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Aristotle lived around 350 B. C. His ideas on the solar system included the belief that the planets would orbit forever because of their perfect shape. He had a geocentric viewpoint.
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Ptolemy lived about 120 A. D. He predicted the movement of the planets. His thoughts were that planets moved in circles while they orbited the Earth. He had a geocentric viewpoint.
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Copernicus was the first person to believe that the sun was the center of the universe. This is the heliocentric viewpoint.
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Galileo was a believer of the heliocentric theory and invented the first telescope.
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Sir Isaac Newton discovered the laws of gravity while having his afternoon tea. As an apple fell out of a tree, he realized that gravity that connects the Earth and the moon, and well as all the planets to one another.
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The Soviet Union launched an artificial satellite called Sputnik 1. Sputnik 1 became the first man-made object to orbit Earth. This lanch started the international space race.
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The U.S.A. lanched Vanguard, a rocket. It exploded in flames after rising only four feet.
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A satellite, named Explorer 1, that was built by the U.S. was lanched, breaking altitude records. Explorer 1 orbited for ten years.
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NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is founded to help provide more research on spaceflight and aeronautics.
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Pilots M. Scott Carpenter; Leroy Gordon Cooper; John H. Glenn, Jr.; Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Jr.; Walter M. "Wally" Schirra, Jr.; Alan B. Shepard, Jr.; and Donald K. "Deke" Slayton were chosen to man the Mercury missions.
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The U.S. sent Ham, a chimp, into space aboard Mercury 2. He stayed in space 16.5 minutes.
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The first human in space was Yuri Gagarin. He was from the Soviet Union, flew aboard Vostok 1, and orbited Earth once.
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Alan Shepard was the first American in space. He traveled on Freedom 7 and was in space for 16 minutes.
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John Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth. He orbited Earth three times.
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The first private satellite was lanched by NASA and named Telstar 1. It carried telephone and television signals.
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The first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, was from the Soviet Union and she traveled aboard Vostok 6.
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Aleksei Leonov became the first person to walk in space. He did this for ten minutes while connected to Voskhod by a ten foot safety line.
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The Gemini Space Program began with Gus Grissom and John Yong aboard the spacecraft Molly Brown.
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American Edward White walked in space for 23 minutes, while attached to a 25 foot long oxygen cord.
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The U.S. probe Mariner 4, after an eight-month journey, found and photographed Mars. This prob sends back the first photos of Mars.
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Apollo 1 became NASA's first space tragedy. A fire triggered by an electrical spark in the capsule killed the three astronauts.
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Apollo 8 flew the first lunar orbit mission. This spaceship became the first to see both the entire moon and Earth, as well as go beyond Earth's gravitational field.
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Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon, after traveling on Apollo 11.
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Apollo 13 took off on April 11th. Fifty-six hours into the flight, the oxygen tank ruptured. Through this explosion, the crew survived.
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The first space station for the Soviet Union (named Salyut) lanched an unmanned rocket.
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This mission included the first lunar rover vehicle named "Rover". Moon rocks were brought back from this mission.
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Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to travel beyond Mars, journeying all the way to Jupiter.
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Pioneer 11 became the first to explore Jupiter's polar regions, then traveled to Saturn and photographed both the planet and its moons.
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This was the United States' first space station and remained in use for six years.
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These two countries worked together to create the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first international human space operation.
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Viking 1 completed the first successful soft landing on Mars and began to send pictures to Earth in minutes.
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Twin spacecrafts Voyager 1 and 2 were sent to explore Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 1 is still in space today.
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The European Space Agency (ESA) became the first to lanch a rocket. Their rocket was known as Ariane 1.
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The U.S.'s space shuttle, known as the Space Transportation System (STS), became the world's first reusable spacecraft.
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Astronaut Sally K. Ride became the first American woman in space, twenty years after Valentina Tereshkova.
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Columbia (the spacecraft) transported Spacelab, which is the first flight of this lab in space.
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The spacecraft Challenger exploded because of a fire in the main fuel tank. All seven crew members were killed.
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The first Russian space station, called Mir, began and then stayed in action 15 years.
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The space shuttle Discovery successfully carried the first Hubble telescope into space. The telescope was used to examine the Milky Way, our solar system, and other galaxies.
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A "Joint Statement on Cooperation in Space" was issued between the U.S. and Russia, after the creation of the Russian Space Agency (RSA) in April 1992.
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The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian space station Mir. There were eight more docking missions between 1995 and 1998.
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The U.S. Pathfinder probe, named Sojourner, landed on Mars exactly seven months after leaving Earth. This was the first man-made craft to land on the surface of another planet.
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The lanch and joining of the Russian Zarya and U.S. Unity modules marked the begining of the International Space Station.
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American billionaire Dennis Tito payed the Russian Space Agency about 20 million dollars to take him on a trip to the International Space Station.
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The U.S. space shuttle Columbia broke apart while returning to Earth over East Texas, and killed all seven crew members.
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NASA's Spitzer space telescope was lanched into space by a Delta rocket and discovered energy radiating from objects in space.
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China became the third nation in space, more than 40 years after the Soviet Union lanched its first manned flight.
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Cassini-Huygens (an orbiter built by NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency) arrived at Saturn's rings and began snapping photos.
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SpaceShipOne becomes the first privatly funded nongovernmental manned spacecraft.
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The spacecraft Deep Impact was sent to discover the makeup of a comet, only to be hit by one in the middle of this mission.
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This probe's mission was to study the history of water and learn more about the geology on Mars before any human exploration.
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A new rocket, known as SpaceX, is lanched successfully. It will be used to carry astronauts and supplies into space.
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The space shuttle Discovery was lanched on this date for its 35th and final flight. This trip was used to deliver supplies to the International Space Station.
