Circa 130 B.C. World's First Accurate Star Map Discovered by Hipparchus Equipment/Technology: His own knowledge of mathematics and observations of movements of the stars 1
1609 Galielo and the Telescope Discovered by Gailieo Galilei Equipment/Technology: Making improvements on the first telescope, was able to magnify objects 3 30 times; used this telescope to discover 4 of Jupiter's moons, the cycles of the Venus, and was one of the first to study sunspots 2
October 4, 1957 Soviet Union launches first artificial satellite called Sputnik. It is the 1st to orbit Earth. Satellite about 58 cm in diameter, about 83.6 g weight, travelled 29,000 km/hour (96 minute orbit), beeping radio beacon Less than one month later they launch Sputnik 2 with a dog named Laika 3
January 31, 1958 Two months after 2nd Soviet satellite is launched, US Navy tried to launch satellite called Vanguard rocket. To the embarrassment of U.S. it only rose 1 meter into air and then exploded. Explorer 1 America launches its 1st successful satellite called Explorer 1. 4
October 1, 1958 NASA is BORN a t i o n a l e r o n a u t i c s p a c e d m i n i s t r a t i o n 5
April 1, 1960 Tiros I, the 1st weather satellite is launched by U.S. 6
April 12, 1961 Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, became first human to orbit Earth in a USSR developed spacecraft called Vostok 1 Once again Soviets beat U.S. May 5, 1961 Alan Shepard became the 1st American in space. It only lasted about 15 minutes. 7
May 25, 1961 President Kennedy announces much to everyone's surprise he wants to go to the moon. U.S. hadn't even reached Earth's orbit American people accepted challenge 8
July 20, 1969 Apollo 11 makes soft landing on the moon with Moon lander, "Eagle". Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are 1st humans to set foot in another world. Commander Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon. He said the historic words, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." 9
April 19, 1971 Soviets became the 1st to place a manned space station in low Earth orbit. May 14, 1973 Skylab was U.S. first space station Skylab began to decay in 1979 much of debris fell in Indian Ocean and in Australian Outback 10
Sept. 5, 1977 Present NASA developed Voyager 1 Space Probe Equipment/Technology: U.S. robotic space probe, 722 kg, farthest man made object in space, first to leave our solar system detailed photo study of Jupiter/Saturn systems, also carries a golden record with details of life on Earth in case it is discovered by intelligent life 11
July 17, 1975 American and Soviet space craft dock together proving they could work together peacefully in space. 12
space travel.notebook April 12, 1981 1st reusable space vehicle, the space shuttle, Columbia, is launched. It takes off like a rocket and lands like a plane. 13
January 28, 1986 Tragedy struck when space shuttle Challenger exploded just after takeoff. All 7 astronauts were killed including Christa McAuliffe, who would have been 1st teacher in space. All space shuttle flights were grounded until 1988. 14
April 24, 1990 1st space telescope, Hubble Space Telescope is launched with space shuttle Discovery. Equipment/Technology: array of cameras capable of taking photos such as the deepest look into the universe. Allows scientists to take sharp images of distant objects in space 15
International Space System (ISS) 16
International Space System (ISS) 1998 2012 American, European, Japanese, and Russian space programs Largest artificial satellite to orbit Earth, can be seen from the ground with naked eye, has a micro gravity environment for carryout research. 17
July 4, 1997 The Mars Pathfinder probe lands on surface of Mars. A small robotic rover examines the terrain sending images of the planet's surface. 18
2010 testing, future flights Virgin Galactic Commercial Space Flight Who: Richard Branson, Virgin Group Equipment/Technology: $200,000 per ticket, 6 passenger, 2 pilot craft, Spacecraft Two is carried atop a carrier aircraft called White Knight II, will go 100 km into space for 6 minutes of weightlessness 19