1. Space Exploration History This is a timeline of major milestones in space exploration, NOT a listing of all missions. Apollo 4, November 1967 (unmanned, first test of Saturn V launch vehicle

2. Keep in mind that progress, especially in human exploration, was made a careful step at a time. First into the upper atmosphere, then above the atmosphere, then orbiting the Earth—because we knew so little about these regions and we were so very careful about human life. had to design, build, and test spacecraft.

3. Sputnik I (USSR, 1957) First artificial satellite to orbit Earth (22 days) Info about upper atmosphere and ionosphere USA reaction led to formation of NASA and the ‘space race’

4. Explorer I (USA, 1958) Earth orbit, unmanned rocket Discovered Earth’s radiation belts (Van Allen belts) Made 58,000 orbits before burning up in the atmosphere in 1970

5. Luna 2 and 3 (USSR, 1959) First spacecraft to reach the moon (crash landed) First pictures of the far side of the moon

6. Vostok I (USSR, 1961) First human to orbit the Earth and return Yuri Gargarin made one orbit, re-entered atmosphere, then near the surface bailed out of spacecraft using a parachute (craft designed to crash). Beat the Americans into space (manned mission) by one month.

7. Animals in Space In January, 1961, Ham was the first chimpanzee to be launched in preparation for the first American suborbital flight of Alan Shepard in May. In November, 1961, chimp Enos orbited the Earth twice in preparation for John Glenn’s flight in early 1962. Other animals sent into space have included rabbits, rats, fruit flies, a guinea pig, insects, and cats (France, 1963).

8. Mercury 6/Friendship 7 (1962) John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth (3 orbits!) In 1998, Glenn became the oldest person to fly in space (Space shuttle)

9. Mariner 2 (USA, 1962) Venus flyby by unmanned spacecraft Sent back data on atmospheric composition, surface, and temperatures

10. Mariner 4 (USA, 1965) First spacecraft to reach Mars (unmanned flyby) Sent back detailed pictures of Martian surface and data about Mars’ atmosphere

11. Surveyor spacecraft (USA) June, 1966—Surveyor 1 lands on the Moon. 1967—Surveyor 6 successfully lifts off (engine restart) from the lunar surface, a key step showing that humans could safely return to Earth from the moon

12. Apollo Program (1961-1972) Manned Lunar Landings Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, with crew of 2. In 1970 Apollo 13 had a fire onboard but successfully returned the crew. Six manned landings brought back over 800 pounds of lunar rocks. “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” –Neil Armstrong, First human on the moon

14. Venera 7 (USSR, 1970) Venus landing but only transmitted for 23 minutes. First man-made spacecraft to land successfully on another planet and to transmit data back to Earth.

15. Mariner 9 (USA, 1971) First human spacecraft to orbit another planet (Mars) High resolution pictures of Olympus Mons, polar ice caps, canyons, evidence of water flow, lack of plate tectonics, and the Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos Arrived 18 days before USSR’s Mars 3 (orbiter/lander) which broadcast data for 20 sec after landing

16. Pioneer 10 (USA, 1972) Jupiter flyby 1973 Crossed orbit of Neptune in 1983 Last signal in 2003 The plaque (6 x 9 in) is designed to provide information about Earth to any intelligent life which may find it

17. Pioneer 11 (USA, 1973) Jupiter flyby 1974 Saturn flyby 1979 Tested path through asteroid belt and near Jupiter’s intense radiation for upcoming Voyager missions

18. Mariner 10 (USA, 1973) Venus flyby 1974, took photos in UV Mercury flybys (3 in all)—first closeups First use of gravity- assist technique to save fuel Venus Mercury

19. Venera 9 (USSR, 1974) Venus orbit and landing First spacecraft to return a photographic image from the surface of another planet (1975)

20. Viking 1 and 2 (USA, 1975) Mars orbit and landing in 1976 Detailed mapping from orbit First color photos Collected and analyzed soil samples Data sent until 1983 and 1980

21. Voyager 1 (USA, 1977) The Voyager probes were designed to use gravity assist (slingshot) technique to visit 4! outer planets Jupiter flyby 1979 Saturn flyby 1980 STILL GOING! Has reached the edge of the solar system in 2012 and entered interplanetary space

22. Aurora, lightning, Jupiter’s rings, more moons, Io’s volcanoes, Europa’s smooth surface Callisto Io Europa Lightning on Jupiter’s night side.

23. Details of Saturn’s rings, Titan’s hazy atmosphere, huge crater on Mimas Titan’s atmosphere Mimas Dione

24. Voyager 2 (1977, before V1) Jupiter flyby 1979 Saturn flyby 1980 Uranus flyby 1986 Neptune flyby 1989 Uranus Neptune Uranus’ moon Miranda First close up pictures of bodies in the outer solar system! Neptune’s Triton

25. Space Shuttle Program (1981-2011) Designed to reduce the costs of space exploration: reusable shuttles launched by rocket, land like an airplane

26. Galileo (USA, 1989-2003) Arrived at Jupiter 1995, orbited for 8 years. Observed Jupiter (sent a probe into Jovian atmosphere) Observed moons, found possible evidence of subsurface liquid water oceans on Europa, Ganymede and Callisto

27. Hubble Space Telescope (1990+) telescope in low Earth orbit, with 4 instruments observing in infrared, visible light and ultraviolet

28. Cassini-Huygens (1997 to present) Arrived at Saturn in 2004: Cassini is the orbiter and Huygens is the probe which landed on Titan in 2005 Ongoing mission Has discovered geysers on Enceladus and liquid hydrocarbons on Titan (lakes and rivers)

29. International Space Station Started in 1998, first permanent crew in 2000 Joint project of US, Russia, European nations, Japan, and Canada Intended to be a laboratory, observatory and factory in space; also planned as a staging base for possible future missions to the Moon, Mars and asteroids

30. Mars Explorer Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, 2003 to 2011. Mission has lasted 25 times the original plan! Curiosity, 2012 Solar powered, remotely programmed and driven from Earth

31. Messenger (2004 to present) Arrived at Mercury in 2011 for one year orbit, has been extended by NASA Has mapped the surface, studied Mercury’s gaseous exosphere, discovered water ice at its poles.

32. Rosetta (ESA, 2004) To rendezvous with Comet 67P/ Churyumov– Gerasimenko in May 2014 Will deploy a lander onto the comet

33. New Horizons (2006 to 2015+) Launched in 2006, this unmanned probe to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt is halfway there, expected to arrive in 2015. Designed to take a close look at Pluto and its 5 moons.

34. Juno (USA, 2011 to ?) Planned to reach Jupiter in 2016 and orbit 33 times over its poles.

35. Orion Spacecraft Planned for 4-6 astronauts, designed to splash down as in the Apollo missions. Being developed for crewed missions to the moon, an asteroid and then to Mars. Crewed flights planned for 2019-2021 in lunar orbit.

36. Orion Spacecraft

37. Requiem On January 27, 1967, the crew of Apollo 1 (Virgil ‘Gus’ Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee) died in a fire in the Command Module during a preflight test. This tragedy resulted in changes in design and materials for both the Command Module and spacesuits, as well as in test procedures.

38. In Memoriam Of 135 shuttle flights, marred by 2 disasters: Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003

39. Animals in Space Before humans could go into space, information was needed about the effects of weightlessness and radiation on biological organisms, not to mention g-forces (accelerations). We had rockets, but now we needed to create vehicles that could sustain life during spaceflight. Engineers needed living beings to test the systems and environments of spacecraft. So what kind of animals were used?

40. Animals in Space (cont.) 1948-1949, The first animals in space were 3 rhesus monkeys and a mouse that were launched in separate rocket flights from White Sands, NM into the upper atmosphere; all survived their flights but died on impact 1951, a monkey named Yorick and 11 mice were launched from Holloman AFB, NM and attained an altitude of 45 miles; all survived the flight and were recovered successfully.

41. Animals in Space (cont). 1952, monkeys Patricia (seated) and Mike (prone) and mice Mildred and Albert (in rotating drum) tested effects of rapid acceleration by surviving 2000 mph and an altitude of 36 miles with no ill effects Meanwhile, the Soviets were sending pairs of dogs on rocket flights; of the 9 dogs, 3 flew twice, and 5 were safely returned

42. Sputnik II (USSR, 1957) Laika was the first animal to orbit the Earth Soviets received telemetry on a living organism in space: unfortunately, she survived for only hours of planned 10- day mission due to a malfunction

43. Dawn (USA/Germany/Italy/Netherlands, 2007) Exploration and study of asteroids Vesta and Ceres. Orbited Vesta from 2011 for 14 months, headed for Ceres, should reach it in 2015. First mission to use ion propulsion

44. Chang’e 3 (China, 2013) Following China’s 5 th successful manned spaceflight, the robotic lunar lander Chang’e 3 made a soft landing on the moon on December 14, 2013 Lunar rover Jade Rabbit will take photos and sample soil during its 3 month mission.