-
Period: to
Discovery of the Solar System
-
Galileo's Telescope
Galileo had many inventions but his most famous was probablly the telescope. His starting telescope magnifyed things 3X the normal size. Later in 1609 he created another telescope that could magnify things to 20X their size. -
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite to be sent into orbit from Earth. It was Russian made, and not wanting to fall behind, America wanted to catch up. This started the "Space Race". Sputnik 1 burned up on 4 January 1958, as it fell from orbit upon reentering Earth's atmosphere, after travelling about 60 million km and spending 3 months in orbit. -
Luna 1
First man-made satellite to orbit the moor, was launched by U.S.S.R. -
Tiros 1
1st successful weather satellite, launched by the U.S. -
Ranger 7
Relays the first close range photos of the moon -
Surveyor 1
The first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on the moon. -
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 was the first spacecraft to send humans to the moon. The spacecraft brought Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. The famos quote was made by Neil Armstrong stating "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". Both astronauts collected about 21.5 kg of moon material. Apollo 11 effectively ended the Space Race and fulfilled a national goal proposed in 1961 by the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy. -
Space Shuttle Challenger
The space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after liftoff of mission STS-51L. -
Hubble Telescope
The Hubble Telescope is an enormous telescope scientist use for sharp, far off images that no other telescope can take. -
Mars Pathfinder
Mars Pathfinder becomes the first probve to successfully land on Mars since Viking 2 in 1976. -
Galileo Space Probe
The Galieo space probe safely completes its encounter with Jupiter's ice moon, Europa, at an altitude of 343 km. -
"True" millenium is Chinease
The first launch of the "true" millenium is Chinese, with the second test flight of the manned Shenshou spaceship, reported to be carrying a monkey, a dog, and a rabbit. -
1st Landing on an Asteroid
First landing on an asteriod (Eros) -
Mir Space Station
15 years after its first lauch, and after nearly 10 years of continuous occupation by astronauts, the Mir space station is de-orbited, breaking up in the atmosphere and impacting in the Pacific Ocean. -
First Touist in Space
American businessman Dennis Tito becomes the first tourist to fly into space. -
Space X
SpaceX is a space company who carry out various missions for NASA such as re-supplying and carry out these tasks for a VERY high price. -
Space Shutte Columbia Disaster
Space Shuttle Columbia breaks up in the atmosphere over Texas while returning to the Kennedy space center. -
Land Rovers
Land Rovers are sent to other planets such as mars to collect and send back data to Earth about the planet. -
First Manned Private Space Flight
A privately financed and built spacecraft known as SpaceshipOne makes history as the first non-government spacescraft to be flown into space. -
Alien Moon Landing
First landing on an alien moon - - Saturn's moon Titan. -
Impact with a comet
After a journey of 174 days, the Deep Impact space probe fulfills its mission by slamming into a comet known as Tempel 1. -
First Comet Samples Returned to Earth
After a journey of nearly seven years and 2.9 billion miles, NASA's Stardust mission successfully came to a conclusion in the desert salt flats of the Utah Test and Training Range. The capsule safely parachuted to the ground after collecting dust and particle samples from comet Wild 2. -
The hunt for extrasolar planets
The Kepler spacecraft launches on a mission to search for planets outside our solar system. -
Final flight of the space shuttle program
The space shuttle Atlantis becomes the last American space shuttle to be launched into space. -
Planetary Orbiters
The first planetary orbiter was Sputnik 1. These continue to be the most common form of space exploration.
