Explore 60 years of rockets
This graphic charts the history of spaceflight, from Russia’s reliable early vehicles to today’s privately engineered crafts.
This story appears in the July 2019 issue of National Geographic magazine.
Rapid advancements in spaceflight occurred during the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Ballistic missiles for warfare evolved into rockets destined for exploration. Now commercial space companies are also building spacecraft and selling tickets for future tourist flights.
Read more about past—and future—travels to the moon in our July cover story “50 years after Apollo 11, a new moon race is on.”
