What is the coolest Space Mission of all time?

[C1maCat]

Just wondering what do you guys think the most awesome space mission of all time is? Not the most famous or scientifically beneficial, but the coolest.

Apollo? Voyager? Sputnik? Curiosity?

Something less well known like Venera or Cassini?

Or something else entirely?

[razark]

Mercury-Atlas 9.

Gordo Cooper spends more time in space than all other American astronauts up to that time combined. Flies a manual re-entry in a failing spacecraft, using wristwatch and marks on the window for guidance, and makes the most accurate landing of any Mercury flight.

[G'th]

I'm partial to Apollo 12 myself, though mostly because I just fell in love with the mission's portrayal in From the Earth to the Moon. That documentary/movie makes all three of those astronauts look like the most wicked bunch of guys you ever knew.

[karolus10]

Mercury-Atlas 9.

Gordo Cooper spends more time in space than all other American astronauts up to that time combined. Flies a manual re-entry in a failing spacecraft, using wristwatch and marks on the window for guidance, and makes the most accurate landing of any Mercury flight.

It reminded me this:

I think that STS-75 was a mission worth mentioning, shuttle had deployed satellite attached to the shuttle on 20 km tether (but cable have broken from stress 19km from shuttle), mission was designed to learn more about gravity gradients and feasibility of using tethers in space.

Edited July 1, 2015 by karolus10

[Harry Rhodan]

Soyuz T-15

Flying wih an outdated Soyuz-T to Mir and had to dock manually. Then transferred to Salyut 7 to get the work done the last crew had to abandon and to ferry back valuable instruments to Mir.

[Herr Rictus Bingo]

I love the project Mercury <3 And for a mission, I think of Apollo 17 the best moon landing, 3 EVA ...

[SemiaCloud]

Vostok 1. It is because Yuri Gagarin had the courage to step into that capsule when no one else had.

[Cydonian Monk]

Coolest? Pick any Gemini mission and that'll work for me, with a preference to 6A/7. Gemini was the hot-rod of the space race, a regular American Graffiti, complete with city kids and cowboys racing each other around the planet.

[Robotengineer]

Voyager 2. No other probe has visited that many destinations in one mission.

[Nuke]

apollo 13

you dont know what you are made of until everything goes wrong, and then to come out alive on top of that is awesome.

[A35K]

Probably Vostok 1, since Gagarin had to jump out of the spacecraft and parachute down to the surface after re-entry. Very Kerbal style .

[Harry Rhodan]

Vostok 1. It is because Yuri Gagarin had the courage to step into that capsule when no one else had.

Erm, he was chosen from at least 6 (from an extended group of 20) very eager people to go on that flight. Titov was ready to take his seat at any moment.

[CaptainApollo]

I'll chose Apollo 16 or Gemini 10, as I really love both their missions, and the crew as well, specifically John W. Young! But really, I really liked the Gemini and Apollo programs. A golden age in space exploration!

[hugix]

Hard question. Most things that happened in space are cool.

STS 9 was pretty cool with the APU on fire during landing.

[WinkAllKerb'']

the coolest space mission of all time has to come and be real ; ) (in 400 000 or so , notice that if it happen before it would be better)

[Uncle Mort]

Unmanned - Cassini/Huygens. The rings! a whole variety of moons, Titan, Methane lakes FFS!

Manned - Apollo 15. First Lunar rover, driving over to Hadley Rille and looking over the edge, cool!

[Space.exe]

E. All of the above

[MartGonzo]

Voyager 2. No other probe has visited that many destinations in one mission.

Yes that would be my No. 2, but really there's no contest, Apollo 11 for all the obvious reasons.

[Camacha]

All space missions are cool missions. Ranking them beyond that is a frivolous excercise.

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

All space missions are cool missions. Ranking them beyond that is a frivolous excercise.

Yes, but it's fun!

Definitely Vostok 6, mostly because I did so much research on it for my replica of it.

[LN400]

Vostok 1. It is because Yuri Gagarin had the courage to step into that capsule when no one else had.

This. Hands down. It is incredible considering how they must consider each gram of weight they picked a guy with 10 ton maraccas.

Edited July 2, 2015 by LN400
Typo

[JetJaguar]

Coolest? Pick any Gemini mission and that'll work for me, with a preference to 6A/7. Gemini was the hot-rod of the space race, a regular American Graffiti, complete with city kids and cowboys racing each other around the planet.

Same here. Gemini has always been a favorite of mine, because that's when we really learned how to fly in space. The astronauts didn't like being treated as essentially payload in Mercury, so the Gemini capsule was built to be to be flown by a pilot and the interior is arranged like an aircraft cockpit. In some ways it was more advanced than Apollo, which had begun development earlier. If I had to pick one mission as the coolest it would be Gemini 6/7.

For unmanned missions, for me the coolest is Curiosity. Using a rocket-propelled skycrane to land an SUV-sized rover on Mars was an amazing technical achievement.

[GoSlash27]

I'll put a vote in for Apollo 15. The first mission with a rover, the first mission that was primarily about science, and the most beautiful scenery.

Best,

-Slashy

[Bill Phil]

STS 1. Beautiful picture on launch. And a miracle that nothing wrong happened. After all, there was no unmanned test flight...

[Hcube]

Apollo 11(don't forget the"1" or that would be embarrassing) for all the reasons that you already know ,and Gemini 6A/Gemini 7 because docking is awesome, Titan looks amazing for a launcher, and no proper escape system ! So many amazing things