Space Exploration Timeline

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 burned up 3 months after launch.

November 3, 1957 Sputnik 2 is launched, and everyone is stunned to see that this spacecraft has a “pilot” on board—a dog named Laika (pronounced lye-ee-kuh). The sad part was that Laika was never going to be 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 when some of the life-support systems malfunctioned. 

February 1, 1958 The Americans finally get in the act. 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.

March 17, 1958 America strikes again with Vanguard 1. Here’s some impressive news: next to the Moon, Vanguard 1 is the oldest object to orbit Earth. Yep, it’s still out there! This is the first space technology to use solar panels (instead of batteries that would run out after a few months) to power its instruments, providing a near-neverending supply of data to scientists. Right: It took large, powerful rockets to send any of these objects into orbit.

October 1, 1958 On October 1, 1958, a famous American agency was formed—NASA. 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.

April 12, 1961 Wow, Russia has really been winning the “space race” so far. This is a big blow to the American scientists—Russia sends the first man into outer space…a guy named Yuri Gregarin. On April 12, 1961, Vostok 1 blasts off and Yuri returns nearly 2 hours later after completing one orbit and parachuting from a few miles off the ground. Dang!

May 5, 1961 America strikes back, sending its first astronaut, Alan Shepard, into space. 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 5th 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.

June 16, 1963 Vostok 6 blasted off in Russia on June 16, 1963. On board was the first woman in space, so the Russians beat the Americans again. Her name was Valentia Tereshkova, and she recorded data about the atmosphere for 3 days before returning safely to Earth.

July 20, 1969 President Kennedy issued the challenge in 1962 that America NEEDED to go to the moon because it would be so hard to do so. And less than a decade later, we did. Nobody else has managed this feat. America just jumped way ahead of Russia in the space race. On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission lands on the moon, and Neil Armstrong utters the famous words, “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” This is awesome.

1973 NASA scientists had envisioned a permanent space station, and in 1973, Skylab began a 12-year experiment to see how practical the idea was. 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. A docking pod, where crew from another space flight could enter Skylab.

July 1975 July 1975 – The final Apollo mission was a good one. After nearly 20 years of outdoing each other, America and Russia agree to do a mission together. The Space Race is pretty much done at this point—we can be friends now. Apollo 18 and the Soviet ship Soyuz 19 fly into space and dock with each other—allowing the American and Russian crew members to meet in space.

January 28, 1986 Whoa. What just happened? Was that supposed to happen? On January 28, 1986, the shuttle Challenger lifted off, as planned. Kids all over America were gathered around televisions to watch the event live as it happened. It all changed as 73 seconds later, the shuttle blew up in mid-air, killing the crew and shocking the world.  Stunned silence just a minute later Clapping and cheering here…

April 24, 1990 NASA had two MAJOR incidents that shook America’s confidence in the space program. The explosions of Challenger and Columbia slowed down how often we went into space. Fortunately, one of the big achievements that happened after the Columbia disaster was the successful launching of the Hubble Space Telescope by the shuttle Discovery in This telescope has given us incredible images of events and objects far distant in the universe. One of the thousands of awesome images taken by the H.S.T.

November 20, 1998 Another crowning achievement for modern scientists is a project worked on mainly by five nations—a space station appropriately named the International Space Station. 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. Cool.

Create your own Space Exploration Timeline: Project

Useful Websites for Project http://www.spacekids.co.uk/spacehistory/ http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/space-exploration-timeline/ http://www.seasky.org/space-exploration/space-timeline-menu.html http://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/space-timeline.html