Space Exploration Project

  • Sputnik

    Who: Yuri Gargarin
    What: first satellite sent in Spcae
    Where: Moscow, Russia
    Why: Wanted to win the "Space Race"
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    Pioneer Program

    • NASA was in charge
    • TRW helped
    • Charles Hall – original project manager
    • Series of American unmanned space crafts that were sent into space for different missions
    • Pioneer 10 – studied Jupiter, solar wind, and cosmic rays
    • Jupiter and Saturn were the main planets studied
    • Made for the Space Race
  • Mercury

    Who: Friendship 7 Astronauts, NASA
    What:First Man in Space Program
    Where:U.S.
    Why: To observe Human performance in Space
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    Venera Probes

    Who: The Soviet Union
    What: They were spacecrafts sent out to explore Venus, 16 probes went out, 3 failed, expensive project, shut down from low funds, first probes to send colored pictures of Venus
    Where: Venus, the Soviet Union, kept secret --> no other countries involved
    Why: to explore Venus's atmosphere
    How: designed to float atop of Venus's oceans, had a high-gain antenna, magnetometer, ion traps, and micrometeorite detectors
  • Gemini

    Who: NASA
    What: Spacecraft, practiced rendezvous techniques
    Where: U.S. (Cape Canaveral Air Force Station)
    Why: to develop U.S. ability to maneuver in space
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    Mariner Program

    • NASA was mainly involved
    • Interplanetary probe used to capture pictures of Mars, Mercury, and Venus
    • Launched from the NASA headquarters
    • NASA wanted to be the first obtain pictures of Mars, Mercury, and Venus
    • First successful Mariner (Mariner 2) – August 27, 1962
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    Space Stations

    • Idea came from the theory of a “Brick Moon”
    • Salyut 1 (first space station) – April 19, 1971
    • Multiple countries are working on the ISS
    • Used solar panels
    • Astronauts discovered the water recycling process
    • American Skylab launch – May 14, 1973
    • November 20, 1998 – ISS launch
    • 2/24/2011 – ISS completed
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    Viking Probes

    • Took place on Mars and the Langley Research Center
    • NASA, James Martin
    • NASA sent 2 probes to Mars
    • One landed on Mars, One orbited it
    • Project started in 1968
    • Viking 1 launch – August 20, 1975
    • Viking 2 launch – September 9, 1975
    • Project ended (lost signal) – November 13, 1982
    • Cost - $2 billion
    • This was the first time we landed on Mars
    • Rocks on Earth and Mars are similar
    • Made 7 years of observations
  • Voyager Probes - Voyager 2

    Who: NASA
    What: goes in the opposite direction as Voyager 1, has gravity asssist, explores different areas as Voyager 1, cost $250 million
    Where: Within the Solar System
  • Voyager Probes - Voyager 1

    Who: NASA
    What: Explored Inter-Stellar Spacepace, discovered information on Saturn, still traveling today, cost $250 million, made to extend knowledge of Space
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    Space Shuttles

    • NASA
    • 5 main space shuttles
    • Flew to Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter
    • Kennedy Space Center, Florida
    • Wanted to explore areas of space
    • Needed a reusable spacecraft
    • Can go from 0 to 17,000 mph in 8.5 minutes
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    Magellan Spacecraft

    • Elizabeth Bayer, Douglas Griffith, Joseph Boyce, R. Stephen Saunders, Martin Marietta
    • Sent to Venus
    • Took pictures of 98% of the planet
    • When done it crashed into Venus
    • Launch – May 4, 1989
    • Mission End – October 13, 1994
    • NASA and JPL Headquarters (California)
    • Launched in Florida
    • First spacecraft to use inertial upper stage booster
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    Galileo Spacecraft

    • NASA, Thousands of scientists
    • Recorded about Jupiter and its moons
    • $1.6 billion
    • Was in space for 14 years, but only recorded 8
    • Discovered the first asteroid moon
    • Pasadena, California
    • Crashed into Jupiter
    • Jupiter can create its own energy
    • Made to survive high and low temperatures
    • Launched by Venus and Earth
  • Hubble Space Telescope

    Who: NASA, European Space Agency
    What: still in space today, cost $1.5 million, found aout about other galaxies and stars, has made more than 930,000 observations
    Why: to see the universe clearer
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    N.E.A.R. Missions

    Who: John Hopkins, NASA
    What: designed to study Eros (asteroid), one of the first discovery missions, first mission to go around an asteroid
    Where: the Solar System, NASA, John Hopkins asteroid
    How: infrafed a x-ray spectrometer
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    Cassini Mission

    • NASA, European Space Agency, Italian Space Agency
    • Made to explore Saturn
    • Titan (Saturn’s Moon) is the only other planet know to have an atmosphere
    • Cost $3.3 billion
    • Cassini will go until September 2017
    • Huygens returned data for 90 minutes then died
    • Cassini - Made to verify the structure of Saturn’s rings
    • Radioisotope gave Cassini its power
    • Heaviest unmanned spacecraft sent into space
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    Genesis Mission

    Who: NASA
    What: Made to collect Solar Wind, $264 million, made to help find out what the Sun is made out of, First space craft to collect Solar Winds
    Where: Cape Canaveral, Florida
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    Mars Rover

    • NASA, Mars Rover command base
    • 2 rovers – “Spirit” and “Opportunity”
    • They took panoramic pictures
    • Cost $645 million
    • Launch – June 10, 2003 and July 7, 2003
    • Last communication with Spirit – March 22, 2010
    • They were looking at the surface of Mars
    • Launches/Landings were 3 weeks apart
    • Sent to determine if there was water or life on Mar