Privatization of the space program and the U.S. space program

By camilla.mincey

  • First Telescopic Observation of the Night Sky

    Jupiter's moons were discovered, as well as the phases of Venus

  • First Telescopic Photograph

    First clear photo of the Moon
  • Period: to

    Timeline

  • Goddard Launches the First Liquid-Fueled Rocket

  • First Space Research Flight

    This was the first space research flight that was for cosmin radiation experiments.

  • First Animals in Space

    Fruit Flies were the first animlas to be in sapce.

  • First Artificial Satellitle

    First Artificial Satellitle

  • First probe launched to Mars

    First probe launched to Mars (failed to reach target)

  • First Mars Flyby

    This was the first flyby of Mars which was within 100,000km of Venus.

  • First impact into Mars

    First impact into Mars

  • First soft Mars landing

    First signals from Mars surface

  • Hubble Space Telescope

    The Hubble Telescope, our first great observatory, was launched on the spacecraft named Discovery on April 24, 1990. The telescope has broadened our understanding to star birth and death and turned black hole theories into fact. Although it may seem this only lead to a victory for NASA, it also lead to privatization in the space programs. For example, the telescope has experienced many maintenance missions and servicing missions where NASA has used to private companies to complete the job.

  • Lockheed-Khrunichev-Energia International

    Private companies, Lookhead and Khrunichev Enterprise, announced plans to create a joint company called Lockheed-Khrunichev-Energia International. They formed an proton market international launch service that became advertised as an aerospace and defense company. In 2014, this private company launched a total of 6 proton launches at a price of 1 million dollars, showing how much of an impact this private company has had in space exploration.

  • Government Budget for Space Program is Cut

    After the Cold War ended in 1991, Americans lost interest in competing with the Soviets. One of the main competitions between the communists and the U.S. was the race to space, but after the cold war ended, the enthusiasm for this race dissipated. So, in 1993, the budget for NASA dropped to only 1 percent of the federal budget compared to the 4.41 percent of the budget in 1966.

  • NSSDC is Announced to be Privatized

    NASA administrator, Daniel Goldin, announced that NASA was going to privatize the National Space Science Data Center so it can serve as a data node for a select network of science hubs. This system would preserve and protect the data from old NASA missions while constantly collecting new information. Its not just the data though, its also the countless NASA science papers on NASA's past that are kept. The private NSSDC would increase the ease to locate, access, and use NASA's data.

  • Mars Pathfinder Mission

    The Mars Pathfinder was launched on December 2, 1996 in hopes to explore the surface of mars. The Pathfinder was demonstrating technologies and concepts that might help to send eventual scientists to Mars. It also used scientific instruments to investigate the surface of Mars and used new deployment technology. However, the revolutionizing machine was only made possible by private companies engineering and support for the development of this mission.

  • First Orbit of Mercury

    First Orbit of Mercury

  • Lettuce was the first food eaten that was grown in space.

    Lettuce was the first food eaten that was grown in space.

  • Astronaut Scott Kelly and Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko

    Astronaut Scott Kelly and Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko return to Earth after their 340-day space mission, longest recorded time in space for ISS crew members.

  • SpaceX Launches Falcon 9

    SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 with the EchoStar 23 communications satellie from the Kennedy Space Center in FLorida.