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Publication Of Principia
Astronomer Sir Issac Newton published the Phiosophae Naturalis Principa. This work highlighted histories laws of motion, including his law of universal gravitation . This is considered to be one of the most important works of art ever in the history of scientific discovery. -
Soviet Union Establishes First Rocket Society
The first rocket society the Soviet Union established was Society for the Study of Interplanetary Communications. -
First Liquid Rocket
Robert H. Goddard, a US rocket scientist, launched the first liquid fueled rocket. The four feet tall rocket was launched from his aunt's farm in Auburn Massachusetts. The rocket named "Nell", reached an altitude of 41 feet at a speed of around 60 mph.the flight lasted for 2 1/2 seconds. -
First Suborbital Flight
The V-2 rocket, designed by rocket scientist Wherner Von Braun, was launched by Germany. It was the first man-made spacecraft to acheive suborbital flight. It reached an altitude of 100 kilometers. -
First US High Altitude Flight
Using a rebuilt German V-2 rocket, launched from Proving Ground in New Mexico, the US military accomplishes its first high-altitude space flight, reaching an altitude of 70 miles. -
First American-Designed Rocket Reaches Space
The Wac Corporal was the US's first rocket to be launched that was designed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. After being launched from White Sands Proving Grond, New Mexico Wac Corporal covered 50 miles of altitude. -
First Animal In Space
The first animals to go to space were fruit flies. The V-2 rocket had several small glass bottles that contained fruit flies, rye seed, and cotton seed. Biologist Sharmila of NASA's Ames Research Center explained that fruit flies and humans are alike. Therefore, fruit flies were sent into space to be tested. What would happen to the human body if they stayed in space too long? -
First Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
The first intercontinental ballistic missile, named R7 Senyorka, was launched by the Soviet Union. It covered a distance of 6,000 kilometers. A modified version would be used to send the worlds first artificial satellite into orbit. -
First Artificial Satellite
The USSR launched the worlds first artificial satellite, Sputnik. It was able tokens radio signals back to earth. Sputnik was a major accomplishment despite its short timespan in space. -
Sputnik 1
The launching of Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union began the space 'war' with the United States. It was the first artifal satellite that was put into the Earth's orbit. It helped with the research of the atmosphere and travels at 18,000 mph and complete an orbit in 96.2 minutes. -
First Live Animal In Space
The Soviet Union Launched a spacecraft, Sputnik 2, that had a living dog named Laika. It was inside a pressured container that had a controlled atmosphere, food supply, waste collection and biological sensors. This proved that animals could go into space. -
Explorer 1
Explorer 1 was the first American satellite put into the earths orbit. It was launched after the Soviet's Sputnik 1 and 2. The satellite remained in orbit until 1970 and was the first to recorded the Van Allen radiation belt. It was the first of the 90 Explorer spacecraft series. -
NASA Formed
The National Areonautics and Space Administration (NASA) was formed by the United States during the space race for more aeronautics and aerospace research. It controls all missions and launches to space. -
Discoverer XIV Launched
The Discoverer 14 was the first satellite into space by comeing out of a moving spacecraft in orbit and then reattaching in mid-air. This satellite was successfully launched by the United States. -
First Man In Space (Russian)
Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space. He was sent by Russians on the Vostok 1 space craft. He then became a Soviet space hero, this helped to advance the Russians in space race. -
First American In Space
Soon after the Russians sent a man into outer space, the United States sent Alan Shepard. He was on board a tiny Mercury capsule by the name of Freedom 7. -
First Woman In Space (Russian)
Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in spaces end by the soviets on the Vostok 6 spacecraft. She was chosen to fly the spacecraft out of 400 other applicants. -
First Spacewalk
Alexey Lenov was the first man out in actual space. This Russian mission was supposed to be Vostok 11, but was cancelled and done on Voskhod 2. He was outside the space craft for 12 minutes and 9 seconds. Leonids space suit became inflated when he was trying to get back into the spacecraft. He was able to let air out and barely make it back. -
Apollo 8
Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon. It was a three man crew including Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders. The mission took three days and took 10 orbits in 20 hours. On Christmas Eve the crew read the first 10 verses of Genesis while broadcasting the view on television. -
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 was the first flight that took men to the moon and was a project of the United States. This was a great achievement because the US had reached the moon before the Soviets. -
Apollo 17s Return From The Moon
Apollo 17 was the last or most recent moon landing by the United States. The crew consisted of Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrision Schmitt. The mission took around 12 days and no one has returned to the moon since. -
First Spacecraft Beyond Neptune
Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to go beyond the orbit of Neptune. It was also the first spacecraft to pass by all of the other Solar System Planets. NASA conducted the spacecraft. -
First Unteatheared Space Walk
The spacecraft STS-41-B went to space carrying Bruce McCandless II became the first man to walk in space without being tethered to a spacecraft. -
Longest Human in Space
The spacecraft Mir carried Valerie Polyakovinto space. She stayed in space for 437.7 days before coming back to earth. -
Extrasolar Planets
The first planet discovered by another star was discovered in 1995. Since then 358 other extrasolar planets have been discovered. Although no earth like planets have been found yet, scientists say there's a good chance there's one out there. -
Building of International Space Station
With the first elements launched and joined in orbit in 1998, the ISS has had most of the human space missions with the United States and Russia. In 2001 there has been crews between 2-6 people aboard throughout the decade. -
Mars Exloration Rovers
The spirit rover landed on Mars in the Gusev crater. The rover has been operating on the surface, we have then found that Mars was a watery world. And that water may still be under its surface. This shows that the possibility of life could have been there. -
Kepler Mission
The first space telescope designated to search for earth like exoplanets. Then called the Kepler Mission. -
Space Food
The first food grown in space was lettuce. The lettuce was sucessfully grown and eaten this year. It was grown with the NASA program.
