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Sputnik/Mercury/Gemini
On October fourth of 1957, the Sputnik, created by a Russian scientist, was the first ever manmade object to be launched into space. It also led to the creation of NASA. The Mercury was a series of missions trying to put a man into space. They launched first chimps into space as guinea pigs. The first launch was on October seventh of 1958 and was created by the U.S. Gemini was a continuation of the Mercury program, and lasted from 1965 to 1966. -
Pioneer
The Pioneer program was funded by NASA, had TRW as a manufacturer, the head manager as Charles Hall and was supported by the U.S. Air Force/Army. It was meant to investigate lunar missions originally, then it was meant to find information on solar activity. The Pioneer missions 12 and 13 were on a mission to Venus. One of the major things it has done is provided spin stability for things in orbit. It also was to visit planets and investigate magnetic field. The program ended in 1978. -
Venera
There were sixteen different Venera missons, ten of whichw ere actually successful and landed on Venus. It was created by Russian scientists to explore planets (particularly Venus). It lasted until October fourteenth of 1983. -
Mariner
The Mariner program was created by NASA for investigating Venus. There were many different Mariner ships, the first and second being launched in 1962 (July 22 and August 27). It measured the temperature of Venus and did a close flyby of Mars. Mariner 10 took pictures of Mercury up close and was launched on November third of 1973. -
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Space Exploration
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Viking Probes
The Viking probes were two, billion dollar probes sent to investigate Mars. The Viking 1 was launched on August twentieth and the Viking 2 was launched on September ninth. They landed on Mars in 1976. The mission's main purpose was to see if there was intelligent life on Mars and the atmosphere of Mars. -
NEAR
The NEAR mission was created by John Hopkins University in the John Hopkins Scientific Laboratory. It was created to investigate asteroids and investigated the asteroid called "Eros" in 2001. -
Voyager 1 and 2 are Launched into Space
Voyager 2 launched August 20th, while the Voyager 1 launched on September 5th. The mission of the Voyager spacecraft is to look at the outer planets of the solar systems, find the heliopause boundary, and study outward flow of the solar wind. -
Mars Rover
The Mars Rover was created by NASA to investigate Mars. The project was created by Donna Shirley. The first Mars Rover commenced being created in 1980. It was lost in an explosion in 1993. The new Mars Rover was built and the plan for liftoff was in 1996. Its last communication was in 1997 before it lost the last of its battery. -
Space Shuttles
The idea of space shuttles was first offered up by the U.S. Air Force in 1962. The actual program took place in 1972. It was run by NASA and was 209 billion dollars. They are reusible spacecraft with five orbiters. The first launch was in 1981. -
Magellan
Created in May of 1990 by NASA and the Kennedy Space Center, Magellan was made to map the surface of Venus and determine its topography. It was made completely of spare parts. It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center and arrived on Venus in 1990. Unfortunately, after four years of being in space, they lost connection with the spacecraft on October thirteenth. -
Galileo
The Galileo was created by the Kennedy Space Center to to study gas planets (especially Jupiter) to find out how planets formed. It cost $1.5 billion. It discovered an active volcano, a 400 year sandstorm on Jupiter, and a possible ocean under the crust of the Moon. It arrived on Jupiter in 1989 and ended in 2003. -
Hubble
The Hubble was created by NASA and was approved for funding in 1977 by Congress. It was 36 million dollars, is 24,500 pounds, and is 43.3 feet long. It orbits Earth and was created to find the Hubble constant and investigate space. -
Cassini
Cassini was created by NASA, the ESA, and the ISA to take pictures of Saturn. There was a four year extension and then a two year extension. In that time period, it investigate Jupiter, Saturn, and a moon called Titan. -
Genisis
The Genisis was created by NASA to comprehend cosmic origins through solar wind comparison. It was launched on August eighth of 2000, and crash landed back on Earth on September eighth, 2004. It collected solar wind that was studied. -
Space Stations
The International Space Station with contributors from all around the world was launched into space in 2000. It docked on November 2nd. It established mankind's presence in space and was constructed in space, with its pieces launched out to space.