Space

Launch of the Apollo 16 mission, 1972. ((Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

The Space Race: The Cold War rivalry that put humans on the Moon

A portrait of 17th-century scholar John Wilkins

Ye final frontier: the 17th-century space race

(Illustration by Kate Hazell for BBC World Histories Magazine)

Back down to Earth: the legacy of the 1969 moon landing

Gerald Heard had a peculiar idea that the UFOs then being sighted all across the globe, as such as this ‘sighting’ in Sicily, were piloted not by humanoid ETs, as you may have presumed, but by alien super-bees from Mars. (Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images)

6 of history’s strangest ever theories about outer space

Earth Seen from Space Shuttle Discovery 1990

Earth from space: How pioneering photos changed our view of the planet

Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin stands beside an American flag, soon after landing on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission. (Photo by NASA/Liaison)

Opinion Was the Moon landing really a great leap for mankind?

An illustration of the novel ‘The War of the Worlds’ by HG Wells, made by Henri Lanos, 1905. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

In thrall to the red planet: 5 facts about our view of Mars through history

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Sheet music.

History quiz – songs, space stations and capital cities . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Eleanor of Aquitaine.

History quiz – spacewalks, battles and Eleanor of Aquitaine . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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5 historical space travel facts

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A coal mine explosion, the birth of Nancy Witcher Langhorne, and the first Briton in space: 5 things that happened On This Day 19 May

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The NASA Space Pen