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Info
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Period: 900 to
1. The Age of Dreamers
Key Themes: Imagination, very early discoveries and observations -
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Andromeda
It is impossible to say who was first to discover Messier 31, also known as the Andromeda galaxy, but it was Persian astronomer Abd al-rahman al-Sufi’s who first noted it down in The Book of Fixed Stars as far back as 964. -
Galileo
The Italian astronomer was the first to observe celestial bodies in detail, using a telescope. Among his observations were the Moon, Jupiter, Venus and the Sun. These observations challenged the geocentric model of the universe, marking a turning point in astronomy and the scientific revolution. -
Discovery of Uranus
The German-British astronomer William Herschel discovers Uranus with a telescope. It was the first planet to be discovered since prehistoric times. -
The Asteroid Ceres
The Italian Catholic priest, mathematician, and astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi made the first discovery of an asteroid - Ceres. -
"A Journey Through Space"
William Leitch is the first person to correctly apply modern scientific principles to spaceflight in an essay he wrote called "A Journey Through Space". In it he proposed to use rockets for space flight. -
Period: to
2. The Visionary Age
Key Themes: early theories put to the test, first unmanned space launches -
Andromeda's Rediscovery
It was long believed that the Andromeda galaxy was just another part of the Milky Way, a nebula. But the American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble determined after its rediscovery that Andromeda is indeed an entirely different galaxy from ours. -
The First Liquid-Fueled Rocket
Believing that liquid propellants offered the most promise, Goddard successfully launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. His more advanced work and patents allowed American scientists to build, test, and fly more advanced rockets at the dawn of the Space Age. -
Radio Waves from the Milky Way
The first detected radio waves coming from astronomical object were observed by Karl Jansky while investigating radio disturbances interfering with transoceanic telephone service. The source of radio noise he discovered was later identified as Sagittarius A, located at the center of the Galaxy. -
Baby Steps
The first human-made object to reach space was a German A-4 rocket, designated MW 18014. This rocket was a test launch of the V-2 rocket, which was also a ballistic missile developed by Germany during World War II. A tool for killing ended up revolutionising space exploration. -
First pictures of Earth.
The first picture of Earth from space was taken, using a V-2 rocket. The rocket carried a 35-mm motion picture camera that snapped images every second and a half at an altitude of 105 km. -
Period: to
3. The Space Race
Key Themes: The Cold War, historic milestones, first animals in space, the moon landing -
First Animals in Space
A US-launched V-2 rocket carried fruit flies to an altitude of 109 km, above the Earth's atmosphere. The flies were retrieved safely and were found to be alive, with no apparent damage from the radiation exposure. -
The First Mammal in Space
Albert II, a rhesus macaque monkey, was the first mammal to reach space when launched by the USA in 1949. His flight reached an altitude of 134 kilometers. While he survived the flight to that altitude, Albert II tragically perished upon landing due to a parachute malfunction. There is no footage of Albert II, but of his predecessor Albert I. -
Dezik and Tsygan
The stray dogs Dezik and Tsygan were were the first canine suborbital astronauts, meaning they were the first living organisms to fly in space and safely return. They were successfully retrieved. -
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Laika
The dog Laika was the first living creature to be launched into Earth orbit, on board the Soviet artificial satellite Sputnik 2. Laika only survived for about five to seven hours after liftoff before dying of overheating and panic. That fact had been hidden until Russian scientist Dimitri Malashenkov revealed it in 2002. RIP Laika. -
Luna 1
Luna 1, launched by the Soviet Union, was the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon. It failed its primary mission to impact the lunar surface. Luna 1 also made the first successful radio communication at a half-million-kilometer distance. -
Luna 3
Luna 3 was a Soviet space probe that captured the first images of the Moon's far side. It achieved this by flying past the Moon and looking back at the sunlit far side, offering a view that had never been seen before. -
First Human in Space
The Russian Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space, launching to orbit aboard the Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1). After the flight, he became a global celebrity, touring widely to promote the Soviet achievement. -
First American in Space
Alan Shepard became the first American in space, flying a suborbital flight aboard the Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7. Shepard safely landed in the Atlantic Ocean. -
Venus Flyby
Mariner 2 became the first successful mission to another planet when it flew by Venus. The spacecraft made a number of discoveries about the planet and marked another first by measuring the solar wind, a constant stream of charged particles flying outward from the sun. -
The First Woman in Space
As a Soviet cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, launched into orbit aboard the Vostok 6 spacecraft, making her the first woman in space. In this video, Tereshkova tells of her experience. -
Spacewalking 1.0
Voskhod 2 was a Soviet space mission that achieved the first spacewalk. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov exited the spacecraft through an airlock, tethered to the vessel, and floated in space for 12 minutes. -
First Unmanned Moon Landing
Luna 9 was the first spacecraft to successfully soft-land on the Moon, and the first to transmit photos of the Moon from its surface. Launched by the Soviet Union, Luna 9 landed a few days after and transmitted images for three days. -
More Animals and Plants in Space
Zond 5 carried a biological payload of wine flies, worms, plants and two Russian steppe tortoises. Despite landing trouble, it completed the first circumlunar mission, safely returning the animals and plants to Earth. Scientists found that the tortoises, the first living organisms to have made a circumlunar flight, had lost a little weight but were otherwise in good health. -
Apollo 8
Apollo 8 was the first manned space mission to travel beyond Earth's orbit and reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing. This mission was a crucial step in the Apollo program, paving the way for a manned lunar landing seven months later. The mission was also famous for the iconic “Earthrise” image, snapped by William Anders. -
A Small Step For Man
Apollo 11 marked the first time humans landed on the Moon and returned to Earth. It involved the first lunar landing with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepping onto the lunar surface. -
“Houston, we’ve had a problem”
Apollo 13 was a planned manned lunar landing mission that was aborted due to a rupture in the Service Module's oxygen tank. The crew successfully returned to Earth but never actually landed on the Moon. -
Robots on the Moon
Lunokhod 1 was the first successful robotic rover to land on and explore the surface of the Moon. It was part of the Soviet Union's Luna program, and it holds the distinction of being the first remotely operated rover to move across the surface of another celestial body. -
The First Space Station
Salyut 1 was the world’s first space station. After a record-breaking 23 days aboard Salyut 1, the inaugural three-man crew died while returning to Earth when their Soyuz, which at that time carried no support system for individual pressure suits, inadvertently lost its air. -
Spacewalking 2.0
The first untethered spacewalk was performed by NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless II, during the Space Shuttle Challenger's STS-41B mission. McCandless used the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), a nitrogen-propelled, hand-controlled backpack, to float freely in space, away from the shuttle. -
Period: to
3. The Age of Discovery
Key Themes: Advanced planetary science, space telescopes, global partnerships, robotic explorers, exploring Mars and the rest of our solar system -
The Family Portrait
The Solar System "family portrait" is the final series of 60 images captured by NASA's Voyager 1 that show six of our solar system's planets. It remains the first and only time a spacecraft has attempted to photograph our home solar system. -
Ulysses
Ulysses was a joint NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) space probe designed to study the Sun, specifically its poles, which had never been observed up close before. It revolutionised our understanding of the Sun and its influence on the solar system, providing key data for space weather research. -
Mars Pathfinder
The Mars Pathfinder gave way to the rover named Sojourner, the first wheeled vehicle to operate on another planet. It conducted chemical analysis on the Martian atmosphere, climate, geology, and the composition of its rocks and soil. -
A Permanent Presence in Space
Expedition 1, the ISS's first long-term crew, explored a range of topics including how space affects biology and physics, and also studied Earth from above. It was the start of humanity's permanent presence in space. -
First Space Tourist
Dennis Tito was the first space tourist, paying $20 million for a commercial space flight aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS. He spent eight days in space, becoming a pioneer in the field of commercial spaceflight. -
First Titan Landing
Under the Cassini-Huygens mission a probe landed on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, for the first time, also making it the first landing on a moon in the outer solar system. -
The Lakes of Titan
During a fly-by of Saturn the Cassina probe discovered bodies of liquids on Titan, using Cassini's radar instrument, which could penetrate Titan's thick atmosphere. The radar detected large, dark patches on the surface, which were later confirmed to be lakes by observing specular reflections with infrared cameras. -
Searching for Earth 2.0
The Kepler space telescope was NASA’s first planet-hunting mission, assigned to search a portion of the Milky Way galaxy for Earth-sized planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. During nine years in deep space Kepler showed our galaxy contains billions of hidden "exoplanets," many of which could be promising places for life. The spacecraft retired in 2018, replaced by a new planet hunter. -
The First Solar Sail
The IKAROS spacecraft is a small-scale solar sail demonstrator mission launched by JAXA. Its primary goal is to verify the feasibility of using a solar sail for propulsion and power generation in space. It was confirmed that IKAROS produced power and accelerated using solar energy. -
Space X Dragon Launch
SpaceX, an American aerospace company founded in 2002, helped usher in the era of commercial spaceflight. It was the first private company to successfully launch and return a spacecraft (Dragon) from Earth's orbit and the first to launch a crewed spacecraft and dock it with the ISS. -
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First Picture of a Black Hole
The first image of a black hole was taken by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a network of eight ground-based radio telescopes strategically located around the globe. The EHT worked together to create a virtual telescope, capable of observing the supermassive black hole at the center of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy. -
Period: to
5. The New Space Age
Key Themes: Commercial spaceflight, Moon and Mars planning -
Mars 2020
The Mars 2020 mission, featuring the Perseverance rover, was a robotic exploration mission focused on searching for signs of past or present life on Mars. The mission also aimed to gather samples for future return to Earth and test technologies for future Martian exploration. -
Back to the Moon (Almost)
Artemis I was part of a mission to return humans to the Moon and establish a long-term lunar presence. It was an uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft, sending Orion beyond the Moon and back to Earth. The mission successfully tested the SLS and Orion's deep space capabilities, paving the way for future crewed mission.
