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Reaction principle was first demonstrated about 360 B.C. by a Greek named Archytas.
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The Chinese were the first people to use gunpowder rockets in war. It was the first time rockets were used in the history of the world.
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In 1650, a Polish artillery expert, Kazimierz Siemienowicz, published a series of drawings for a staged rocket.
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Throughout most of the 18th century, especially during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, the French led the world in the production of rockets.
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The British mathematician William Moore publishes Treatise on the Motion of Rockets. This work features the first exposition of rocket mechanics based on Newton's third law of motion.
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Sputnik, the first satellite, was launched by russia on this date.
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John Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth when his Friendship 7 spacecraft made three trips on February 20, 1962.
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On January 27, 1967, there was a flash fire during the launch. All of the cew members abord the shuttle were killed in this tragic accident.
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Apollo 11 was the first rocket to make it to the moon with human passengers on it. Commander Neil Armstrong was abord this shuttle.
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In 1972, the U.S. space shuttle program was created by President Richard Nixon in January of 1972. The U.S. government gave &100 million to NASA to help define the future course of the U.S. space program.
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The first space shuttle was launched on this day.
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The U.S. Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft arrives at the asteroid Eros.
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The space shuttle Columbia breaks up in the atmosphere over Texas while returning to the Kennedy space center.
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The Shenzhou 5 spacecraft is launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China.
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After parachuting through the atmosphere and then bouncing to a stop using giant air bags, the Mars rover Spirit lands on the red planet in a location known as Gusev crater.
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After descending by parachute for 2 hours and 28 minutes, the Huygens probe lands on Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
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NASA's Messenger spacecraft becomes the first man made craft to orbit the closest planet to the Sun.
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NASA's Dawn spacecraft becomes the first man made craft to orbit an asteroid.
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The European Space Agency's Rosetta space probe becomes the first spacecraft to enter orbit around a comet.