Inventions 1102 04

Inventions of Space

By 2900609

  • Sputnik 1

    Sputnik 1
    Sputnik 1 was launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957 where it started the "Space Age." Sputnik 1 is made entirely out of alumninim alloy with 4 antennae weighing in at 185 pounds. It's a sphere shape. It was able to fully function for 21 days. If you're wondering whiy it's called Sputnik, that's because Sputnik means "fellow traveler." It was the first artificial satellite made. Sputnik 1 is very impressive overall.

  • Explorer 1

    Explorer 1
    Explorer 1 was the first successful American satellite. It was launched on January 31, 1958. Explorer 1 was designed and built by NASA's Jet Proplusion Labratory (J.P.L.) in less than 3 months! It was also operated be J.P.L. In space, Explorer 1 carried an instrument used to measure Earth's radiation where it was discovered that the radiation was a lot lower than expected. Explorer 1 burned up on March 31, 1970. Explorer 1 was an amazing contribution to space exploration.

  • Luna 1

    Luna 1
    Luna 1 was the first spacecraft to go to the moon. It was on a "moon flyby" mission. Luna 1 was launched on Januray 2, 1959. It weighed 795 pounds. The fourth launch of Luna 1 was the first successful one. The first launch was on September 23, 1958 where it failed miserably. Luna 1 is a sphere shape with 5 antennaae. Contact with Luna 1 was lost 62 hours after launch time. This was a contribution made by the Russians

  • Apollo 1

    Apollo 1
    Apollo 1 was promising, but it didn't work. During the pre-filght test-run, a short circuit in the wires caused a fire, burning the three men riding it to their death! This unfortunate event happened on January 27, 1967. The three astronauts in Apollo 1 were Edward White, the Command Pilot, Virgil Grissman, the Commander and Roger Chaffee, the Pilot. Apollo 1 was originally called Apollo 204, but in memory of those lost, was called Apollo 1.

  • Lunar Rover

    Lunar Rover
    The Lunar Rover (also known as the "Moon Buggy"), was launched on July 26, 1971. The Lunar Rover was used through Apollo missions 15-17. It can carry two astronauts and their fancy space gadgets at an astounding 8 miles an hour. It can even climb a 25 degree angle. On Earth it weighs 480 pounds, but on the moon it only weighs 80 pounds! The Lunar Rover carried around astronuats on the moon to places. I guess you could say this helped many people.

  • Canadarm

    Canadarm
    Canadarm is one of the most amazing contributions to space exploration, to me, at least. The Canadarm is remote-controlled by three people. It has four built-in cameras and in 2001, a second arm was attatched. It has six joints as well as an elbow, wrist and shoulder. It's over 45 metres long and weighs roughly about 450kg. It was sent to space on April 12, 1981, hitching a ride on the Columbia, which we'll talk about next.

  • The Columbia

    The Columbia
    The Columbia Space Shuttle was the carrier of Canadarm into space on April 12, 1981. It was the first vehicle to leave and return to safely back home to Earth. The shuttle was so big it had to be transported by a Boeing 747 jet! The Columbia Space Shuttle was instrumental in transporting the Canadarm to space.

  • The Hubble Telescope

    The Hubble Telescope
    The Hubble Telescope was a trial and error mission. When firrst launched in 1986, it failed, but when launched again, it worked in 1990, except the pictures were blurry so it had to be fixed. It weighs 24 000 pounds and cost 1.5 billion dollars! Every 96 minute it orbites the world once. It travels 5 miles a second. The first image was taken on May 20, 1990. The Hubble Telescope takes pictures of things in space and shows us what it`s like in space.

  • The Soujourner

    The Soujourner
    The Soujourner was a Mars Rover built by NASA. It was specially designed for Mars`s terrain. It moves at 1.5 feet per minute and covered about 100 metres of Mars while there. It was launched on December 4, 1996 and on September 27, 1977 they lost communication with it. It has creepy laser eyes to see things. It was able to complete 16 chemical analyses of rocks. The Soujourner helped us learn more about Mars and see if it`s possible to have life on Mars.

  • International Space Station

    International Space Station
    Sixteen different countries were involved in the making of the Internation Space Station. Since 2000 there have been 5 Russians and 4 NASA astronauts living on it. They began building in 1998 with hopes of it being finished by 2010. When living on it, astronuats must exercise for 2 hours a day. The people living on the International Space Station are showing us that it is possible for humans to live in space.