A living archive of exploration
Step inside NASA's missions, astronauts, spacecraft, historic images, and the human stories that shaped our journey beyond Earth.
Featured from the archive
NASA image feature
NASA image feature
An Apollo 11 astronaut photographed on the lunar surface during humanity's first crewed Moon landing.
Historic imagery is presented for educational and archival storytelling. Original image credit and catalog details appear on the full record page.
Featured mission
Uncrewed Lunar Flight Test
The first integrated flight test of NASA's Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, and supporting ground systems.
Uncrewed Lunar Flight Test
The first integrated flight test of NASA's Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, and supporting ground systems.
Mission records connect historical context, crew profiles, spacecraft, timelines, photography, technical milestones, and related stories across the OrbitingTruths archive.
Featured astronaut
Featured astronaut
Neil Armstrong was the commander of Apollo 11 and became the first human to walk on the Moon.
Astronaut profiles can include biographies, mission history, spacecraft flown, awards, career milestones, galleries, and related archive records.
Featured astronaut
8 days, 14 hours, 12 minutes in space
Latest articles
Before social media, astronauts brought back images that changed how humanity saw itself forever.
Artemis
NASA's return to the Moon is designed to become more sustainable, more international, and more ambitious than Apollo.
ISS
Inside the daily routine of astronauts living and working aboard the International Space Station.
Mars
What humanity still has to solve before astronauts can safely reach Mars and return home.
NASA Archive
Thousands of remarkable photographs preserve the experiments, failures, rehearsals, and forgotten moments behind space exploration.
Explore OrbitingTruths
Journey through the history of spaceflight by exploring missions, astronauts, spacecraft, original stories, and carefully organized NASA imagery. From Mercury and Gemini to Apollo, the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and Artemis, every record reveals another part of humanity's journey beyond Earth.
Stories and research
Original stories, historical deep dives, mission analysis, and perspective-changing space features.
Programs and expeditions
Explore NASA programs, individual missions, objectives, crews, milestones, and historic outcomes.
Vehicles and hardware
Discover the rockets, capsules, landers, orbiters, stations, and vehicles that made spaceflight possible.
Photography and records
Browse historic imagery by mission, subject, spacecraft, astronaut, or official NASA catalog ID.
People and biographies
Meet the explorers, engineers, scientists, pilots, and commanders behind human spaceflight.
The archive
Every record connects to a larger story. Explore missions, spacecraft, people, imagery, and original articles through one growing historical archive.
Total published records
47
Combined records currently available across the OrbitingTruths archive.
Articles
5
Original reporting, historical stories, and deep dives.
Programs
6
Major eras and organized chapters of space exploration.
Missions
20
Launches, expeditions, objectives, crews, and outcomes.
Spacecraft
4
Rockets, capsules, landers, stations, and orbital vehicles.
NASA Images
1
Historic photographs organized by mission and catalog ID.
Astronauts
11
Biographies and mission histories from human spaceflight.
Archive totals update automatically as new records are added to the project data files.
Search the archiveFeatured story
Perspective-changing space history
Before social media, astronauts brought back images that changed how humanity saw itself forever.
OrbitingTruths stories connect historic imagery, mission details, and human experience to reveal why space history still matters.
