NASA's 61st birthday: 15 best spacewalk photos, space selfies and other incredible moments in spaceflight

NASA's 61st birthday: 15 best spacewalk photos, space selfies and other incredible moments in spaceflight

NASA was born when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation bringing the agency into existence.

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This is a picture of Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques, just as he completes his first spacewalk in April this year. He was accompanied on the 6.5-hour spacewalk by fellow astronaut Anne McClain, to restore power to a robotic arm on the ISS. Image: NASA

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NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei snapped a selfie portrait, more popularly called a space-selfie, in the first spacewalk of the year 2018. He and a fellow astronaut performed maintenance on the Canadian robotic arm of the ISS. Image: NASA

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Astronaut Anne McClain is an engineer, a US army soldier and a scientist who has worked aboard the International Space Station on two space expeditions. McClain is pictured here, 250 miles above the planet, performing spacesuit maintenance for her first spacewalk. Image credit: Instagram/NASA

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A file photo of three astronauts – Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin before the moon landing that took place on 20 July 1969. Image: NASA

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NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor gives group hugs to the students of Excel Academy Public Charter school after a presentation about her experience on Expeditions 56 and 57 onboard the International Space Station. Image: NASA

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NASA astronaut Joe Acaba waits with Canadian and Russian space agencies as they travel from Karaganda to Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan to welcome the three agencies’ astronauts as they return after 204 days in space during expedition 58 and 59. Image credit: NASA

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Hollywood actor Brad Pitt, seated at the Space Operations Center at NASA Headquarters in Washington spoke with NASA astronaut Nick Hague who was onboard the International Space Station. Pitt stars as an astronaut in an upcoming film Ad Astra, and asked Hague many questions about astronaut life, including what it is like to live, work and have meals aboard the ISS. Image: NASA

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Astronaut Anne McClain said on her first journey to space, “Putting this journey into words will not be easy, but I will try. I am finally where I was born to be.” Image: NASA

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In this photo, command module pilot of the Apollo 11 mission Michael Collins practices in a simulator at the Kennedy space center, a month before their scheduled takeoff and historic landing on the moon. Image credit: NASA

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This is a file photo of Christine Darden, one of the women dubbed a ‘human computer’ during NASA’s early years, at work. These designated math wizzes did the number-crunching for mechanical engineers at NASA. Not satisfied with just sitting on the sidelines, she aspired to design computer programs for the agency, going on to become one of the few women who worked as a NASA aerospace engineers in its early years. Image credit: NASA

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This is Christopher Kraft Jr. seated at the Flight Director console during the Gemini-Titan V flight simulation. He created the idea of a NASA mission control and developed the operational procedure and culture of controlling a complex, multifaceted space launch or mission from a handful of well-equipped control rooms. Image: NASA

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This is Margaret Brennecke, the first welding engineer to work in the Material and Processes Laboratory at NASA. Her work in the field of aluminum alloys was key to the success of the Apollo program. Image: NASA

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NASA astronaut Drew Feustel outside the airlock during a spacewalk which lasted six hours and 49 minutes. He and astronaut Ricky Arnold installed high-def cameras to enhance the views of the space station. Image: NASA

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Pictures here is Mae Jemison (left), the first black woman in space, who was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992. Walking alongside Jemison is spacesuit technician Sharon McDougle (right). Image: NASA

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An emotional picture where the astronauts on Expedition 57 return home and meet their family. Cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos and astronaut Nick Hague of NASA, embrace their families after landing at the Krayniy Airport, Kazakhstan. Image: NASA

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