NASA in 100 Objects: Innovation and Exploration from Rockets to Rovers
Sep 2026 · Smithsonian Institution
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About this ebook
This space coffee table book takes a visual journey through NASA's amazing achievements, featuring 100 influential objects and more than 300 stunning images
Experience the breadth of NASA's extraordinary history through 100 objects that represent its progress and achievements across the decades. NASA in 100 Objects begins with the agency's origin as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and moves through the space race, Apollo era, rise of Earth orbital activities, International Space Station, and present-day commercial spaceflight.
Each object tells a story of human aspiration and innovation, including:
Through more than 300 images, former NASA historian Roger D. Launius shares influential objects both large and small, famous and lesser known. NASA in 100 Objects is the perfect STEM gift, and an accessible reference guide to the nation's amazing history of space exploration.
Experience the breadth of NASA's extraordinary history through 100 objects that represent its progress and achievements across the decades. NASA in 100 Objects begins with the agency's origin as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and moves through the space race, Apollo era, rise of Earth orbital activities, International Space Station, and present-day commercial spaceflight.
Each object tells a story of human aspiration and innovation, including:
- Robert Goddard's 1926 Liquid Fueled Rocket, the oldest surviving liquid-propellant rocket in the world
- John Glenn’s handheld Ansco camera used to take the first human-captured, color still photographs of Earth
- An A7L Apollo spacesuit
- Space shuttle orbiters
- Chandra X-ray Observatory
- Ingenuity Mars Helicopter
Through more than 300 images, former NASA historian Roger D. Launius shares influential objects both large and small, famous and lesser known. NASA in 100 Objects is the perfect STEM gift, and an accessible reference guide to the nation's amazing history of space exploration.
This space coffee table book takes a visual journey through NASA's amazing achievements, featuring 100 influential objects and more than 300 stunning images
Experience the breadth of NASA's extraordinary history through 100 objects that represent its progress and achievements across the decades....
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About the author
ROGER D. LAUNIUS served as chief historian of NASA between 1990 and 2002 and is a recipient of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and the Exceptional Achievement Medal. From NASA, he moved to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, where he served most recently as Associate Director for Collections and Curatorial Affairs. He has written or edited more than 30 books on aerospace history, including Smithsonian Atlas of Space, The Smithsonian History of Space Exploration, Apollo's Legacy, and NASA Space Shuttle: 40th Anniversary.
ROGER D. LAUNIUS served as chief historian of NASA between 1990 and 2002 and is a recipient of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and the Exceptional Achievement Medal. From NASA, he moved to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, where he served most recently as Assoc...
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