Space ex­plo­ration facts

Apollo I. Apollo 1 was scheduled to be the first manned mission to the Moon. On January 27, 1967, a cabin fire during a launch pad test at Cape Canaveral killed all three crew members (pictured). The ignition source was never identified, but many lethal design and construction flaws were identified after the accident. The manned phase of the project was delayed for 20 months while those problems were corrected.

In Kazakhstan. Baikonur Cosmodrome is located in the center of Kazakhstan on the right bank of the Syr Darya river. Both the space launch facility and the neighboring city of Baikonur are rented and administered by the Russian Federation.

Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to have flown in space with a solo mission on the Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963.

Aquarius. The Lunar Module of Apollo 13, which became a lifeboat following a mid-spaceflight explosion, was called Aquarius.

On the Moon. Fallen Astronaut is an 8.5-centimeter (3.3 in) aluminium sculpture created by Paul Van Hoeydonck, meant to intended to commemorate the astronauts and cosmonauts who have died in the advancement of space exploration. During the Apollo 15 mission, near the completion of his work on the lunar surface on August 1, 1971, Scott secretly placed the Fallen Astronaut on the Moon.