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Sir Isaac Newton publishes this three-volume work outlining the three laws of motion, his law of universal gravitation, and a derivation of Kepler's laws for the motion of the planets
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British mathematician William Moore publishes Treatise on the Motion of Rockets. This work has the first ideas of rocket mechanics based on Newton's third law
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Konstantin Tsiolkovsky publishes this article and laid out many of the principles of spaceflight
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With funding from the Smithsonian Institution, Robert Goddard published a theoretical argument, A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes. This book describes how Goddard's mathematical theories of rocket flight and his research into solid-fuel and liquid-fuel rockets would be able to send objects as far as the Moon
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The work explained the mathematical theory of rocketry, applied the theory to rocket design, and discussed the possibility of constructing space stations and of traveling to other planets
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The German V-2 Rocket, a ballistic missile, is launched successfully toward Europe and later serves as the predecessor of all modern rockets
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Sputnik was the world's first artificial satellite and it was created by the USSR
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After the success of Sputnik I, Soviets quickly launched Sputnik II, which contained a dog named Laika who survived for 8 days until the food supply ran out
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NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is formed
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Yury Gagarin was a 27-year-old Russian test pilot who lifted into space in Vostok 1 atop a modified R-7 rocket
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Alan Shepherd became the first American man launched into space
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During a routine test of the Apollo 1 spacecraft on the launch pad, a spark caused a fire to start in the crew compartment of the command module. Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, were killed in this tragic incident
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Apollo 11 makes the first successful soft landing on the Moon.
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Voyager II, the first space probe to fly by the four gas giant planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune – is launched.
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The first American space shuttle is launched. This is the first “re-usable” space craft in history.
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The space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after take-off, killing all of its crew members including the first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe.
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The Hubble Space Telescope, the most sophisticated optical observatory ever placed into orbit around Earth, is launched into orbit
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The unmanned American space probe “Pathfinder” lands on Mars and begins its successful exploration of the planet.
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The ISS begins hosting human habitation
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Columbia, the first American space shuttle, explodes upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere