History of Space Exploration Earth Science Mrs. Baker

Sputnik I October 4, 1957 First artificial satellite to orbit Earth About 183 pounds; size of a basketball Took 98 minutes to orbit Earth

Yuri Gagarin First man in space A Russian cosmonaut April 12, 1961 Orbited Earth once in 108 mintutes Vostok; weighed over five tons Was completely ground-contolled

Project Mercury 1959 United States begins a race for the moon. Chose 7 astronauts to begin the United States Space Program

Alan Shepard 1961, Alan Shepard becomes first American in space. May 5,1961 “shot into space” in Freedom 7

John Glenn 1962, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth. February 20, 1962 In Friendship 7, he orbited Earth three times (about 81,000 miles) in 4hr 55 min. U. S. Senator

Project Gemini 2 nd phase of U.S. race to the moon Teams of astronauts met and connected with orbiting spacecraft Studied the effects of space travel on humans Unoccupied space probes studied the moon.

Project Apollo Final phase in U.S. race to the moon Apollo was a three-part spacecraft with a command module, service module, and a lunar module. The project lasted from Eleven manned flights with six lunar landings.

Apollo 11 July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first two people to set foot on the moon.

Lunar Rover

“One small step for man; one giant leap for mankind”

Current Space Exploration Space shuttle—reusable spacecraft for transporting people, satellites, and other materials to and from space –Launched like a rocket (on end) –Glides back to Earth like an airplane

Space Stations—permanent places for humans to live and work in space –U.S. Skylab ( ) –Soviet Mir ( ) –Now, International Space Station (ISS) has the support and cooperation of 16 countries Crew Says Goodbye to Discovery Visitors

Future of Space Exploration Mars Exploration Moon Exploration Next Generation Telescope –Has been names the James Webb Space Telescope after a NASA administrator –Is being assembled now in Huntsville, AL –Hoped to launch as early as 2014—didn’t make it –To study first stars and galaxies in the universe –Able to see objects 400 x fainter that the best of modern telescopes