christine's space timeline

space travel

first space rocket

1942

The first rocket which could fly high enough to get into space was the V2 missile which was first launched by Germany in 1942. The first rocket which actually launched something into space was used to launch Sputnik, the first satellite, on October 4, 1957. The rocket that launched Sputnik was a R-7 ICBM rocket.

space exploration

1942 - 2013

v2 rocket

1942

In 1942 the German V2 was the first rocket to reach 100km from the Earth’s surface (the boundary of space).

1st animal in space

1947

fruit flies were the first animals in space

first monkey in space

1949

Albert II, was the first monkey in space. He was a Rhesus monkey, a type of monkey that originally comes from Asia.

first space dog

1957

russians launch dog into space

satalite launch

1957 - 2013

sputnic satalite launched into space

russians first space mission

1959

By 1959 Both American and Russian scientists were in a race to get a spacecraft to the Moon; the Russians made it first.

telescope

1960

radio telescope makes space history

astronauts

1961

John Shepered became the first us astronaut.

soviats win space race

1961 - 1962

yuri gagarin was launched into space 12th of april 1961

1st tv satalite

1962 - 2013

On July 10th, 1962, NASA launched the first Telstar satellite. The spherical satellite,which actually looks like a model of the Death Star,was the first to relay television and telephone signals through space.

first woman in space

1963

Valentina Tereshkova

apollo moon misions

1968 - 1972

between this time there were 9 spacecraft missions to the moon

first man on moon

1969

Nial Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin land on the moon!

moon car

1971

From 1971 American astronauts on the fourth, fifth and sixth Apollo missions enjoyed use of a moon car to explore the moon. Known as the Lunar Rover, it was electric powered, and had a top speed of 8mph.

first space probe launched

1972

On March 2, 1972, engineers from Glenn (formerly Lewis) launched Pioneer 10 from the Cape Kennedy, carrying Earth's first space probe to an outer planet. This launch was just one of the many historic missions started by Glenn's former launch vehicles team. Glenn successfully managed the launch [1.2mg MPEG]of Pioneer 10: the first spacecraft to travel through the Asteroid belt, the first spacecraft to make direct observations and obtain close-up images of Jupiter, and the first man-made object to leave the solar system and travel on a flight path into interstellar space. Until February 1998, Pioneer 10 was the most remote object ever made by man. Traveling faster, Voyager 1 has since achieved a greater distance from the Sun.

last man on moon

1972

Eugene Cernan, the last man on the moon

space travel less expensive

1981

Until 12th April 1981 all spacecraft were designed to be used only once. The Space Shuttle, was designed to be reused for up to 100 visits to space, in an attempt to make space travel less expensive.

explotion

1986

On January 28th 1986, tragedy struck. Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch, because of a fuel system failure. All seven astronauts on board were killed, and all shuttles were grounded for nearly three years.

MIR space station

1986 - 1996

The MIR space station was built in sections, each piece launched by a rocket and then joined together in orbit. Construction started in 1986, with the last piece being fitted ten years later!

astronaut competetion

1989

In 1989, Helen Sharman entered a competition to become the first British astronaut in space.

new space home

2000

In 2000 the first permanent crew moved into the International Space Station,where crews of astronauts have been living ever since.

first space tourist

2001

On the 28th April 2001 American millionaire Dennis Tito became the first space tourist when he paid around 20 million dollars for a ride in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft

first privately funded manned space flight

2004

On June 21st, 2004, SpaceShipOne made the first ever privately funded manned space flight. This space plane was built by a private aviation firm to win the 10 million dollar Ansari X Prize.

resume missions

2004 - 2020

In January 2004, US President George Bush announced that NASA would resume missions to the moon by 2020, and work on a permanent moonbase would begin. Next will be a manned mission to visit Mars, that could last for 2 years.

mission to mars

2013 - 2014

Sometimes referred to by the nickname "Mangalyaan," the Mars Orbiter Mission is India's first interplanetary spacecraft. It is primarily a technology demonstration mission that carries a small, 15-kilogram payload of 5 science instruments. It is scheduled to enter orbit at Mars in September 2014. The orbit will be highly elliptical, from 387 to 80,000 kilometers