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Key dates in the space race from the 11th century to 1975 | Astronomy.com

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Key dates in the space race from the 11th century to 1975 | Astronomy.com


The Area Race actually started to take flight when the Chilly Warfare heated up between the USA and the previous Soviet Union within the late Fifties. The Soviets had managed to launch the primary functioning satellite, Sputnik 1, into space again on October 4, 1957 (virtually six months earlier than the U.S. launched their first satellite, Vanguard 1). But it surely wasn’t till April 12, 1961, that the Soviets despatched the primary human, Yuri Gagarin, into orbit round our residence planet.

Now, some 60 years later, humanity is on the precipice of an astronautical renaissance. A burgeoning personal spaceflight trade is on tempo to start out sending tourists into space as soon as early 2021. Actor Tom Cruise is slated to enterprise to the Worldwide Area Station in October 2021. And by 2024, NASA’s Artemis program goals to ship the primary batch of astronauts again to the Moon in additional than 50 years.

It’s an electrifying time. And issues are solely going to get extra thrilling within the years to return. So, earlier than the proliferation of crewed spaceflight actually takes off, let’s first look again on the historical past of the Area Race, which helped us attain this level.

The Area Race is usually thought of to have lasted from about 1957 to 1975, however the historical past of spaceflight started lengthy earlier than that.

The space-race timeline

eleventh century: Utilizing a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate (saltpeter), the Chinese language create the primary gasoline that may propel early rockets. In fact, these rockets are utilized in battle.

March 16, 1926: American engineer, physicists, and inventor Robert Goddard — the namesake of NASA’s Goddard Area Flight Heart — efficiently launches the primary liquid-fueled rocket. This earns him the title of “Father of Trendy Rocketry.”

July 17, 1929: Goddard launches the primary rocket outfitted with scientific devices from Auburn, Massachusetts. The modest rocket carries each a barometer and a digicam.

Oct. 3, 1942: German rocket scientists Wernher von Braun efficiently launches the primary ballistic missile, the V-2 rocket, which he performed an instrumental function in growing for Germany throughout World Warfare II.

Sep. 29, 1945: Shortly after World Warfare II ends, von Braun arrives at Fort Bliss, Texas, together with six different German rocket scientists. He spends the subsequent 15 years working with the U.S. Military on ballistic missile know-how.

Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier -- X-1 -- 1947

Oct. 14, 1947: Piloting a Bell X-1 rocket airplane often called the Glamorous Glennis, American take a look at pilot Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier for the primary time above Rogers Dry Lake in Southern California.

Oct. 4, 1957: The Soviet Union secretly fires Sputnik 1 into space, making it the world’s first synthetic satellite. The beach-ball sized, 190-pound orb circles the globe at 18,000 miles per hour, orbiting Earth as soon as each 100 minutes for 21 days. The Area Race between the USA and the Soviets formally begins.

Nov. 3, 1957: The Soviets ship the primary residing creature — Laika the dog — into orbit aboard Sputnik 2. (In 2008, Russian officers unveiled a monument to Laika, who, earlier than her spaceflight, was a stray wandering the streets of Moscow.)

Laika the canine was the primary residing creature despatched into space. Credit score: Pretenderrs/Wikipedia

Jan 31, 1958: America makes use of a modified V-2 rocket to launch the first American satellite, Explorer 1. The satellite transmits knowledge for about 4 months earlier than its batteries die. It continues to circle Earth for 58,000 extra orbits, ultimately burning up upon re-entry into the environment on March 31, 1970. 

Oct. 1, 1958: The Nationwide Aeronautics and Area Administration (NASA) is established by the U.S. Federal Authorities.

Oct. 7, 1958: Simply days after NASA is based, Administrator T. Keith Glennan publicizes the company’s manned spaceflight program: Project Mercury.

Could 28, 1959: America launches the first primates into space, In a position and Baker, on a suborbital flight. Dozens extra “astrochimps” had been educated by NASA throughout Challenge Mercury.

That is Ham in 1961. He was an “astrochimp” educated by NASA. Credit score: NASA

April 12, 1961: Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union turns into the primary man in space, finishing a single, 108-minute orbit aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft.

Could 5, 1961: Alan Shepard of the USA blasts off aboard a Redstone rocket to develop into the primary American in space throughout a 15-minute suborbital flight.

Could 25, 1961: U.S. President John F. Kennedy makes his famous speech about landing Americans on the Moon to Congress, asserting:

“First, I imagine that this nation ought to commit itself to reaching the purpose, earlier than this decade is out, of touchdown a person on the Moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space venture on this interval will likely be extra spectacular to mankind, or extra essential for the long-range exploration of space; and none will likely be so troublesome or costly to perform.”

Feb. 20, 1962: John Glenn turns into the primary American to orbit Earth aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft as a part of the Mercury 6 mission. (Years later, in 1998, Glenn turns into the oldest individual to fly in space as a part of the STS-95 crew on Area Shuttle Discovery.)

June 16, 1963: Valentina Tereshkova of the Soviet Union turns into the primary lady to orbit Earth, spending practically three days circling the planet some 48 occasions aboard the Vostok 6 spacecraft.

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov trains for the Apollo-Soyuz mission in April 1975. Credit score: NASA

March 18, 1965: Alexei Leonov, a Soviet cosmonaut, efficiently makes the primary spacewalk whereas tethered to the Voskhod 2 orbiter.

March 23, 1965: Gus Grissom, an American astronaut, flies aboard the primary crewed Gemini mission, Gemini 3, turning into the primary man to enterprise to space twice.

June 3, 1965: Ed White turns into the primary American to efficiently take a spacewalk.

April 3, 1966: The Soviet Union’s Luna 10 spacecraft enters lunar orbit, making it the primary spacecraft to efficiently orbit the Moon.

June 2, 1966: The U.S. achieves the primary tender touchdown on the Moon with the robotic lunar lander, Surveyor 1.

Jan. 27, 1967: Disaster strikes. {An electrical} fire breaks out inside the Apollo 1 capsule, which is full of pure oxygen, throughout a countdown rehearsal. NASA astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee attempt in useless to open the locked door. All three perish.

April 23, 1967: Vladimir Komarov turns into the first person to die during spaceflight when his problem-plagued Soyuz 1 craft crashed into Earth following stability points and a failed parachute deployment. (Komarov reportedly suspected the mission was doomed earlier than taking off, however refused to again out as a result of his shut good friend, Yuri Gagarin, was his alternative. Komarov couldn’t bear to see Gagarin killed, even when it price his personal life.)

Sept. 18, 1968: The Soviet Union’s Zond 5 spacecraft circled the Moon carrying the first living creatures to orbit another world: worms, flies, and two Russian steppe tortoises.

Oct. 11, 1968: The primary stay views of astronauts in space are broadcast on tv throughout the first crewed Apollo mission, Apollo 7. (Astronauts Don Eisele, Wally Schirra, and Walter Cunningham are credited as being the first crew to carry out a mini-mutiny in space.)

Dec. 21, 1968: Apollo 8 launches aboard a Saturn V rocket earlier than ferrying three American astronauts — Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Invoice Anders — to the Moon. The crew turns into the first humans to circle the Moon.

President Richard M. Nixon welcomes the Apollo 11 astronauts aboard the usHornet, the restoration ship for the mission, the place they’re quarantined. From left to proper: Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin. Credit score: NASA

July 20, 1969: Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin — whereas command module pilot Michael Collins orbits above — develop into the first humans to set foot on the Moon. The historic feat manages to fill President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 promise of touchdown People on the Moon by the tip of the last decade, some six years after his assassination.

April 13, 1970: The Apollo 13 disaster happens. Three U.S. astronauts — Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise — are inside attain of the Moon when an oxygen tank explodes. The astronauts migrate from the life-sustaining Service Module to the Lunar Module earlier than finishing up a harrowing, multiday return journey again to Earth, which captivated the world.

September 2, 1970: NASA cancels deliberate Apollo 18, 19, and 20 missions, making Apollo 17 this system’s final scheduled mission.

April 19, 1971: The Soviet’s Salyut 1, the world’s first experimental space station, efficiently launches. The station, made by combining elements of the Soviet Almaz and Soyuz spacecraft, measures about 45 ft lengthy and comprises three essential compartments the place future crews can stay and work.

April 21, 1971: Soyuz 10 launches with the plan to develop into the primary mission to board a space station. Although the Soyuz 10 crew docks safely with the Salyut 1, points with the entry hatch stop them from getting into. Throughout their return, leaking poisonous chemical compounds trigger one cosmonaut to move out, however all three crew members finally survive.

Following the one deaths to have ever occurred in space, the us began a coverage requiring all cosmonauts to put on pressurized spacesuits throughout reentry. Credit score: Peakpx.com

June 6, 1971: Soyuz 11 docks with the Salyut 1. The three crewmembers — Georgi Debrovolski, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev — efficiently enter the space station and spend three weeks finishing up experiments, setting the file for the longest time spent in space at the moment. Upon returning to Earth, unsuspecting restoration crews uncover the Soyuz 11 crew died during re-entry, a results of depressurization as a consequence of a defective valve.

Jan. 5, 1972: NASA begins growth of the Area Shuttle, a reusable launch car, underneath the steerage of President Richard Nixon.

Dec. 19, 1972: Apollo 17 returns to Earth, serving as the ultimate mission of the Apollo program.

Could 14, 1973: America launches the first American space station, Skylab, aboard a Saturn V rocket.

November 16, 1973: The infamous Skylab 4 “mutiny” occurs, with astronauts reportedly occurring strike, purposefully turning off their radios and refusing to speak to floor controllers. In actuality, the crew is just overworked and communication is missing. However an extended heart-to-heart with floor controllers helps alleviate the problems.

Soviet cosmonauts and American astronauts shake palms in orbit as the 2 nations’ spacecraft dock throughout the Apollo-Soyuz mission, as seen on this artist’s illustration. Credit score: NASA/Davis Meltzer

July 17 1975: The Space Race ends with the Apollo-Soyuz docking mission — humanity’s first worldwide space mission — when U.S. astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts hyperlink up in Earth orbit and shake palms. Over the subsequent two days, the 2 crews workforce as much as carry out a collection of scientific experiments and know-how demonstrations. However the mission’s essential function is way extra earthly. It’s a political demonstration of peace.



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