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First Telescope - Refracting Telescope
- First Telescope
- Galileo Galilee
- His telescope used two lenses to make distant objects appear both nearer and larger. He could magnify and brighten objects in the sky. Telescopes that use lenses to bend light are called refracting telescopes, or refractors. The earliest telescopes were all refractors.
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Second Telescope - Reflecting Telescope
- Reflecting Telescope (2nd telescope)
- Sir Isaac Newton
- Around 1670, Sir Isaac Newton built a different kind of telescope. Newton's telescope used curved mirrors instead of lenses to focus light. This type of telescope is called a reflecting telescope, or reflector (see Figure below). The mirrors in a reflecting telescope are much lighter than the heavy glass lenses in a refractor.
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First Liquid Fueled Rocket
U.S. rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard launches the first liquid fueled rocket from his Aunt Effie's farm in Auburn, Massachusetts. The 4-foot high rocket dubbed "Nell" reaches an altitude of 41 feet and a speed of about 60 miles per hour. The flight lasts only 2 1/2 seconds, but paves the way for the U.S. rocket program. -
Radio Telescope
The first radio antenna used to identify an astronomical radio source was one built by Karl Guthe Jansky, an engineer with Bell Telephone Laboratories, in 1932. Jansky was assigned the job of identifying sources of static that might interfere with radio telephone service. -
First American Rocket Reaches Space
The United States launches its first American-designed rocket. Known as the Wac Corporal, the rocket reaches the edge of space at an altitude of 50 miles after being launched from the White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico. -
First Artificial Satellite
The USSR beat the United States into space by launching Sputnik 1. At 184 pounds, it was the world's first artificial satellite. Sputnik transmitted radio signals back to Earth for only a short time, but it was a major accomplishment. -
NASA is Born
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is founded, taking over the responsibilities of the existing National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics. Created by the American Goverment. -
First Spacecraft to Achieve Solar Orbit
The Russian satellite Luna 1 is launched in an attempt to hit the Moon. The spacecraft misses the Moon and is flung out into space by the Moon's gravity. It becomes the first man-made object to achieve an orbit around the Sun. -
First Man in Space
Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first human to venture into space. The Vostok 1 spacecraft made one complete orbit around Earth in 108 minutes, and reached altitudes of 112 to 203 miles. The flight lasted only one hour and 48 minute -
First Manned Moon Landing
Apollo 11 makes the first successful soft landing on the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr. become the first human beings to set foot on another world. Many experts still consider this to be the single greatest technological achievement of 20th century. -
Mir Station Launched
The first module of the Mir space station is successfully launched and placed into Earth orbit. Mir becomes the first modular space station in orbit. It hosts a number of successful Russian and American missions and remains in orbit until 2001 when it comes crashing down into the Pacific Ocean. -
Launch of Hubble Space Telescope
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off for mission STS-31, carrying the Edwin P. Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The telescope is successfully deployed, but is found to contain a seriously flawed primary mirror resulting in fuzzy images. A future Space Shuttle mission will install a corrective which will solve the problem and make Hubble the most powerful telescope ever created. -
First Landing on an Asteroid
The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft is successfully landed on the surface of the asteroid Eros. NEAR sends back unprecedented images of the asteroid's surface during its hour-long descent. NEAR had been in orbit around Eros since February 14, 2000. It was never designed to land on the asteroid. The landing is a last minute idea to get some additional data as the spacecraft as it runs out of fuel and nears the end of its mission. -
Largest Space Telescope Launched
Russia launches the Spektr-R which becomes largest space telescope to be placed into orbit. Spektr-R is a radio telescope designed to study astronomical objects with an angular resolution up to a few millionths of an arcsecond. The telescope is intended for radio-astrophysical observations of extragalactic objects with ultra-high resolution. At launch, the giant telescope weighed 11,000 pounds (5,000 kilograms). -
First Spacecraft to Land on a Comet
The European Space Agency's Philae lander becomes the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on a comet. Philae is released from the Rosetta space probe and makes a perilous seven hour descent to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Harpoons designed to attach the lander to the comet fail to operate, and Philae bounces twice before finally coming to rest on the comet's surface. The spacecraft sends back valuable information about the composition of the comet.
