Space Exploration

Sputnik Satellite October 4, 1957 The first artificial satellite in space Launched by Russia in 1957 The size of a beach ball and weighed 84 kilograms It orbited the earth in 98 minutes

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) NASA was created in 1958 to help the United States compete with Russia NASA is responsible for the science and technology related to air and space

First humans in space 1961 Yuri Gagarin, a Russian becomes first human in space Shortly after, Alan Shepard becomes first American in space Alan Shepard actually had control of his shuttle and landed with it safely

First people to orbit the moon 1968 Apollo 8 The trip took six days and they made 10 orbits around the Moon Took pictures of earth like the one on this slide

First manned Moon landing 1969 Apollo 11 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become first people to walk on the Moon “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”

First Rover on the Moon 1971 Apollo 15 They brought a small electric rover to the Moon Allowed them to travel further distances on the Moon

First landing on Mars 1976 Lander known as Viking 1 The Viking 1 lander was able to send pictures and chemical tests back to Earth

Voyagers 1 and 2 launched 1977 Sent on grand tour of the solar system Visited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune Still traveling through space almost 40 years later

First Space Shuttle Launch 1981 First Space Shuttle was called Columbia Spent two days orbiting earth, and then landed like a plane on a runway Columbia was reusable and went on 28 missions to space

Hubble Space Telescope launched 1990 The Hubble telescope is a large telescope that orbits Earth It can take images without interference from Earth’s atmosphere It gives us great images of space and allows us to learn a great deal