SPACE EXPLORATION TIMELINE

By : Linley Murdock

1900

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was the,"Father of Russian astronautics", an inventor, the founder of the theory of jet movement, the world famous author of "Investigation of Outer Space by Means of Reaction Apparatus".Still, rockets were the only credible way of reaching distant space. He was the visionary who realized this.Konstantin Tsiolkovsky lived from 1857 to 1935 He was a Russian teacher who enthusiastically promoted spaceflight and wrote books on the subject, long before the idea received serious consideration.

 1914

Goddard's Rocket Patents U.S. rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard receives two landmark patents for rockets. The first described a multi-stage rocket and the second described a rocket fueled with gasoline and liquid nitrous oxide. These two patents would become major milestones in the history of rocketry.

March 16, 1926

First Liquid Fueled Rocket Launched 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.

1930The V-2 Spacecraft was

developed in the beginning of WWII. The Germans designed the spacecraft .

1944The first sub-orbital

spaceflight was in 1944. Which was a V-2 rocket launched from Germany. It reached 189 kilometers altitude.

May 24, 1954

The Viking spacecraft reached 159 mi above the Earth. It was a unmanned spacecraft used on the surface of Mars to search for evidence of past, present, and potential future life on Mars. It reached a altitude record for single staged rockets.

October 4,1957

USSR beat the US to launching the first artificial satellite. Sputnik transmitted radio signals back to earth for only a short time, but it was a major accomplishment.

January 31, 1961

The Redstone Rocket lifted January 31,1961. The flight of this craft tested the rocket, the capsule and the ability to work in space and return safely, in preparation for the first American astronaut's journey into space. Mercury-Redstone 2 carried a chimpanzee named Ham and helped to confirm that humans could safely make the trip. It was done by the US.

April 12, 1961

First Man in SpaceRussian 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 minutes

1967

During 1966 and 1967 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft to obtain photographs from orbit of the surface of the Moon. The reconstructed photographs and support data are now on file at the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC), Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

July 20, 1969

First Manned Moon LandingApollo 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

July 20, 1969

First Manned Moon LandingApollo 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

April 19, 1971First Space Station

The Salyut 1 space station is launched by the U.S.S.R. It remains in orbit until May 28, 1973.

November 13, 1971

First Spacecraft to Orbit Another PlanetAmerican space probe Mariner 9 (launched May 30, 1971) is the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, Mars. Over the next year, it maps 100 percent of the Martian surface.

1972

Apollo 16 was the 10th manned mission in the Apollo program. The mission was launched on April 16,1972. It featured a Lunar Rover and it brought back 94.7 kg of lunar samples. On the way to the moon the Apollo 16 astronauts took several photos of Earth.

May 14, 1973

First U.S. Space StationThe United States launches Skylab, the first U.S. space station. It will be occupied by three crews and be an important arena for a number of scientific experiments.

May 25, 1973

First Skylab CrewThe United States launches Skylab 2, carrying the first crew to visit Skylab. The crew repairs damage sustained by Skylab station during its launch.

July 20, 1976First Surface Images of Mars

The first pictures of the surface of Mars are sent back to Earth by Viking 1, the first U.S. spacecraft to successfully land a on another planet.

1979

In 1979 the Skylab took the image of the suns corona. The purpose was to serve as a libratory for scientific experiments. Also to do micro-gravity research and function as a lab of Earths orbit.

1981

On April 12, 1981, a bright white Columbia roared into a deep blue sky as the nation's first reusable Space Shuttle. Named after the first American ocean vessel to circle the globe and the command module for the Apollo 11 Moon landing, Columbia continued this heritage of intrepid exploration. The heaviest of NASA's orbiters, Columbia weighed too much and lacked the necessary equipment to assist with assembly of the International Space Station. Despite its limitations, the orbiter's legacy is one of groundbreaking scientific research and notable "firsts" in space flight.

1983

Space shuttle Challenger was NASA’s 2nd space shuttle to be put into service. The shuttle was built by Rockwell International Space Transportation Systems in Downey, CA. It’s first flight was in April 4, 1983. It completed nine missions before breaking apart after the launch of it’s tenth mission, on January 28th, 1986. It took a photo of Australia.

February 20, 1986

Mir Station LaunchedThe first phase of the Mir space station is successfully launched and placed into Earth orbit

April 24, 1990

Launch of Hubble Space TelescopeSpace 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

December 7, 1995

Galileo was launched on October 18,1989. It is a spacecraft that was carried into space by the shuttle Atlantis. It traveled by Venus once and Earth twice. It had 2 passes through the asteroid belt. Its mission was to study temp., pressure and composition of cloud layers. It arrived December 2, 1995. Its destination was Jupiter. It was named in honor of Galileo Galilei, the Italian renaissance scientist who discovered Jupiter's major moons in 1610. It was the first space craft to encounter an asteroid and to take a picture of a asteroids moon. It was sent by NASA.

1996

The Mars Pathfinder launched on Mars and released the “Rover”. It was launched by NASA , it descended to the Martian surface in July 1997 using parachutes, rockets, and airbags. It then released instruments, including a small, 6-wheeled robotic rover, which explored 1600ft from the Pathfinder and sent back pictures for over a month. The main purpose was to prove that low cost Mars landings and explorations are feasible.

November 20, 1998

ISS First Module LaunchedA Russian Proton rocket is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the steppes of the Asian nation of Kazakstan. This rocket carries the Russian0built Zarya Control Module, the first component of the new International Space Station (ISS).