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Space Inventions
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Space Suit
The space suit is one of the best-known space inventions. The space suit is used to keep the air pressure under control and give the astronaut oxygen. The first one was created in 1932. After the Apollo 1 fire, the inventers decided that they wanted to change this to a flame-resistant model. Then in 1962 they came out with a fiber called Beta Silica fiber to do that. -
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 was only 23 inches in diameter but weighed about 184 pounds. At 500 miles up, at the speed of 18,000 miles an hour, Sputnik circled the globe every 96 minutes, making 1,440 orbits around the Earth before beginning its re-entry. Sputnik broke up somewhere above the western United States. -
Sputnik 2
Sputnik 2 was the second spacecraft launched into Earth’s orbit, on November 3, 1957, and the first to carry a living animal, a dog named Laika. Sputnik 2 was a 4-meter (13 foot) high cone-shaped capsule with a base diameter of 2 meters (6.6 feet). It contained several compartments for radio transmitters, a telemetry system, a programming unit, a regeneration and temperature control system for the cabin, and scientific instruments. A separate sealed cabin contained the dog Laika. -
Lunar Buggy
The Lunar Buggy is 10 feet long and 6 feet wide. It weights about 462 pounds on earth, but because of the weight difference, it only weighs about 77 pounds on the moon. Only 2 people can ride on this contraption and it only goes around 7 miles per hour at the maximum. This invention was created by Eduardo San Juan. It helps the astronauts move around the moon easier, because using that long stride could tire you out pretty quickly. -
Canadarm 1
The first time the Canadarm flew was Nov. 13th. It is remote controlled from the spaceship so it can reach out, send out and bring back payloads. The arm is modeled after the human arm and has 6 joints, a shoulder, elbow and wrist. It is 15 meters long, (with all the attachments and weights about 450 kg. Although it can lift over 30 000 kg! -
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990. Now that we have this telescope installed in space, pictures are clearer than ever and it can capture images from the furthest edges of the universe. In fact, this telescope was so successful that they are planning to launch a new version, called the James Webb Space telescope on June 2013. -
International Space Station
The International Space Station or ISS is one of the most amazing inventions created by mankind. It circles the globe 16 times per day and moves about 28 000 km per hour! Its altitude is about 370 km from the earth and once it was completed, it is as long at a Canadian football field. -
Dextre
Dextre is only a nickname. His full name is Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator. Dextre is a robot used in space to fix and build things outside of the spaceship. It took almost 10 years to make and build him and cost $210 million dollars. -
Canadarm 2
The Canadarm 2 is a bigger, more advanced version of the Canadarm. How much bigger? On Earth it weights about 1640 kg while the Canadarm only weights 450 kg. Also it can lift up to 116 000 kg. It is 17.6 meters long and is used in construction jobs on the ISS.
