Brief history of space exploration

1
Brief history of space exploration

• Mythological beginnings in story of the escape of
  Daedalus and Icarus from Crete.
• Icarus, son of Daedalus, tried to fly to the sun.
• Wings failed (wax melted).
• Fell from the sky.
• This myth was revived by some writers after the
  Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

2
Reference

• Into the Final Frontier The Human Exploration of
  Space
• Bernard McNamara, Harcourt 2001

3
Some significant events in Space Exploration (1)

• 1000s
• Chinese invent black powder (form of gunpowder)
  and develop rocket weapons used into 1200s
• 1609-18
• Keplers laws of planetary motion
• 1792
• Congreve develops rocket weapons used against US
  in 1812 (the rockets red glare...)
• Late 19th century
• Science fiction by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells
  inspired early space visionaries
• Their vision of space travel was of Victorian
  comfort
• 1883
• Tsiolkovsky explains theory of rocket propulsion
  and speculates on hydrogen/oxygen fuels and
  multi-stage rockets.
• 1919
• Goddard studies rockets as a means of reaching
  very high altitudes and developed early sounding
  rockets.
• 1923
• Oberth published text addressing virtually every
  principle of space flight - spurred on German
  space program

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Some significant events in Space Exploration (2)

• 1945
• Von Braun develops the liquid-fuelled V-2 rocket
• Arthur C. Clarke publishes Extra terrestrial
  relays in technical magazine
• 1947
• The invention of the point contact transistor at
  Bell Labs, junction 1951, integrated circuit 1958
• 1957
• Sputnik - 1, Sputnik - 2 (Oct 4, 1957, Nov 3,
  1957)
• The space race between USA and USSR begins in
  earnest
• 1958
• Vanguard, Explorer I, NASA formed
• 1959
• First missions to the moon. Luna-2 impacted,
  Luna-3 first photos of the far side (USSR)
• 1960
• Discoverer 14, first successful
  photo-surveillance mission
• 1961
• Men in space, Gagarin (USSR), Shepherd (USA),
  Kennedy speech committing to lunar program.
• Early manned spacecraft, Vostok-1 (before and
  after) and Mercury (before and after)
• 1961-83
• Venera program to visit Venus (USSR)

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Some significant events in Space Exploration (3)

• 1963-64
• Syncom program - first geosynchronous satellites
• 1964-78
• Nimbus 1-7 LEO weather satellite program
• 1965-75
• Gemini, Apollo, Skylab programs
• 1966-67
• Lunar Orbiter program
• 1966-68
• Lunar Surveyor program landed instruments on
  lunar surface.
• 1966-74
• ATS program - paving the way for communications
  satellites
• 1967
• Soyuz - 1, ongoing manned program
• 1969
• First humans on the moon
• 1971
• Salyut-1 First space station launched (USSR)
• 1972-73

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Some significant events in Space Exploration (4)

• 1977
• Voyager mission to outer planets
• 1981
• STS-1, ongoing space shuttle program with four
  vehicles
• 1986
• Challenger disaster, suspension of shuttle
  program for 2 years
• 1986
• MIR Space station activated by cosmonauts.
• 1989
• First operational GPS satellites placed into MEO,
  constellation (24) completed by 1993
• 1990
• Hubble space telescope deployed
• 1998
• First two sections of International Space Station
  placed in orbit
• 1998-99
• Iridium constellation deployed (66 satellites)
• 2000
• Iridium company files for bankruptcy
• 2000