Space Exploration Timeline

By al19285

  • Galileo bulids the first telescope

    Galileo is the founder and inventor of the very first telescope

  • Galileo looks at the moon

    Galileo is the first to see the moon through a telescope

  • Galileo Discovers Jupiters 4 moons1 Jan 1610

    Galileo found Jupiters 4 moons:Lo, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

  • Russian space station launches rocket

    The Soviet Uniion launches their very first rocket.

  • Two dogs are launched into space

    Malyshka and Linda (from Russia) are the first dogs to be launched into outer space.

  • First Artificial Satellite

    The Soviet Union ushers in a new era—the space age—with the launch of Sputnik 1. A technological feat, the beach ball-size satellite weighs 184 pounds (84 kilograms) and takes 98 minutes to orbit Earth. The launch grabs the world's attention—and catches the U.S. off-guard. The first successful American satellite doesn't get off the ground until January 31, 1958.

  • First Animal in Orbit

  • First Successful American Satellite

    Launched less than two months after Vanguard 1A, the first American attempt to compete with Sputnik, blows up on the launchpad, Explorer 1 (officially called Satellite 1958 Alpha) achieves an orbit extending an astonishing 1,560 miles (2,500 kilometers) above the Earth. This leads to the first great scientific discovery of the space age, when instruments designed by Iowa physicist James Van Allen find the radiation belts now named in his honor. The 31-pound (14-kilogram) satellite transmits unti

  • NASA Signed Into Law

    Fearful that Soviet successes in space mean the U.S. is losing the Cold War, congressional leaders, including future President Lyndon B. Johnson, quickly write the National Aeronautics and Space Act. The act creates a civilian agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to assume many of the duties (and 8,000 employees) of the pre-existing National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics. The new agency, which will come to symbolize the U.S. side of the space race, begins operatio

  • First Human in Space

    After several unsuccessful (and apparently fatal) attempts at manned flight, the Soviet Union launches cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin on a 108-minute flight. Gagarin becomes the first to successfully orbit the globe, circling once at a peak altitude of about 200 miles (320 kilometers) above Earth. His spaceship, however, is not designed to land at a safe speed, so on the descent, Gagarin jumps out and parachutes the final few thousand meters. It will be years before the Russians admit that he did not

  • First American in Space

    Determined to keep up with the Russians, the U.S. launches astronaut Alan Shepard on a 15-minute suborbital flight. In a first not realized until years later, Shepard rides the capsule all the way back down, a feat made easier by the U.S. decision to conduct splashdowns in the Atlantic, rather than the difficult terrestrial landings made by the Russians. Unlike Gagarin, who was merely a passenger, Shepherd gets to pilot his Mercury capsule.

  • First American in Orbit

    In a mission that at one point looks like it might end in disaster, astronaut John H. Glenn orbits the Earth three times in a nearly five-hour flight. On the descent there appears to be a problem with his Mercury capsule's heat shield, raising the specter that the spacecraft might burn up. But the shield remains in place, and Glenn successfully splashes into the Atlantic. He carries a small National Geographic Society flag with him on the mission.

  • First Spacewalk

    Knowing future missions will require astronauts to work outside their spaceships, Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov exits his Voskhod 2 capsule for a 12-minute spacewalk. His spacesuit, it is later revealed, balloons oddly from air pressure, and Leonov must vent air to counteract the problem. He also has extreme difficulty getting his tall body back into the small airlock. Then, the spacecraft lands hundreds of miles off course, and he and Commander Pavel I. Belyayev spend a full day in Russia's n

  • First U.S. Space Tragedy

    As the U.S. is gearing up for its three-man Apollo moon missions, a fire breaks out in a routine ground test. Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee are killed, as the blaze, ignited by faulty wiring, spreads with incredible speed in the Apollo 1 module's 100-percent-oxygen atmosphere. The tragedy is the first in the U.S. manned space program, but the Soviet Union had a similar disaster in 1961, not publicly revealed. Future Apollo missions use a different, less flammable, atmospher

  • First Manned Apollo Mission

    With time running out on President John F. Kennedy's pledge to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, U.S. confidence is boosted by Apollo 7, the first Apollo mission to get astronauts off the ground. (Other missions had been tests.) In 163 circuits of the Earth in nearly 11 days, astronauts Walter Schirra, Jr., Donn Eisele, and Walter Cunningham practice docking maneuvers and verify that the spacecraft can hold up for a moon mission. They also carry a TV camera for the first live broad

  • First Manned Moon Orbital Launch

    In a six-day flight culminating with a televised Christmas Eve reading from the Book of Genesis, Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, Jr., and William Anders become the first to leave the gravitational influence of the Earth. In ten orbits of the moon they give an enormous boost to the nascent environmental movement by snapping stunning photos of the Earth—a blue-and-white marble rising above the stark lunar surface. The launch is the first manned test of the Saturn V rocket.

  • First Manned Moon Landing

    The lunar module of Apollo 11, nicknamed the Eagle, touches down on the moon, with 30 seconds' worth of fuel to spare. Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr., descend to the surface. "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind," Armstrong says. "Beautiful. Beautiful. Magnificent desolation," Aldrin adds. The astronauts collect 46 pounds (21 kilograms) of lunar rock material, deploy scientific instruments, and return to Earth on July 24, where they are immediately quaranti

  • Launch of Apollo 13

    Intended to make the third lunar landing, Apollo 13 is most of the way to the moon when an explosion in its service module oxygen tanks cripples it. Astronauts James Lovell, Jr., John Swigert, Jr., and Fred W. Haise, Jr., use the lunar module as a lifeboat, slingshot around the moon, and return safely to Earth. "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here," Swigert famously says in announcing the explosion. Within nine months NASA launches Apollo 14 to successfully complete the mission intended for

  • First Occupation of Space Station

    After an earlier attempt that failed due to a jammed hatch, three cosmonauts from the Soviet Union's Soyuz 11 mission successfully board the Salyut 1 space station. Their 24-day mission conducts scientific experiments and sets a new endurance record for space travel. Tragically, a failed valve causes the Soyuz craft to vent air on the return home, and on June 29, all three cosmonauts die. No more missions are sent to the Salyut station.

  • First Rover on the Moon

    Apollo 15 carries an electric cart, like a stripped-down, foldable golf cart, to the moon. The rover, capable of carrying two astronauts plus supplies, greatly extends their exploration range. Astronauts David Scott and James Irwin are the first drivers, putting 17 miles (27 kilometers) on the moon buggy. Because of the risk of being stranded without air, the astronauts are not permitted to drive father than the "walk-back" distance from their lunar module.

  • First American Space Station Launched

    Skylab is launched on what will prove to be a six-year mission. Three crews totaling nine astronauts occupy the station in 1973 and 1974, conducting astronomical experiments and making spacewalks to repair a damaged solar panel and rig a sunshade to keep the station from overheating. Skylab plunges to Earth on July 11, 1979, generating fear in people of being struck by falling debris. Nobody is hit, but one Australian town fines the U.S. $400 for littering.

  • First International Space Rendezvous 

    U.S. and Russian astronauts practice détente in space. In a mission called the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (or Soyuz-Apollo Test Project, depending on point of view), crews from Apollo 18 and Soyuz 19 meet in Earth orbit, shake hands on live TV, and spend two days together. On the return, failure to throw a switch causes the American capsule to fill with lung-searing thruster-propellant fumes, but the astronauts suffer no permanent harm. It is the last U.S. manned mission for six years.

  • First U.S. Mars Landing

    Viking 1 soft-lands on Mars. Pictures show a stark, rocky landscape much like some Earthly deserts, and chemical tests designed to search for life show anomalies in the soil that have yet to be fully explained. The lander remains operational until late 1982, when transmissions and communications end. Meanwhile, the Viking 1 orbiter operates for two years, snapping photos of the surface, including the famous "Face on Mars," an odd-shaped hill that provides fodder for many tabloid headlines.

  • Voyagers 1 and 2 Launched

    NASA launches two spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, on a grand tour of the solar system. Thanks to a rare alignment of the planets, the spacecraft can slingshot from one world to another, gaining speed as they pass. Voyager 1 visits Jupiter, Saturn, and Saturn's moon Titan. Voyager 2 visits Uranus and Neptune. Thirty years later, nearing interstellar space, both continue to provide data, having traveled father than any other manmade objects. On each, a golden record album tells of humans, Ear

  • 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.

  • First Operational Space Shuttle Mission

    After four test flights in 1981 and 1982, the first space shuttle, Columbia, carries a crew of four—the largest crew ever to be launched into space on a single vehicle—on its first true mission. In its five-day mission, the shuttle deploys two commercial satellites, another first.

  • First American Woman in Space

  • First Untethered Spacewalk

  • Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion

  • Mir Space Station Launched

  • Hubble Space Telescope Deployed

  • Pathfinder Probe Landing on Mars

  • John Glenn's Return to Space

  • Loss of Space Shuttle Columbia

  • Spirit Rover Landing on Mars

  • Opportunity Rover Landing on Mars

  • First Manned Private Spaceflight

  • Arrival of Cassini Spacecraft at Saturn

  • January 14, 2005: First Landing on Other World's Moon

  • First Landing on Titan

  • First Impact With a Comet

  • First Space Launch After Columbia Disaster

  • First Orbit with Mercury

  • First probe to Land on a Comet