Space Exploration from Earth
543 – Nicolaus Copernicus published On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres claiming that the Earth and the planets orbited the Sun.
1609 – Galileo first used the telescope to view the stars and planets.
1668 – Isaac Newton invented the first reflecting telescope.
1686 – Isaac Newton published the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy where he laid the foundations for universal gravitation and described the motion of the Sun and the planets.
1801 – The first asteroid, Ceres, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.
1926 – Robert Goddard invented and launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. Goddard’s work on rocket technology would make spaceflight possible.
1942 – The German V-2 rocket became the first vehicle to enter outer space exploration from earth.
1947 – Fruit flies became the first animals to go to outer space exploration from earth aboard a V-2 rocket sent by the United States.
Must Read: Milestone in Space Explorations
The Space Age
1957 – On August 21, 1957, Russia (USSR) launched Sputnik 1 which became the first satellite into orbit around Earth. This ushered in the Space Age. It also started Space Race between the Russians and the United States.
1957 – On November 3, 1957, the Russian dog Laika became the first animal in orbit.
1961 – On April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space and the first human to orbit the Earth.
1961 – Alan Shepherd became the first American in space just three weeks after Yuri Gagarin.
1962 – John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth.
1963 – Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space.
1965 – Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was the first man to walk in space.
1965 – The USA spacecraft Mariner 4 made the first flyby of the planet Mars.
1969 – The Apollo 11 spacecraft landed on the Moon and Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon.
1971 – Russia launched the first space station called Salyut 1.
1971 – The Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit Mars.
1973 – The Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to flyby the planet Jupiter.
1973 – The United States launched its fist space station called Skylab.
1975 – The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project became the first multinational manned space mission. This effectively brought the Space Race between Russia and the U.S. to an end.
1976 – Viking 1 successfully landed on Mars. It sent back pictures and scientific data for the next six years.
1981 – The United States launched the first Space Shuttle, Columbia. The program eventually launched 135 space missions over the next thirty years.
1983 – Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.
1986 – The Mir became the first consistently inhabited space station. It remained in orbit until 2001.
1990 – The Hubble Space Telescope was carried into orbit by a Space Shuttle.
1998 – The International Space Station was launched into space.
2001 – The NEAR Shoemaker made the first landing on an asteroid.
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