History of Space Exploration Feb 7, 1984: First Untethered Spacewalk

Event #1 Oct. 4, 1957: The Soviet Union launches a satellite into space named Sputnik 1. It was a very simple device that took measurements of the upper layer of the atmos- sphere and sent information by radio signals down to the planet. It orbited every hour- and-a-half before it re-entered the atmosphere and burned up 3 months after launching.

Event #2 November 3, 1957: Sputnik 2 is launched, and has a “pilot” on board—a dog named Laika (pronounced lye-ee-kuh). The sad part was that Laika was never recovered—there was no plan for the dog to ever land safely on Earth. It was thought to be able to live 10 days in space, but may not have lasted an hour because some of the life-support systems malfunctioned. 

Event #3 February 1, 1958: Explorer 1 is the USA’s first launched satellite to orbit Earth. It transmitted valuable new information about the protective magnetic field around Earth. It orbited for 12 years before crashing into the Ocean.

Event #4 March 17, 1958: Vanguard 1 is launched by America and is the first space technology to use solar panels. Here’s some impressive news: next to the Moon, Vanguard 1 is the oldest object to orbit Earth. Yep, it’s still out there! Because it’s solar power doesn’t run out, it provides a near-never-ending supply of data to scientists. It took large, powerful rockets to send this object into orbit.

Event #5 October 1, 1958: NASA was formed. NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA had several goals—continue to gather data about the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space, test new technologies for launching rockets, and of course—beat the Russians! President Eisenhower gets a lesson on space.

Event #6 April 12, 1961: Russia sends the first man into outer space…a guy named Yuri Gregarin. Wow, Russia has really been winning the “space race” so far. This is a big blow to the American scientists. Vostok 1 blasts off and Yuri returns nearly 2 hours later after completing one orbit.

Event #7 May 5, 1961: America sends its first astronaut into space, Alan Shepard. The mission is called Mercury Freedom 7. It lasted only 16 minutes and didn’t actually go in complete orbit around Earth.  Shepard was still hailed as a hero, and he later became the 5 th person to walk on the moon. It stung American scientists, though, that they lost the race to send a person into space by less than one month. Shepard on the navy ship that rescued him after his ocean splashdown.

Event #8 September 12, 1962: President Kennedy gave a historic speech at Rice University that America would go to the moon before the end of the decade. Kennedy stated, “We explore space not because it is easy but because it is difficult.”

Event #9 June 16, 1963 : The first woman in space, Valentia Tereshkova, blasted off in Russia on the Vostok 6. She recorded data about the atmosphere for 3 days before returning safely to Earth.

Event #10 March : Russia let one of their cosmonauts be the first to complete a Spacewalk, leaving the space ship for 12 minutes! They realized future missions would require working outside their spaceships. Alexei Leonov left the spaceship, Voskhod 2, attached to it by a tether cord. Cool. Except that his space suit inflated (due to outer space being a vacuum) and he almost wasn’t able to make it back inside the ship.

Event #11 July 20, 1969: The United States’ Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. America just jumped way ahead of Russia in the space race. Neil Armstrong utters the famous words, “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” ch?v=RMINSD7MmT4

Event #12 April 17, 1970: Apollo 13 crew lands safely in the Pacific Ocean after an oxygen tank on board blows up on the way to the moon. If you’ve seen the movie Apollo 13 starring Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon, you know that it’s a story of American brainpower and creativity overcoming horrible odds. NASA scientists in Houston worked tirelessly to bring the crew home safely. Through days of hard work, they succeeded. NASA scientists working frantically. The crew safe, at last.

Event #13 January 31, 1971: Faith in NASA is restored when Apollo 14 lands on the moon. Apollo 14 landed in the exact spot that Apollo 13 was supposed to explore. Alan Shepard leads this expedition, where millions of viewers watched on television as the astronauts played golf and threw javelins on the moon.

Event #14 July 26, 1971: The first manned Lunar Roving Vehicle is used by astronauts of Apollo 15. It allows astronauts to travel much further from the landing site on the moon. Lunar Rover was a four wheel drive vehicle that can carry 2 astronauts and supplies and was specially designed to drive on the lunar surface. A Lunar Rover (left behind each time) was also used on the Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 missions.

Event #15 May 14, 1973: Skylab, America’s First Space Station, was launched into space. Skylab used large solar panels to provide electricity for itself, and allowed other spacecraft to float near it and “dock.” This allowed crew members to enter Skylab and leave when they needed to. Three such dockings occurred. The Skylab experiment ended, but provided valuable information about the realism of life in space and the effects of microgravity. A docking pod, where crew from another space flight could enter Skylab.

Event #16 July 15, 1975: Apollo–Soyuz Test Project is the first International mission as a joint mission between America and Russia. The Space Race is pretty much done at this point. The Apollo and the Soviet ship fly into space and dock with each other allowing the American and Russian crew members to meet in space. Cool.

Event #17 August 12, 1977: Enterprise, the first space shuttle and first reusable spacecraft is successfully tested. Carried on the back of a much larger plane, the Enterprise “let go” and glided to a safe landing. Now NASA was confident that the shuttles could do missions on their own and perform a rolling landing.

Event #18 April 12, 1981: Columbia, the first space shuttle orbiter, blasted off into space The Columbia blasted off with the help of booster rockets, then landed on an Air Force base in California after 2 days in space.

Event #19 June 18, 1983: Sally Ride became the first American woman in space on the Challenger space shuttle. In 2001, she founded Sally Ride Science to motivate girls and young women to pursue careers in science, math, and technology !

Event #20 January 28, 1986: The space shuttle Challenger ended in tragedy 73 seconds into flight when it exploded and killed the entire crew. The mission was highly publicized because it was the first time a school teacher was allowed to travel in space, Christa McAuliffe. Analysis showed that a seal, called an O-ring, on the shuttle’s rocket booster failed at liftoff because of cold temperatures.

Event #21 April 25, 1990: The Hubble Space Telescope was launched by the shuttle Discovery. More than a single telescope, Hubble is an orbiting collection of instruments designed to view the universe free from interference from the Earth's atmosphere. This telescope has given us incredible images of events and objects far distant in the universe. It is still in orbit in space today!

Event #22 July 5, 1992: A new space shuttle, Endeavour, was launched into space. It was built as a better replacement to Challenger and the last space shuttle built!. Three crewmen space walked to grab a satellite that wasn’t responding to commands properly. After the longest space walk ever, the satellite was repaired and sent back into orbit mission. Endeavour was named through a national competition involving students in elementary and middle schools.

Event #23 November 20, 1998: First International Space Station Module Launched Another crowning achievement for modern scientists is a project worked on mainly by five nations—a space station appropriately named the International Space Station. Construction began in Shuttles fly crew and equipment to the space station frequently, where scientists stay for weeks at a time doing experiments in outer space. The I.S.S. is big enough to see without a telescope if you catch it at the right time of year at night. Pretty neat that it’s up there. Required for your project!

Event #24 February 1, 2003: The shuttle Columbia tragically broke apart during re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere. Sadly, all crew members were lost. Returning from a long, successful space flight, was cruising through the atmosphere preparing to land in Florida. Days before, during the launch of the shuttle, a piece of foam damaged the heat shield on one wing of the shuttle. It didn’t become a problem until the shuttle entered our atmosphere going around twenty times the speed of sound. The heat from friction with the air burst through the weak wing, and debris from the shuttle flying apart was found in several states, including in the DFW area!

Event #25 July 8, 2011: Space shuttle Atlantis is the final launch for NASA’s space shuttle program. The space shuttle program operated for 3 decades and more than 130 flights. What will be the future of space exploration? com/watch?v=so8ax V56ujY