Timeline: inportant dates in space exploration

1769

Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin Franklin attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollution.

Jan 2, 1840

First clear telescopic photograph of another world: the Moon.

Astronomers quickly embraced the use of photographic plates because of their good resolution and the ability to make much larger images.Daguerre himself is believed to be the first person to take a photograph of the moon, using his daguerreotype process, on January 2, 1839. Unfortunately, in March of that same year, his entire laboratory burnt to the ground, destroying all his written records and much of his early experimental work–and that historical image of the moon.

1854

Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden

1866

The term ecology is coined in German as Oekologie by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel

1872

The term acid rain is coined by Robert Angus Smith in the book Air and Rain

1905

The term smog is coined by Henry Antoine Des Voeux in a London meeting to express concern over air pollution

Apr 1, 1914

Goddard files for and is subsequently awarded U.S. patents on multistage and liquid-fueled rockets.

Goddard successfully pioneered modern methods such as two-axis control (gyroscopes and steerable thrust) to allow rockets to control their flight effectively. Although his work in the field was revolutionary, Goddard received little public support, moral or monetary, for his research and development work.

1916

US Congress created the National Park Service

Apr 10, 1946

First space research flight (cosmic radiation experiments).

The first successful orbital launch was of the Soviet unmanned Sputnik 1 mission on 4 October 1957. The satellite weighed about 83 kg and is believed to have orbited Earth at a height of about 250 km . It had two radio transmitters which emitted “beeps” that could be heard by radios around the globe. The results indicated that the satellite was not punctured by a meteoroid. Sputnik 1 was launched by an R-7 rocket. It burned up upon re-entry on 3 of January

Feb 20, 1947

First animals in space (fruit flies).

Fruit flies were the first animals to be launched into space. In 1947, they blasted off in a V-2 rocket, reaching an altitude of about 68 miles in less than 200 seconds before returning to Earth by parachute.

May 14, 1949

Albert II, a rhesus monkey, became the first primate and first mammal in space, flying on a V-2 rocket.

Albert II, a male rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), was the first primate and first mammal in space. He flew from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, United States, to an altitude of 83 miles (134 km) aboard a U.S. V-2 sounding rocket

Sep 20, 1956

The first rocket to pass the thermopause and enter the exosphere.

At 682 miles (1,098 km) altitude and 3,335 miles range, the 3-stage Jupiter-C breaks both records and achieves MACH 18 velocity.

Aug 7, 1959

First photograph of Earth from orbit.

From the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the U.S. unmanned spacecraft Explorer 6 is launched into an orbit around the earth.

1962

Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring

1968

The Apollo 8 picture of Earthrise

Jul 20, 1969

20 July 1969 First human on the Moon.

First human on a different celestial body than Earth. First space launch from a celestial body other than the Earth. First sample return from the Moon.

1970

First Earth Day – April 22. Millions of people gather in the United States for the first Earth Day. US Environmental Protection Agency established

Mar 3, 1972

First human made object sent on escape trajectory away from the Sun.

completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter.[5] Pioneer 10 became the first of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System. This space exploration project was conducted by the NASA Ames Research Center in California. The space probe was manufactured by TRW Inc.

Aug 19, 1982

First mixed gender crew aboard space station, and first woman, Svetlana Savitskaya, on space station.

Svetlana Y. Savitskaya, launched with her two crewmates aboard Soyuz T-7 to spend a week aboard the Salyut-7 space station. The next day they joined the two long-duration resident crewmembers aboard, marking the first time a space station hosted a mixed-gender crew.

1989