Astronaut

Astronaut Virgil ?Gus? Grissom in the chow line at the ?

Astronaut Virgil ?Gus? Grissom in the chow line at the Grand Bahama Island tracking station, the day after his sub-orbital flight, which had reached an altitude of 118 miles, and immediately prior to returning to Cape Canaveral, 22 July 1961. Behind him are fellow astronauts John Glenn, his alternate pilot, and Walter Schirra. Date: 1961

© The Royal Aeronautical Society (National Aerospace Library)/Mary Evans Picture Library

The Queen and Colonel Frank Borman

Queen Elizabeth II meets Frank Frederick Borman, II (born March 14, 1928), United States Air Force pilot, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, best remembered as the Commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon, making him, along with crew mates Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, the first of only 24 humans to do so. Borman visited Buckingham Palace with his family on 4 February 1969. Date: 1969

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Ham - a 37-pound chimpanzee - Americas first astronaut'

Ham - a 37-pound chimpanzee - became Americas first astronaut when he was launched from Cape Canaveral aboard the Mercury-Redstone (MR-2) suborbital flight on 31 January 1961. In a memo written the next day, NASAs Warren J. North noted: Ham appeared to be in good physiological condition but sometime later when he was shown the spacecraft it was visually apparent that he had no further interest in co-operating with the space-flight program. Date: 1961

© The Royal Aeronautical Society (National Aerospace Library) / Mary Evans Picture Library