The Cold War might have threatened mutually assured destruction, but it also sparked the world's two most powerful nations to push technology forward at an unprecedented pace... and into space.
The '60s space race saw the United States and the Soviet Union each throwing their full might behind the desire to command the final frontier, but while Russia sent the first men and women into space, the United States ultimately put men on the moon in 1969.
Just 22 years after Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, and 66 years after the Wright brothers' first flight, men were walking on the moon. That's pretty incredible.
Here are 24 out-of-this-world photos of the '60s space race.
1
Dr. Von Braun stands by the five F-1 engines of the Saturn V Dynamic Test Vehicle on display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The engines measured 19-feet tall by 12.5-feet at the nozzle exit. 1960s.
2
President John F. Kennedy inspects John Glenn's space capsule. Glenn is to Kennedy's right. February 23, 1962.
3
Soviet space mission Vostok 6 was launched with Valentina Tereshkova onboard, who became the first woman in space! This is her during the fifth Earth orbit on June 16, 1963.
4
Aerial view of the launch pads along Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, early-mid 1960s.
5
Frances Northcutt, women's rights activist, lawyer, computress, engineer, and first female engineer in NASA's Mission Control. Her team is who brought the disastrous Apollo 13 astronauts home safely, 1968.
6
On March 18th,1965, Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov stepped from the spacecraft Voskhod 2 to become the first man to walk in outer space. He was outside the spacecraft for 12 minutes and 9 seconds.
7
Apollo 1 crew crossing the access arm to the command module on January 27, 1967.
8
Neil Armstrong in his space suit. 1966.
9
The crew of Apollo 1 pray for the structural integrity of their command module in a parody of their official crew photo. The trio would die locked inside the module in a launchpad fire a few months later. August 19, 1966.
10
Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, enjoying a drink while visiting London, England. July 13th, 1961.
11
Kennedy Space Center Firing Room, Apollo 11 flight, 1969.
12
Buzz Aldrin, first self portrait in space. 1966.
13
Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee pose in their spacesuits. Twelve days later, they would die in the infamous Apollo 1 fire. January 15, 1967.
14
Saturn V Launch Control Center, by Ralph Morse, 1967.
16
Astronaut Dave Scott looks at Earth from the Apollo 9 Command Module in March, 1969.
17
Apollo 1 crew practicing a water landing in 1966.
18
Backup Apollo 11 Commander Jim Lovell reading a newspaper. May 1969.
19
Testing prototype space suit intended for use in NASA's Apollo moon landing program, Mojave Desert, California 1962.
20
Judy Sullivan, first woman engineer in Spacecraft Operations at NASA, monitoring the biomedical sensors of the astronauts during the Apollo 11 mission 1969.
21
Apollo 11 in the air, July 16, 1969.
22
Monitoring the launch of Apollo 4 from the Mission Operations Control Room, 1967.
23
Apollo 10 commander Tom Stafford pats the nose of a giant stuffed Snoopy prior to launch, 1969.
24
Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon after reaching the surface in their Apollo 11 lunar module. 1969.
