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Period: 476 to 550
Aryabhata
Aryabhata was an astronomer, a mathematician and a writer. He lived in India and his main contribution to astronomy was in his book, Aryabhatiya, where he predicted solar and lunar eclipses and he also stated that the movement of the heavens was due to the rotation of the earth, a theory that was ignored by most astronomers till about 1 000 years later. -
Period: Feb 19, 1473 to May 24, 1543
Nicolaus Copernicus
Copernicus lived in Poland and his main contribution to astronomy was bringing up the idea of a heliocentric model, a version of the universe where the Earth circled the Sun, which in turn circled the centre of our galaxy, which was only one of hundreds of millions of galaxys. This clashed with the regularly accepted geocentric model, in which the Earth was the centre of the universe. He would have been jailed had he not died shortly after releasing this idea. -
Period: Feb 15, 1564 to
Galileo Galilei
Galileo lived in Pisa, Italy and was the first person to raise a telescope to the heavens, where he studyed the moon's craters, discovered four of Jupiter's moons, observed a supernova, verifyed the phases of venus and discovered sunspots (cooler areas on the sun). His discoveries proved the Copernican system, where the earth is not in the centre of the universe (see Copernicus for more info). -
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Orginisation (CSIRO)
CSIRO began as the Australian government-funded Advisory Council of Science and Industry. It then became the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in 1926. Finally, after WW2, CSIR ceased all secret, or classified, research and got renamed CSIRO. CSIRO owns a large amount of radio telescopes which it uses to study space outside our galaxy. They help fund radio telescope arays which are used to see further into space or larger amounts of space at once. -
First animals in space were: Fruit Flies!
The first animals in space were Fruit Flies, launched in a US V2 rocket. The main purpose of this launch was to see the effects of radiation at high altitudes. The rocket reached 109.4 km in 3min 10sec and the Fruit Flies were recovered alive. -
Lakia
Lakia was a stray from the streets of Moscow but one day she was taken off to be trained and eventually become the first dog to orbit the earth. The rocket she flew in, however, wasn't up to the flight so in the first few hours outside the atmosphere, Lakia died. -
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
NASA is the main USA organisation for space travel. They make and use rockets, shuttles, satellites, landers and rovers. They also store almost all of the world's knowledge about the universe. Their vision (as stated on the official NASA website) is "to reach for new heights and reveal the unknown so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind". To do this, thousands of people, on and off the Earth, are working on experiments to answer questions about space. -
Period: to
Apollo Program
There were 17 Apollo rockets. The aim of the Apollo program was to land man on the moon. The first lander to successfully complete that mission was Apollo 11. Before Apollo 11 there were many orbits of the moon (and failed take-offs) but no landings. However, after Apollo 11 all but one (Apollo 13 which entered low orbit) landed on the moon. -
First Mars landing
The first Mars successful landing was Mars 3, however communications were lost seconds after touchdown. The Orbital portion of the probe returned data for months after. -
Period: to
Shuttle Program
The Shuttle Program consisted of a series of low-orbital (orbiting at a low altitude) space-craft that helped with many things including launching many satellites and interplanetry (between 2 planets) probes, launching the Hubble Space Telescope and carrying parts of the ISS into orbit. The space shuttles were different because they were shaped like planes and so you could land and reuse them. There were originally 4 shuttles bet another was made shortly after the destruction of Challenger. -
Space Shuttle Challenger's last launch
Challenger was special mainly because not only did it have the most uses but it shared it's name with the HMS Challenger and the Apollo 17 lunar module, which was also named Challenger. The shuttle Challenger had 11 planed missions but only completed 9 as it burned-up shortly after launch for it's 10th mission. An o-ring seal failed causing the daeth of 7 astronauts. Challenger was also special because it was the only shuttle to be replaced, it's replacement being the space shuttle Endeavour. -
Last sighting of Halleys comet
Halley's comet is a periodic comet which means it comes back to the sun over and over and over, in this case every 75 years, making it posible to see it twice in your lifetime. Halley's comet is named after an English astronomer, Edmund Halley, who guessed that the three comets that were sighted in 1531, 1607 and 1682 were actually one comet that returned over and over and also predicted it would return again in 1758. Halley didn't live to see it return but his prediction was correct. -
ISS (International Space Station)
The ISS is a laboratory, exploration center, a school and a place to provide cultural outreach. The continuous flow of astronauts/cosmonauts (russian astronauts) that have lived on the ISS since November 2nd 2000 have helped make a record by creating the longest continuous occupation of space by humans: 14 years and counting! -
Pluto no longer a Planet
Pluto is no longer a planet as the majority of astronomers voted for a change in the definition of a planet. The new classification for a planet states that a planet must be large enough to be rounded by it's own gravity and must 'sweep up' the debris in it's orbit. This meant that Pluto would no longer classify as a planet as while it may fit the first rule it's orbit is coated with asteroids and other debris.
