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First Spotting of the Moon Through a Telescope
Galileo, after making tweets to his telescope so it could see farther and clearer, look through his telescope to see Jupiter's moons. These moons are not visible to the naked eye, so this project showed that there is more to space and the universe than what we can see down here on earth. -
First USA Designed Rocket Reaches Space
The rocket, named the Wac Corporal, was launched into space from New Mexico. This rocket launched 50 miles above earth's surface and reached five times the speed of sound. -
First Animals Launched into Space as a Test (Fruit Flies)
The first animals ever launched into space were fruit flies sent up by this US on rocket Navi V-2. The rocket reached an altitude of 68 miles and were recovered alive and well because of the use of a parachute. -
Sputnik
The first artificial satellite, Sputnik, was launched by the Spviet Uninion. The satellite was about the side of a beach ball and weighed about 183 pounds. It took about 98 minutes to orbit around the earth. This showed that equipment such as satellites cold be launched into space and work without someone with it constantly manning the satellite. -
First Animal Launched into Orbit
Laika the dog was launched into Orbit from the Soviet Union on Sputnik II. The dog died within hours of overheating and a racing pulse. This gave the Soviet and the USA something to work off of as to how and what they should avoid for when living creatures are launched into space. -
End of first era
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First Spacecraft to Achieve Solar Orbit
A Russian satellite named Luna 1 was intended and designed to hit the moon, but instead it missed the moon and got flung into the rest of space. This craft then orbited back around the sun to become the first man made object to orbit around our sun. -
First Man in Space
The Russian named Yuri Gagarin was launched into space. One orbit took 108 minutes to complete, his max height was 203 miles above earth's surface, and the entire night lasted one hour 40 minutes, -
First Close up Photo of Mars
The USA's spacecraft Mariner 4 was able to take up close pictures of Mars. These photographs showed us that there were no signs of previous life on earth and gave us an idea of what the surface of another planet looks like. -
First Man on the Moon
The US sent up Apollo 11 to have Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to be the first men to step foot on the moon. This mission showed that travel to other areas in space was possible. -
First Space Station
The first station, named Salyut 1, was launched by the Soviet Union. This station made nearly 3,000 orbits around earth and lasted 178 days in space. -
End of Second Era
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First Soil Sample of Another Planet
Soviet Union's Venera 13 landed on Venus and received sound and soil samples. These were the first soil samples ever taken from another planet and gave astronomers clues as to how atmospheres of other planets affect the planet itself. -
First Infared Orbital Observatory
The USA, UK, and Netherlands were able to put an infrared orbital observatory called IRAS (Indian Railway Accounts Service). This allowed us to get clear images because the earth's atmosphere was not in the way, unlike any other observatory previously made. -
Picture of our Solar System Taken
NASA's Voyager 1 took a picture of our earth along with our entire solar system surrounding it. This picture was often referred to as the Pale Blue Dot, for that is how the earth looks in the picture--being only one pixel large. This gave NASA and society, who were able to see the picture after NASA, a view as to how small we are compared to our universe alone. -
The Launch of the Hubble Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched by the USA and the ESA (European Space Agency). This is the most powerful telescope that has given us the best information of the universe because of its key positioning in space. Because it is in space, it does not have to deal with earth's atmosphere and can get clearer, more accurate pictures of the universe. The telescope was also optical, which created sharper images, unlike the infrared observatory IRAS. -
Curiosity Launch
NASA's Curiosity was sent to Mars to search for signs of life and other data to give NASA new data about the rest of the universe. The rover has given us images and samples of this planet to let astronomers infer and draw conclusions about other atmospheres, planets, and more. It is still in use today.
