'Buzzing' Through Space
By: Stephanie You
1/7/1610- Galileo discovers Jupiter's Moons
There are 4 moons of Jupiter, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. They're all called the Galilean moons, named after Galileo himself.
10/4/1957- Sputnik 1 is launched
Sputnik 1 was the world's first artificial satellite, about the size of a beach ball. This was launched by the USSR during the Cold War, because they wanted to be the first people in the world to create a satellite that could orbit earth.
11/3/1957- Sputnik 2 was launched with a dog
During the Cold War, USSR was the first country to take a dog with them to space. Unfortunately, the dog didn't survive the journey.
8/19/1960- Sputnik 5 was launched
In August 1960, the aircraft Sputnik 5 was launched. It carried two dogs inside, and the dogs made it through the voyage safely. It was during the Cold War, when USSR wanted to prove that they could be the first country to send dogs to space safely.
These were the dogs that were in Sputnik 5.
4/12/1961- Yuri Gagarin is the first man in space
Yuri Gagarin, a Russian cosmonaut, was the first man in space. This was also part of the Cold War. USSR wanted to be the first to let a person into space.
5/5/1961- Alan Shepard is the first American to go to space
Alan Shepard was the second man ever to go to outer space. His take off day was merely a month after Gagarin's take off. Shepard's take off was cancelled twice because of bad weather conditions.
2/20/1962- John Glenn became first American in orbit
In February 1962, John Glenn, an astronaut, became the first American in orbit. This meant that John Glenn rotated around the Earth.
6/16/1962- Valentina Nikolyeva Tereshkova became the first Russian woman in space.
Valentina Nikolayeva Tereshkova was an cosmonaut who was the first Russian woman and first woman in the whole world in space. This happened during the Cold War, where USSR wanted to prove that they could send the first woman in space.
3/18/1965- Alexei Leonov became the first man to walk in space
Alexei Leonov became the first man to walk in space, of course, chained up to his spacecraft. This was part of the Cold War, and the Russians wanted to prove that they could send the first person to walk in space, which was a successful attempt.
7/14/1965- Mariner 4 transmitted the first pictures of Mars
In July of 1965, the spacecraft Mariner 4 transmitted the first pictures of Mars. This spacecraft was designed to transmit these photos of Mars to the Earth.
2/3/1966- Russian spacecraft Luna 9 became the first to land on the moon
Although Neil Armstrong was the first man to land on the moon, Luna 9 was the first spacecraft that landed on the moon. Nobody dared come out of that spacecraft and step out, though, or else the U.S wouldn't be marked as the first country to let a man step on the moon.
7/20/1969- Neil Armstrong is the first man to land on the moon
Neil Armstrong, an astronaut, became the first man that ever landed on the moon. This event also took place during the Cold War. The US wanted to be the first to let a person land on the moon, and their attempt was successful. Neil Armstrong also planted a flag on the moon, to mark his success.
"That's one small step for a man, one giant step for mankind." --Neil Armstrong
6/18/1983- Sally Ride is the first american woman to go to space
Sally Ride was an astronaut, famous because she was the first American woman to ever go in space. Although the Americans didn't send the first woman to space (in the whole world), this was still a great achievement to them.
2/20/1986- Mir was launched
Mir is a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986, when it was launched, to 2001. Mir was first owned by the Soviet Union, and then Russia.
1990s- Work on construction of the International Space Station (ISS)
There is no exact date which the construction of ISS started, but we can tell from our current sources that it has been underway since the 1990s. Zarya, the first ISS module, was launched by a proton rocket on 11/20/1998. Then the construction took the ISS into a whole new level, turning it bigger and adding new technology to it.
This is the ISS as of October 16, 2002.
2/1/2003- Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster
As the Columbia (rocket's name) launched, a piece of foam insulation broke off, and stuck the left wing of the orbit, but the members thought it would be okay, and the launch of it went quite well.
When Columbia re-entered the earth's atmosphere, the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to destroy the internal wing structure, which caused the rocket to disintegrate, killing all seven members on board.
The picture above shows the crew of Columbia.
8/25/2003- NASA launched it's largest diameter telescope
The Spitzer Space Telescope was launched by NASA in 2003, and it is currently is orbiting the same way that the Earth is rotating the Sun.
7/1/2004- The Cassini spacecraft sends back pictures of Saturn's rings
The Cassini spacecraft was sent to Saturn and it was to take pictures of Saturn's rings. In fact, this is still continuing today, and this spacecraft is still in outer space, transmitting pictures of Saturn to Earth.
11/27/2011- NASA sends curiosity to examine mars
NASA sends Curiosity, a robot, that's highly equipped with technology to examine another planet. It has arrived in Mars in 2012 and transmitted pictures of Mars to Earth.
8/6/2014- Rosetta lands on comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
As ESA's official website states, "ESA’s Rosetta mission has soft-landed its Philae probe on a comet, the first time in history that such an extraordinary feat has been achieved."
After a wait of 7 hours, the descent to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a touchdown was finally made.
FUTURE EVENTS
January 2017-
The ESA's new solar orbiter, SOLO, will orbit the sun.
December 2017-
The first flight of NASA's Space Launch System Project, will take an unmanned flight around the moon.