Space history of USA & Russia
President
Dwight Eisenhower signed a public order creating the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA), a federal agency dedicated to space exploration.
In 1958 USA launched its own satellite explorer-I.
In 1961-69
were tough and tensional days for scientist of NASA, all worlds’ eyes on NASA. the
main important incident among that years was as following
Mid-1700s: Hyder
Ali, the Sultan of Mysome in India, begins manufacturing rockets sheathed in
iron, not cardboard or paper, to improve their range and stability.
March 16, 1926: Robert
Goddard, sometimes referred to as the "Father of Modern Rocketry,"
launches the first successful liquid-fueled rocket.
July 17, 1929: Robert
Goddard launches a rocket that carries with it the first set of scientific
tools — a barometer and a camera — in Auburn, Mass. The launch was Goddard's
fourth.
Feb. 18, 1930: The dwarf planet Pluto is
discovered by American astronomerClyde Tombaugh at
Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Oct. 3, 1942: Germany
successfully test launches the first ballistic missile, the A4, more commonly
known as the V-2, and later uses it near the end of European combat in World
War II.
Sep. 29, 1945: Wernher
von Braun arrives at Ft. Bliss, Texas, with six other German rocket
specialists.
Oct. 14, 1947: American
test pilot Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier for the first time in the X-1,
also known as Glamorous Glennis.
Oct. 4, 1957: A
modified R-7 two-stage ICBM launches the satellite Sputnik 1 from Tyuratam. The Space Race between
the Soviet Union and the United States begins.
Nov. 3, 1957: The
Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2 with the first living passenger, the dog Laika, aboard.
Dec. 6, 1957: A
Vanguard TV-3 carrying a grapefruit-sized satellite explodes at launch; a failed
response to the Sputnik launch by the United States.
Jan. 31, 1958: Explorer
1, the first satellite with an onboard telemetry system, is launched by the
United States into orbit aboard a Juno rocket and returns data from space.
Oct. 7, 1958: NASA
Administrator T. Keith Glennan publicly announces NASA's manned spaceflight
program along with the formation of the Space Task Group, a panel of scientist
and engineers from space-policy organizations absorbed by NASA. The
announcement came just six days after NASA was founded.
Jan. 2, 1959: The
U.S.S.R. launches Luna 1, which misses the moon but becomes the first
artificial object to leave Earth orbit.
Jan. 12, 1959: NASA
awards McDonnell Corp. the contract to manufacture the Mercury capsules.
Feb. 28, 1959: NASA
launches Discover 1, the U.S. first spy satellite, but it is not until the Aug.
11, 1960, launch of Discover 13 that film is recovered successfully.
May 28, 1959: The
United States launches the first primates in space, Able and Baker, on a
suborbital flight.
Aug. 7, 1959: NASA's
Explorer 6 launches and provides the first photographs of the Earth from space.
Sept. 12, 1959: The Soviet Union's Luna 2 is
launched and two days later is intentionally crashed into the Moon.
Sept. 17, 1959: NASA's X-15 hypersonic research plane, capable of speeds to Mach 6.7,
makes its first powered flight.
Oct. 24, 1960: To
rush the launch of a Mars probe before the Nov. 7 anniversary of the Bolshevik
Revolution, Field Marshall Mitrofan Nedelin ignored several safety protocols
and 126 people are killed when the R-16 ICBM explodes at the Baikonur
Cosmodrome during launch preparations.
Feb. 12, 1961: The
Soviet Union launches Venera to Venus, but the probe stops responding after a
week.
April 12, 1961: Yuri
Gagarin becomes the first man in space with
a 108-minute flight on Vostok 1 in which he completed one orbit.
May 5, 1961: Mercury
Freedom 7 launches on a Redstone rocket for a 15-minute suborbital flight,
making Alan Shepard the
first American in space.
May 25, 1961: In
a speech before Congress, President John Kennedyannounces that an American will land on
the moon and be returned safely to Earth before the end of the decade.
Oct. 27, 1961: Saturn
1, the rocket for the initial Apollo missions, is tested for the first time.
June 7, 1962: Wernher
von Braun backs the idea of a Lunar Orbit Rendezvous mission.
July 10, 1962: The United States launches Telstar 1, which enables the
trans-Atlantic transmission of television signals.
June 14, 1962: Agreements
are signed establishing the European Space Research Organisation and the
European Launcher Development Organisation. Both eventually were dissolved.
July 28, 1962: The
U.S.S.R launches its first successful spy satellite, designated Cosmos 7.
Aug. 27, 1962: Mariner
2 launches and eventually performs the first successful interplanetary flyby
when it passes by Venus.
Sept. 29, 1962: Canada's
Alouette 1 launches aboard a NASA Thor-Agena B rocket, becoming the first
satellite from a country other than the United States or Soviet Union.
June 16, 1963: Valentina
Tereshkova becomes the first woman to fly into space.
July 28, 1964: Ranger
7 launches and is the Ranger series' first success, taking photographs of the
moon until it crashes into its surface four days later.
April 8, 1964: Gemini
1, a two-seat spacecraft system, launches in an unmanned flight.
Aug. 19, 1964: NASA's
Syncom 3 launches aboard a Thor-Delta rocket, becoming the first geostationary
telecommunications satellite.
Oct. 12, 1964: The
Soviet Union launches Voskhod 1, a modified Vostok orbiter with a three-person
crew.
March 18, 1965: Soviet
cosmonaut Alexei Leonov makes the first spacewalk from the Voskhod 2 orbiter.
March 23, 1965: Gemini
3, the first of the manned Gemini missions, launches with a two-person crew on
a Titan 2 rocket, making astronaut Gus Grissom the first man to travel in space
twice.
June 3, 1965: Ed
White, during the Gemini 4 mission, becomes the first American to walk in
space.
July 14, 1965: Mariner
4 executes the first successful Mars flyby.
Aug. 21, 1965: Gemini
5 launches on an eight-day mission.
Dec. 15, 1965: Gemini
6 launches and performs a rendezvous with Gemini 7.
Jan. 14, 1966: The
Soviet Union's chief designer, Sergei Korolev, dies from complications stemming
from routine surgery, leaving the Soviet space program without its most
influential leader of the preceding 20 years.
Feb. 3, 1966: The
unmanned Soviet spacecraft Luna 9 makes the first soft landing on the Moon.
March 1, 1966: The
Soviet Union's Venera 3 probe becomes the first spacecraft to land on the
planetVenus, but its communications system failed before data could be
returned.
March 16, 1966: Gemini
8 launches on a Titan 2 rocket and later docks with a previously launched Agena
rocket — the first docking between two orbiting spacecraft.
April 3, 1966: The
Soviet Luna 10 space probe enters lunar orbit, becoming the first spacecraft to
orbit the Moon.
June 2, 1966: Surveyor
1, a lunar lander, performs the first successful U.S. soft landing on the Moon.
Jan. 27, 1967: All
three astronauts for NASA's Apollo
1 mission suffocate
from smoke inhalationin a cabin fire during a launch pad test.
April 5, 1967: A
review board delivers a damning report to NASA Administrator James Webb about
problem areas in the Apollo spacecraft. The recommended modifications are
completed by Oct. 9, 1968.
April 23, 1967: Soyuz
1 launches but myriad problems surface. The solar panels do not unfold, there
are stability problems and the parachute fails to open on descent causing the
death of Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov.
Oct. 11, 1968: Apollo
7, the first manned Apollo mission, launches on a Saturn 1 for an
11-day mission in Earth orbit. The mission also featured the first live TV
broadcast of humans in space.
Dec. 21, 1968: Apollo
8 launches on a Saturn
V and becomes the first manned mission to orbit the moon.
Jan. 16, 1969: Soyuz
4 and Soyuz 5 rendezvous and dock and perform the first in-orbit crew transfer.
March 3, 1969: Apollo
9 launches. During the
mission, tests of the lunar module are conducted in Earth orbit.
May 22, 1969: Apollo 10's
Lunar Module Snoopy comes within 8.6 miles (14 kilometers) of
the moon's surface.
July 20, 1969: Six
years after U.S. President John F. Kennedy's assassination, the Apollo 11 crew lands on the Moon, fulfilling his promise to
put an American there by the end of the decade and return him safely to
Earth.
Nov. 26, 1965: France
launches its first satellite, Astérix, on a Diamant A rocket, becoming the
third nation to do so.
Feb. 11, 1970: Japan's
Lambda 4 rocket launches a Japanese test satellite, Ohsumi into orbit.
April 13, 1970: An
explosion ruptures thecommand module of Apollo
13, days after launch and within reach of the moon. Abandoning the
mission to save their lives, the astronauts climb into the Lunar Module and
slingshot around the Moon to speed their return back to Earth.
April 24, 1970: The
People's Republic of China launches its first satellite, Dong Fang Hong-1, on a
Long March 1 rocket, becoming the fifth nation capable of launching its own
satellites into space.
Sept. 12: 1970: The
Soviet Union launches Luna 16, the first successful automated lunar sample
retrieval mission.
June 6, 1971: Soyuz
11 launches successfully, docking with Salyut 1. The three cosmonauts are
killed during re-entry from a pressure leak in the cabin.
July 26, 1971: Apollo 15 launches with a Boeing-built Lunar
Roving Vehicle and better life-support equipment to explore the Moon.
Oct. 28, 1971: The
United Kingdom successfully launches its Prospero satellite into orbit on a
Black Arrow rocket, becoming the sixth nation capable of launching its own
satellites into space.
Nov. 13, 1971: Mariner
9 becomes the first spacecraft to orbit Mars and provides the first complete
map of the planet's surface.
Jan. 5, 1972: U.S.
President Richard Nixon announces that NASA is developing a reusable launch
vehicle, the
space shuttle.
March 3, 1972: Pioneer
10, the first spacecraft to leave the solar system, launches from
Cape Kennedy, Fla.
May 14, 1973: A
Saturn V rocket launches Skylab, the United States' first space station.
March 29, 1974: Mariner
10 becomes the first spacecraft to fly by Mercury.
April 19, 1975: The
Soviet Union launches India's first satellite, Aryabhata.
May 31, 1975: The
European Space Agency is formed.
July 17 1975: Soyuz-19
and Apollo 18 dock.
Aug. 9, 1975: ESA
launches its first satellite, Cos-B, aboard a Thor-Delta rocket.
Sept. 9, 1975: Viking
2, composed of a lander and an orbiter, launches for Mars.
July 20, 1976: The
U.S. Viking 1 lands on Mars, becoming the first successful Mars lander.
Sept. 5, 1977: Voyager 1 is launched to perform flybys of Jupiter and
Saturn.
Sept. 29, 1977: Salyut
6 reaches orbit. It is the first space station equipped with docking stations
on either end, which allow for two vehicles to dock at once, including the
Progress supply ship.
Feb. 22, 1978: The
first GPS satellite, Navstar 1, launches aboard an Atlas F rocket.
July 11, 1979: Skylab,
the first American space station, crashes back to Earth in the sparsely
populated grasslands of western Australia.
Dec. 24, 1979: The
French-built Ariane rocket, Europe's first launch vehicle, launches
successfully.
July 18 1980: India
launches its Rohini 1 satellite. By using its domestically developed SLV-3
rocket, India becomes the seventh nation capable of sending objects into space
by itself.
April 12, 1981: Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off from Cape Canaveral, beginning the
first space mission for NASA's new astronaut transportation system.
June 24, 1982: French
air force test pilot Jean-Loup Chrétien launches to the Soviet Union's Salyut 7
aboard Soyuz T-6.
Nov. 11, 1982: Shuttle
Columbia launches. During its mission, it deploys two commercial communications
satellites.
June 18, 1983: Sally Ride aboard
the Space Shuttle Challenger becomes the first American woman in space.
Feb. 7, 1984: Astronauts
Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart maneuver as many as 328 feet (100 meters) from
the Space Shuttle Challenger using the Manned Maneuvering Unit, which contains
small thrusters, in the first ever untethered spacewalks.
April 8, 1984: Challenger
crew repairs the Solar Max satellite during a spacewalk.
Sept. 11: 1985: The
International Cometary Explorer, launched by NASA in 1978, performs the first
comet flyby.
Jan. 24, 1986: Voyager
2 completes the first and only spacecraft flyby of Uranus.
Jan. 28, 1986: Challenger explodes 73 seconds after launch, grounding the
shuttle fleet for more than two years.
Feb. 20, 1986: The
Soviet Union launches theMir space station.
March 13, 1986: A
two-cosmonaut crew launches aboard Soyuz T-15 to power up the Mir space
station. During their 18-month mission, they also revive the abandoned Salyut
7, and take parts that are later placed aboard Mir.
June 15, 1988: PanAmSat
launches its first satellite, PanAmSat 1, on an Ariane 4 rocket, giving
Intelsat its first taste of competition.
Sept. 19, 1988: Israel
launches its first satellite, the Ofeq 1 reconnaissance probe, aboard an
Israeli Shavit rocket.
Nov. 15, 1988: The
Soviet Union launches its Buran space shuttle on its only flight, an unpiloted
test.
May 4, 1989: The
Space Shuttle Atlantis launches the Magellan space probe to use radar to map
the surface of Venus.
Oct. 18, 1989: Shuttle
Atlantis launches with Jupiter-bound Galileo space probe on board.
April 7, 1990: China
launches the Asiasat-1 communications satellite, completing its first
commercial contract.
Oct. 29, 1991: The
U.S. Galileo spacecraft, on its way to Jupiter, successfully encounters the
asteroid Gaspra, obtaining images and other data during its flyby.
April 23, 1992: The
U.S. Cosmic Background Explorer spacecraft detects the first evidence of
structure in the residual radiation left over from the Big Bang that created
the Universe.
Dec. 28, 1992: Lockheed
and Khrunichev Enterprise announce plans to form Lockheed-Khrunichev-Energia
International, a new company to market Proton rockets.
June 21, 1993: Shuttle
Endeavour launches carrying Spacehab, a privately owned laboratory that sits in
the shuttle cargo bay.
Dec. 17, 1993: DirecTV
launches its first satellite, DirecTV 1, aboard an Ariane 4 rocket.
Feb. 7, 1994: The
first Milstar secure communications satellite launches. The geosynchronous
satellites are used by battlefield commanders and for strategic communications.
Oct. 15, 1994: India
launches its four-stage PolarSatellite Launch Vehicle for the first time.
Jan. 26, 1995: A
Chinese Long March rocket carrying the Hughes-built Apstar-1 rocket fails. The
accident investigation, along with the probe of a subsequent Long March failure
that destroyed an Intelsat satellite, leads to technology-transfer allegations
that ultimately result in the U.S. government barring launches of
American-built satellites on Chinese rockets.
Feb. 3, 1995: The
Space Shuttle Discovery launches anddocks with the Mir space station.
March 15, 1995: Aerospace
giants Lockheed Corp. and Martin Marietta Corp. merge.
July 13, 1995: Galileo
releases its space probe, which is bound for Jupiter and its moons.
Aug. 7, 1996: NASA
and Stanford University researchers announce a paper contending that a
4-billion-year-old Martian meteorite, called ALH 84001, found in Antarctica in
1984, contains fossilized traces of carbonate materials that suggest primitive
life might once have existed on Mars. That contention remains controversial.
May 5, 1997: Satellite
mobile phone company Iridium launches its first five satellites on a Delta 2
rocket.
June 25 1997: An
unmanned Russian Progress supply spacecraft collides with the Mir space
station.
July 4, 1997: The Mars Pathfinder lander
and its accompanying Sojourner rover touch down on the surface of Mars.
Aug. 1, 1997: The
Boeing Co. and the McDonnell Douglas Corp. merge, keeping Boeing's name.
Feb. 14, 1998: Globalstar,
a satellite mobile telephone company, launches its first four satellites on a
Delta 2 rocket.
Sept. 9, 1998: A
Russian Zenit 2 rocket launches and subsequently crashes, destroying all 12
Loral-built Globalstar satellites aboard. The payload had an estimated value of
about $180 million.
Nov. 20, 1998: Russia's
Zarya control module, the first segment of theInternational Space Station, launches into space and unfurls
its solar arrays.
March 27, 1999: Sea
Launch Co. launches a demonstration satellite, successfully completing its
first launch.
July 23, 1999: The
Chandra X-ray observatory, NASA's flagship mission for X-ray astronomy,
launches aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Aug. 13, 1999: Iridium
files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after being unable to pay its creditors.
Iridium Satellite LLC later acquired the original Iridium's assets from
bankruptcy.
Nov. 19, 1999: China
successfully test launches the unmanned Shenzhou 1.
July 10, 2000: Europe's
largest aerospace company, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., EADS,
forms with the consolidation of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG of Munich,
Aerospatiale Matra S.A. of Paris, and Construcciones Aeronáuticas S.A. of
Madrid.
March 18, 2001: After
launch delays with XM-1, XM Satellite Radio's XM-2 satellite becomes the
company's first satellite in orbit when it is launched by Sea Launch Co.
March 23, 2001: After
being mothballed in 1999, Mir descends into the Earth's atmosphere and breaks
up over the Pacific Ocean.
May 6, 2001: U.S.
entrepreneur Dennis Tito returns to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to
become the world's first paying tourist to visit the International Space
Station.
Aug. 29, 2001: Japan's
workhorse launch system, the two-stage H-2A rocket, launches for the first
time.
Feb. 15, 2002: After
having trouble selling its satellite mobile phone service, Globalstar
voluntarily files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from escalating creditor
debt. The company emerged from bankruptcy April 14, 2004.
Feb. 1, 2003: The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates as it re-enters the Earth's
atmosphere, killing the crew. Damage from insulating foam hitting the orbiter's
leading wing on liftoff is later cited as the cause of the accident.
Aug 22, 2003: The
VLS-V03, a Brazilian prototype rocket, explodes on the launch pad at Alcántara
killing 21 people.
Oct. 1, 2003: Japan's
two space agencies, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science and the
National Space Development Agency of Japan, merge into the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency.
Oct. 15, 2003: Yang
Liwei becomes China's first taikonaut, having launched aboard Shenzhou 5.
Jan. 4, 2004: The
first Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, lands on Mars. Its twin, Opportunity
lands Jan. 25.
Jan. 14, 2004: President
George W. Bush advocates space exploration missions to the moon and Mars for
NASA in his Vision for Space Exploration speech.
Sept. 20, 2004: India
launches its three-stage Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle for the first
time.
Oct. 4, 2004: Scaled
Composites' SpaceShipOne piloted
craft wins the X Prize by flying over 100 kilometers above Earth twice within
two weeks.
July 26, 2005: Discovery
becomes the first shuttle to launch since the Columbia disaster more than two
years before. While the crew returned safely, the loss of several pieces of
foam debris prompted further investigation, which delayed future shuttle
missions.
Oct. 12, 2005: A
two-taikonaut crew launches aboard the Chinese Shenzhou 6.
Jan. 19, 2006: New
Horizons, NASA's first-ever mission to the dwarf planet Pluto and its moons, launches atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Flies past Jupiter one
year later in what is billed as NASA's fastest mission to date.
July 3, 2006: Intelsat
acquires fellow fixed satellite service provider PanAmSat for $6.4 billion.
July 4, 2006: NASA's
second post-Columbia accident test flight, STS-121 aboard Discovery, begins a
successful space station-bound mission, returning the U.S. orbiter fleet to
flight status.
Sept. 9., 2006: NASA
resumes construction of the International Space Station with the launch of the
shuttle Atlantis on STS-115 after two successful return to flight test
missions. Atlantis' launch occurs after nearly four years without a station
construction flight.
Oct. 11, 2006: Lockheed
Martin completes the sale of its majority share in International Launch
Services to Space Transport Inc. for $60 million.
Jan. 11, 2007: China downs one of its weather satellites, Fengyun-1C, with a ground
launched missile. In doing so, China joins Russia and the United States as the
only nations to have successfully tested anti-satellite weapons.
April 6, 2007: The
European Commission approves the acquisition of French-Italian Alcatel Alenia
by Paris-based Thales, thus creating satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia
Space.?
Aug. 8, 2007: NASA's
Space Shuttle Endeavour launches toward the International Space Station on the
STS-118 construction mission. The shuttle crew includes teacher-astronaut
Barbara Morgan, NASA's first educator spaceflyer, who originally served backup
for the first Teacher-in-Space Christa McAuliffe who was lost with six
crewmates during the 1986 Challenger accident.
Sept. 27, 2007: Dawn,
the first ion-powered probe to visit two celestial bodies in one go, launches on an eight-year mission to the asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet
Ceres, the two largest space rocks in the solar system.
Oct. 1, 2007: NASA
astronaut Peggy Whitson, the first female commander of
the International Space Station, prepares for an Oct. 10 launch with her
Expedition 16 crewmate Yuri Malenchenko and Malaysia's first astronaut Sheikh
Muszaphar Shukor. Whitson, and NASA's second female shuttle commander Pamela Melroy, will command a
joint space station construction mission in late October.
Oct. 4, 2007: The
Space Age turns 50, five decades after the historic launch of Sputnik 1
http://www.space.com/
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