Space exploration

By John B

  • First telescope

    First telescope
    Galileo Galilei invents the first telescope

  • The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices

    Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky publishes The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices. This is the first serious work to be published that shows space exploration to be theoretically possible.

  • Wac Corporal

    The United States launches its first American-designed rocket. Known as the Wac Corporal, the rocket reaches the edge of space at an altitude of 50 miles after being launched from the White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico.

  • Sputnik

    Sputnik is the first man made object to orbit earth launched by U.S.S.R

  • Sputnik 2

    Sputnik 2
    Sputnik 2 carries to first living thing to space. A dog named Laika.

  • Luna 1

    Luna 1, first man-made satellite to orbit the moon, is launched by the U.S.S.R.

  • Luna 9

    Soviet Luna 9 is the first spacecraft to soft-land on the moon.

  • Apollo 11

    Apollo 11
    Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr. make the first manned soft landing on the Moon, and the first moonwalk, using Apollo 11.

  • Viking 2

    Viking 2
    Viking 2 lands on Mars on the Plain of Utopia, where it discovered water frost.

  • Luna 9

    Pioneer 11 reaches Saturn, flying to within 13,000 miles and taking the first close-up photographs.

  • Columbia

    First Space Shuttle Launch: NASA debuts its manned cosmic commuter, the space shuttle, with the first-ever launch of Columbia. Commander John Young and pilot Robert Crippen spend two days in orbit around the Earth on the test flight and touch down, airplane-style, at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

  • Challenger STS-7

    Challenger STS-7
    Sally K. Ride is the first U.S. woman to travel in space, on Challenger mission STS-7.

  • Challenger STS-8

    Challenger STS-8
    Guion Bluford became the first African-American in space.

  • Manned Maneuvering Unit Challenger

    First Untethered Spacewalk: In the first test of NASA's new Manned Maneuvering Unit, a sort of rocket backpack designed to fit over the astronauts' normal spacesuits, astronaut Bruce McCandless exits the space shuttle Challenger without a safety line. In the course of putting the unit through its paces, he flies 320 feet (100 meters) away

  • Mars Pathfinder

    The Mars Pathfinder arrived on Mars and later began transmitting images.