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The Race to the Moon
The story of Sputnik and the contest to put man on the moon

Space Stations
Mir and the ISS

Space Shuttles
From Discovery to Challenger

Adventures on Mars
News of the next stop in the space race

Solar System and Beyond
The story of the probes that have reached interstellar space

Johnson Space Center in QTVR
Tour the control room and more





Photographed and Produced Exclusively for TIME.com by P.F. Bentley

Click below to view the QTVR movies with QuickTime 2.

Old Mission Control
This room, now a national historic landmark, was the control center for all the Apollo missions and some of the first shuttle flights. Once a state-of-the-art facility, it now stands empty and deserted.

New Mission Control
Sen. John Glenn's October shuttle trip will be directed from here, the current Mission Control Room which has been operational since 1996.

International Space Station Mock-Up
A full-scale mock-up of the International Space Station, scheduled for completion by 2003. Sponsored by 13 nations, the station orbit from 283 nautical miles above Earth at a velocity of 17,500 miles per hour.

Anechoic Chamber
NASA simulates space radio transmissions in this room, with cones on the floor and walls responding to radio waves similar to how they are absorbed in the vacuum of space.

Shuttle Flight Deck Simulator
From this shuttle cockpit replica, crews respond to computerized flight simulations.