Space Exploration Timeline By: Brandon Favors

1900 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky- A Russian scientist showed that space travel was possible only by means of rocket propulsion. He began testing rockets in 1st decade of the 20th century.

1914 Robert Goddard an American professor who is credited with creating and building the world’s 1st liquid fueled rocket which he successfully launched on March 16,1926.

1926 This is also a picture of Robert Goddard about to launch his first successful rocket. It was launched on March 16, 1926.

1930 V-2 spacecraft a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the 2nd World War in Germany. The rocket was the world’s 1st long-range combat ballistic missile and the 1st rocket ever to go into the fringes of space.

1944 V-2 spacecraft was first successfully launched on October 3, 1942, and was fired against Paris on September 6, 1944. The V-2 spacecraft was developed in Germany through the efforts of scientists led by Wernher Von Braun.

1954 This is a picture of The Viking Spacecraft. In 1954, the U.S. Air force began development of Thor, Delta's predecessor and in 1955. The spacecraft reached Mars on Sept. 23, 1999, low-Earth polar orbit, approximately 420 nautical miles above Earth.

1957 History changed on October 4th 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik. The world’s 1st artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball. This launched ushered in new political military technology and scientific developments.

1961 Yuri Gagarin, Hero of the Soviet Union, was Soviet cosmonuat who on April 12, 1961 became the first human to journey into outer space.

1961 The Redstone rocket launched the first American satellite developed into orbit. The rocket was developed by a team headed by Dr. Werhner von Braun, who had been working for the U.S. Army at Fort Bliss, Texas. A Redstone rocket also launched the Mercury capsules on their sub-orbital flights on October 27, 1961, inaugurating American’s human spaceflight program.

1967 This is a picture of the Lunar Orbiter. The Lunar Orbiter was a series of five unmanned lunar orbiter missions launched by the United States from 1966 through 1967. Intended to help select Apollo landing sites by mapping the Moon’s surface. The photograph taken on May 11, 1967.

1969 This is a picture of Neil Armstrong is the first man on the Moon. Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first humans on Earth’s Moon on July 20, 1969. The mission, carried out by the United States, is considered a major accomplishment in the history of exploration and represented a victory for the United States in the Cold War Space with the Soviet Union.

1971 This is the Mariner 9. Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. It launched on May 30,1971 by NASA of the United States.

1971 The Salyut 1 was the first space station of any kind launched by the USSR on April 19, 1971.

1972 This is Apollo 16 on the Moon. Apollo 16 was the tenth manned mission in the Apollo program. It was the fifth mission to land on the moon and the first to land on a highlands area. The mission was launched on April 16, 1972 and concluded on April 27.

1973 This is the Skylab Space Station. Skylab, America’s 1st space station was a 2-level workshop in a converted Saturn S-IVB stage. Skylab launched May 14, 1973. The Skylab space station orbited Earth for more than 1717 days.

1976 This is the Viking 1 on Mars. Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars as part of the NASA’s Viking program. It was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and perform its mission. Landing on Mars was planned for July 4, 1976, but imaging of the primary landing site showed it was too rough for a safe landing. It landed on July 20, 1976.

1979 This is the Sun’s corona taken by the Skylab, on January 1, 1979 by the U.S.

1981 The US space first launched on April 12, 1981, was the world’s first reusable spacecraft. The space shuttle was initially used to deploy satellites in orbit; to carry scientific experiments such as Spacelab.

1983 This is the Challenger taking photos of Earth that shows Australia. It was launched on April 4, 1983 by the United States.

1986 This is the Mir Space Station. It was launched on February 20, 1986. The Proton booster launched the core module of the Mir space station. The official Soviet news reports released immediately after the launch said that the spacecraft is equipped with six docking ports and will serve as core of the future multi-modular orbital station.

1990 The Hubble Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by a space shuttle in 1990. When he finally launched on April 24th 1990. Scientists found that the main mirror had been ground incorrectly, severely compromising the telescopes capabilities.

1995 This is Galileo’s spacecraft he sent to Jupiter. Galileo was an unmanned spacecraft sent by NASA to study the planet Jupiter and its moons. It arrived at Jupiter on December 7, 1997. It was discovered that Jupiter’s faint ring system is formed by dust from impacts on the four small inner moons.

1996 This is the Mars Pathfinder is an American spacecraft that landed the first roving probe deployed on another planet. The mission carried a series of scientific instruments to analyze the Martian atmosphere, climate, and the composition of its rocks and soil. It was launched on December 4,1996 by NASA aboard a Delta II.

1998 This is the International Space Station. The ISS is by far the largest artificial satellite that has ever orbited Earth. The ISS is a synthesis of several space station projects that include the American Freedom, the Soviet/Russian Mir-2. The first module of the station, Zarya, was launched in Russia on June 3, 1998.