Timeline of Early Space Exploration

By Jp20018
  • Galileo Galilei's telescope

    Galileo Galilei's telescope

    The moon was first gazed upon by Galileo Galilei with the first ever invented telescope
  • First clear photograph of the moon

    First clear photograph of the moon

    John William Draper was the first to get a detailed picture of the moon. He used daguerreotypes to show new features of the moon's surface in the visible spectrum.

  • Multi-step stage and liquid fuel discovery

    A Russian school teacher, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, realized that in order for rockets to be successful, they needed to include multi-step stages and have liquid fuel. He sent space exploration into the course of action.
  • First liquid fueled rocket launched

    First liquid fueled rocket launched

    Robert Goodard launched the first liquid fueled rocket into space in Massachusetts.
  • First human made object lauched into space

    First human made object lauched into space

    Hermann Oberth lauched his own personal human-made object into space with the assistance of his students.

  • First German military liquid fuel rockets developed

    Walter Riedel created the first liquid fueled rockets, specifically used for military purposes during World War ll.
  • First picture taken from space

    First picture taken from space

    A group of scientists in the New Mexico desert area lauched a camera ,V-2 number 13, into space to take the first picture from space of Earth.
  • First ballistic missile

    First ballistic missile

    The Rusians in the USSR created the first ever military ballistic missle capable of going great distances with unbelievable accuracy.
  • First satellite lauched, beginning Space Race

    First satellite lauched, beginning Space Race

    The USSR, Soivet Union, lauched the first satellite into Earth's orbit, the Spunkik 1.
  • First animal lauched into space with second made artifical satellite

    First animal lauched into space with second made artifical satellite

    The USSA, Soviet Union, lauched their second satellite into space with the first animal, a dog named Laika.
  • First rocket lauched into Earth's orbit

    First rocket lauched into Earth's orbit

    The Soviet Union, USSA, launched the first ever rocket, Luna 1, into Earth's orbit.
  • First plant and animal returns to Earth intact

    First plant and animal returns to Earth intact

    The Soviet Union successfully put two muts, Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, and a couple of plants into orbit and back to Earth alive.
  • First Human Spaceflight

    First Human Spaceflight

    The Soviet Union put the first human, Yuri Gagarin, in space flying a spaceship manually, vs flying it remote controllably from Earth.
  • Close up pictures and encounter with planet Mars

    Close up pictures and encounter with planet Mars

    The Mariner 4 got within 9,846 km within Mar's surface and took the first close up pictures of Mars for the USA.
  • First impact into a planet

    First impact into a planet

    The USSR Venera 3, reached the surface of Venus!
  • First man on moon

    First man on moon

    The Apollo 11 successfully took Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to walk on the moon!
  • Phobos

    Phobos

    The Mariner 7 launched by NASA, found Mars's two natural satellites(moons) Phobos and Deimos. Phobos is the closest object to Mars that we know of, and even the closest satellite to its home planet.
  • First space station

    First space station

    The Salyut built by the USSR, was the first ever built space station. It was put in a low Earth orbit.
  • Closest fly-by of Sun

    Closest fly-by of Sun

    The closest ever fly-by of the Sun was done by the Helios 2 with NASA and West Germany(DFVLR). The space craft flew 43.432 km away from the Sun's surface at the maximum speed of 252,792 km/h.
  • First soil samples from another planet

    First soil samples from another planet

    The Viking Lander lauched by USA's NASA collected the first ever soil samples from another planet, Mars.
  • First successful reusable spacecraft

    First successful reusable spacecraft

    The mission STS-1 lauched by the USA, was the first reusable spacecraft that didn't burn up after entering Earth' atmosphere and was safe/intact to be used again.
  • First mission outside of our solar system and asteroid belt

    First mission outside of our solar system and asteroid belt

    NASA launched the Pioneer 10, and it successfully was the first spacecraft to travel outside of our solar system and transvers the asteroid belt.
  • First photograph of our entire solar system

    First photograph of our entire solar system

    NASA lauched space probe Voyager 1 into space and it successfully took a picture of our entire solar system.
  • Hubble Telescope

    Hubble Telescope

    NASA lauched their first ever space telescope into Earth's orbit on the Space Shuttle Diacovery mission.
  • First landing on an asteroid

    First landing on an asteroid

    NASA sent NEAR Shoemaker into outer-space and it successfully landed, making the USA the first to land on the asteroid, Erros.
  • Titan

    Titan

    The ESA, USA, and ASL(Italy) landed a space shuttle onto one of Saturn's moons, Titan. Scientists found possible signs of water on its surface.
  • Kelper Mission

    Kelper Mission

    NASA sent space telescope, known as Kelper Mission to be designated to finding other Earth-like exoplanets.
  • NASA Rover

    NASA Rover

    NASA sent a rover to Mars that successfully landed and is searching for life clues.
  • Ceres

    Ceres

    NASA was the first to put a spacecraft known as Dawn, in orbit between to celestial bodies, and into the asteroid belt to the dawf planet known as Ceres
  • First food grown and eaten from space

    First food grown and eaten from space

    NASA and JAXA(Japan) grew red romaine lettuce in a space station.