinking about astronauts, and both of them are wrong. The first is to see them in the ISS, and being content with that. The second way people seem to react is to dismiss it as a futile and petty endeavour, often citing the scale of the universe to undermine it.

What I think is the right way to consider it is to be impressed, but crave more. If we cannot get people excited about space travel, and eager to see it develop further, we may well end up jeopardising our long term survival as a species. Space travel and expansion should be (in this humble Escapist's opinion) the number one priority of all human civilisation. Without it, we are doomed to die in a terrible cataclysm, or wither away on the hollowed, spent husk of the Earth.

I swear xkcd has an answer for everything. From the Title Text of this comic [http://xkcd.com/893/]

The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there's no good reason to go into space--each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision.

I really wish world leaders would focus more on Space Travel. Course that's easy for me to say though

 

[Moloch Sacrifice]

I really wish world leaders would focus more on Space Travel. Course that's easy for me to say though

It's a shame really. Unfortunately, the prevailing philosophy seems to be that science and technological advancement should support the economy, rather than the other way around. This is one of the few inherent flaws in democracy, in that leaders will do what keeps their supporters happy, in order to secure votes, rather than doing what is the best long term plan (which would likely be scrapped when another party comes to power).

 

[A Satanic Panda]

Mission: Gemini 4
Launched: June 1965
Crew: James McDivitt and Ed White
Description: Above, Astronaut Ed White conducts the first space walk outside the space capsule. Below, a view of the Florida Keys shot from the capsule.

First American space walk. The Soviets were the first to perform an EVA.

 

[lee1287]

Space is scary, And Dangerous, and lonely. Forget that. Have you not watched Gravity, Armageddon, MOON, or any number of space films?

 

[Varrdy]

I've wanted to be an astronaut ever since I first learned about man's first trips into space, the moon landings and everything after. While these photos are pretty epic and I'd love to get my hands on them, pedantry insists that Ed White did not conduct the "first space walk" - Alexey Leonov holds that record. Ed White was the first American to perform an EVA.

 

[Nimcha]

These images make me sad. Sad to have missed that time and sad that there is no indication anything close to these amazing feats will be repeated and bettered in my lifetime.