OrbitingTruths Archive
Explore the rockets, capsules, landers, orbiters, stations, and deep-space vehicles that turned impossible missions into engineering history.
Gemini
An uncrewed rocket stage launched ahead of several Gemini missions to serve as a docking target, its restartable engine later used to boost docked Gemini spacecraft to record altitudes.
28
Vehicles
21
Crewed
4
Lunar systems
5
Launch vehicles
Curated collections
Browse vehicles by what they were built to do, rather than forcing every machine into one long list like a warehouse inventory assembled by exhausted interns.
Spacecraft database
Archive results
Showing 12 of 28 matching vehicles
Gemini
Docking Target
An uncrewed rocket stage launched ahead of several Gemini missions to serve as a docking target, its restartable engine later used to boost docked Gemini spacecraft to record altitudes.
Destination
Space Station
Era
Historic spacecraft
Crew
Crewed
Manufacturer
NASA and contractors
Mercury
Mercury Capsule
Aurora 7 carried Scott Carpenter on three orbits of Earth before a fuel shortage caused a long-distance splashdown overshoot.
Destination
Earth Orbit
Era
Historic spacecraft
Crew
Crewed
Manufacturer
NASA and contractors
Apollo
Command Module
Yankee Clipper carried the Apollo 12 crew to lunar orbit and safely returned them to Earth.
Destination
Moon
Era
Historic spacecraft
Crew
Crewed
Manufacturer
NASA and contractors
International Space Station
Commercial Crew Capsule
SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour carried Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley on Demo-2, the first crewed flight of a commercially developed American spacecraft.
Destination
Earth Orbit
Era
Historic spacecraft
Crew
Crewed
Manufacturer
NASA and contractors
Mercury
Mercury Capsule
Faith 7 carried Gordon Cooper on 22 orbits of Earth, the longest and final flight of Project Mercury.
Destination
Earth Orbit
Era
Historic spacecraft
Crew
Crewed
Manufacturer
NASA and contractors
Mercury
Mercury Capsule
Freedom 7 carried Alan Shepard on a 15-minute suborbital flight, making him the first American in space.
Destination
Earth Orbit
Era
Historic spacecraft
Crew
Crewed
Manufacturer
NASA and contractors
Mercury
Mercury Capsule
Friendship 7 carried John Glenn on three orbits of Earth, making him the first American to orbit the planet.
Destination
Earth Orbit
Era
Historic spacecraft
Crew
Crewed
Manufacturer
NASA and contractors
Gemini
Crew Capsule
A two-seat spacecraft built by McDonnell Aircraft that carried NASA through the rendezvous, docking, and long-duration flights needed to prepare for Apollo.
Destination
Earth Orbit
Era
Historic spacecraft
Crew
Crewed
Manufacturer
NASA and contractors
Space Telescopes
Space Telescope
NASA's first Great Observatory, Hubble has spent over three decades capturing some of the most recognizable images in the history of astronomy from low Earth orbit, far above the blurring effects of Earth's atmosphere.
Destination
Low Earth Orbit
Era
Historic spacecraft
Crew
Uncrewed
Manufacturer
NASA and contractors
Space Telescopes
Space Telescope
The largest and most powerful space telescope ever built, James Webb observes the universe in infrared light from a stable orbit nearly a million miles beyond the Moon, revealing galaxies, stars, and planets too faint or too distant for Hubble to see.
Destination
Sun-Earth L2 Orbit
Era
Historic spacecraft
Crew
Uncrewed
Manufacturer
NASA and contractors
Mercury
Mercury Capsule
Liberty Bell 7 carried Gus Grissom on the second American suborbital flight before its hatch blew open after splashdown, sinking the capsule.
Destination
Space Station
Era
Historic spacecraft
Crew
Crewed
Manufacturer
NASA and contractors
Apollo
Lunar Module
Eagle carried Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the Sea of Tranquility during Apollo 11.
Destination
Moon
Era
Historic spacecraft
Crew
Crewed
Manufacturer
NASA and contractors
Continue exploring
Where they flew
See the flights that put each vehicle, capsule, rocket, or lander to work.
Who flew them
Meet the crews who trusted these machines with their lives.
How they looked
Browse launch, training, assembly, orbit, and surface photography.
Why they existed
Place every spacecraft inside the larger exploration program that created it.