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Galileo publishes his first observations
In his first year of observation Galileo noticed that, Venus has phases like our moon, found Jupiters four largest moons, many new stars, and strengthened the Heliocentric theory because he said that contrary to popular belief at that time, the earth and planets rotate around the sun. -
William Moore publishes book
William Moore, a British mathematician, publishes a book on rocket mechanics based off of Newton's third law. -
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky publishes book
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky publishes the book, The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices. This is the first serious work showing space exploration is possible. -
Robert Goddard launches rocket
Robert Goddard launches his first liquid fueled rocket, this is significant because solid fuel couldn't allow a rocket to escape earths atmosphere. -
First suborbital space flight
The German made rocket, the V-2, is launched and achieves the first man made object to fly in suborbital space. -
First US rocket to reach space
At the White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico, the first US rocket named Wac corporal, reached space. -
First animals in space
A couple vials of fruit flies were flown into space in a V-2 rocket at the height of 60 miles. Later the vials were recovered intact. -
First intercontinental ballistic missle
Soviet Union launches the R-7 Semyorka and traveled 3,728 miles. -
First artificial satellite
USSR launches Sputnik 1 into space and it transmits radio signals back for a short time. -
First live animal in space
Sputnik 2 launched with a dog inside a pressurized capsule called Laika. Laika survived for 8 days until food and water supply ran out. -
First US satellite launched
The first US satellite, Explorer 1, made by the California Institute of Technology, was launched into space. -
First live animals to return from space
Soviet Union launches Sputnik 5, carrying dogs Strelka and Belka, they returned from space alive. -
First man in space
Yuri Gagarin, a Russian cosmonaut, becomes the first man in space. -
First American in space
Alan Shepard becomes first American in space. -
First man to be in orbit
John Glenn is first man to in orbit. -
First woman in space
Valentina Nikolayeva Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space. -
First spacecraft to land on moon
Luna 9, a Russian spacecraft, was the first spacecraft to land on the moon -
First man to walk on the moon
Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon. -
US launches first space station
US launches its first space station, Skylab. -
Voyager 2 launched
Voyager 2 is launched, this will lead to many high definition pictures of planets. -
US Voyager 1 launched
Voyager 1 launched, this would lead to many high definition pictures of planets and their moons. -
First space shuttle launched
Columbia became the first space shuttle launched. -
First American woman in space
Sally Ride, on the second Challenger mission, became the first American woman to be in space. -
Discovery is launched
The third space shuttle, Discovery is launched. -
Voyager 2 reaches Neptune
Voyager 2 reaches and starts taking images of Neptune. -
Hubble space telescope
The space shuttle Discovery deploys the Hubble space telescope. -
Mars pathfinder
Mars pathfinder arrives on Mars and begins taking images of the surface. -
Kepler spacecraft is launched
Kepler spacecraft is launched, its mission, is to find planets outside our solar system. -
SpaceX
The company SpaceX launched a spacecraft and returned it to earth. This is the first non-government funded space travel. -
Voyager 1 reaches interstellar space
Voyager 1 reaches interstellar space.
