See More Highlight's From SLU's Space History

Alumni from Saint Louis University have participated in every NASA manned mission to date. Astronauts and pioneers of space exploration have visited campus. Check out these highlights from SLU's past.

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The Parks College Rocket Club gathers to show off their work in this 1970 photo.

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Don Shields, the consulting pilot who trained Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong for the Apollo 11 mission, speaks at Saint Louis University's Parks College on Oct. 17, 1969.

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SLU alumna Morgan Elliott (Parks '15) interned at NASA for two summers during her undergraduate career. Here, she is seen in a mock-up of the Orion docking station.

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SLU professor Charles Charroppin, S.J., observes the heavens through a telescope in the 1800s.

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SLU alumnus Gene Kranz (Parks '54) poses with Parks College Dean Leon Seltzer. Kranz served as flight director for the Apollo 11 mission and other famed NASA launches.

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SLU alumnus Fernando Abilleira ( Madrid '99, '01) helped manage the Mars Insight Mission for NASA.

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Structures lead Ghadah Alhasan (Parks '18) worked on parts of a rocket built to honor SLU's bicentennial.

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Parks College students test their rockets in this 1969 photo.

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SLU professor Charles Charroppin, S.J., was a noted pioneer of astrophotography - the practice of photographing celestial events like eclipses - and expert astronomer.

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A student team is currently at work on a CubeSat – a small satellite – that will launch in January 2020.

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Astronaut and Apollo 11 mission member Buzz Aldrin spoke at SLU in 2017.

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SLU alumnua Morgan Elliott (right) met with astronauts including Tracy Dyson during her undergraduate internships with NASA.

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Now an alumnus, Dan Reczek (Parks '18) led the team building the rocket honoring SLU's bicentennial. Here, he works on assembling pieces of the rocket.

From testing rockets on campus fields to pioneering astrophotography to helping rovers land on Mars, Billikens have a rich history of helping humankind escape the surly bounds of Earth to go boldly beyond our planet's atmosphere in a quest for knowledge.

As humanity celebrates our first steps on the Moon, SLU looks back, even as its story of advancing space exploration moves forward into the 21st Century.

Photos courtesy of University Archives and Digital Collections; Ellen Hutti (Public Health '19); Maggie Rotermund, University Marketing and Communications; Morgan Elliott (Parks '15); the Billiken 1 Rocket Team; and Amelia Flood, University Marketing and Communications.