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Sputnik
Sputnik 1 was launched by the Soviet Union, begging the 'space age'. Spunik's goal was to study and give information about the earth's atmosphere. The man-made sattelite could orbit the earth in just 98 minutes. -
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The 'Space Age'
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Explorer
America's first spacecraft and sattelite, this began America's competetition in the 'space race'. It was made to test the radiation in the atmosphere. -
Gemini
Gemini was a 'stepping stone to the moon'. The US announced their naming of this goal: 1) To subject astronauts to long duration flights- a requirement for projected later trips to the moon or deeper space; 2) to develop effective methods of rendezvous and docking with other orbiting vehicles, and to maneuver the docked vehicles in space; 3) to perfect methods of reentry and landing the spacecraft at a pre-selected land-landing point. -
Mariner
Plans were made to explore the moon with the sattelite, when it went off-course and had to be shot down for safety concerns. The US's faulty rocket was re-used to transport other sattelites to space and re-launched on August 27, 1962. -
Skylab
Led to the International Space Station. Used to educate and teach. -
Apollo-Soyuz
The first international partnership in space to work together. Apollo-Soyuz was to disocver how to make a space rescue, and paved the way for further co-operation in space. -
Viking 01
Viking 01 was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars. It was sent by the US to explore the unknown planet. It was searching for support of life, and was looking to find:carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen and phosphorus, which were neccesary for life on Earth. -
The Pioneer Venus Project
The spacecraft's main purpose was to investigate solar winds on Venus. It studied the upper-atmospher and the ionosphere. It was launched by the US. -
Sources:
NASA. NASA, 31 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. -
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The Space Shuttle Era
NASA began to use re-usable spacecraft to access space. -
Challenger Failure
The STS-51 L, or the shuttle Challenger, was a faulty shuttle made by the US, that claimed lives. It signifies how deadly space exploration can be, and is known commonly today. -
Ulysses
NASA and European Space Agency joined to make Ulysses, a saattelite sent to study the Heliosphere and the sun's poles. It is the only sattelite to study the suns poles. -
NASA's Polar Mission
The Polar studies the aurora borealis and the elements to make up the beautiful natural occurence. It was sent by the US and still stands today. -
Aura
Aura was sent by the Americans to understand the ozone layer and get a grip on global warming. It allowed for studies on a way to get out of the greenhouse affect. After all, all life on earth could depend on how well we understand what is going because of us. -
Suzaku
The satellite was launched, and had a helium leak, therfor some of the systems on board do not function properly. This US satellite studies what it can in x-ray imagrey, and studying other stars/galaxies. -
Themis
The aurora can cause trouble for the people on Earth, but minor trouble. This US spacecraft was sent to study more on the mgnetoshpere and aurora. -
STS-135
The Final Voyage commensed, and this would be the end of space exploration, after nearly half a century of devoted work to get an idea of where we stand in our solar system. The mission gave spare parts and logistics to the ISS. It was also to understand what NASA could improve in any future shuttles.
