Space Timeline

1. Space Timeline By Trey McQuaig Justin Mischler Jeremy Jones A pd.

2. Copernicus • Born in Poland in 1473 • He was a mathematician and an astronomer . • He created a concept of a universe in which the distances of the planets from the sun is in direct relationship with their orbit. • He is best known as the initiator for the Scientific Revolution.

3. Brahe • Brahe was born in Denmark in 1546. • Brahe made a catalogue of over 1000 stars. • In 1572 he observed the supernova called Cassiopeia. He published his findings in Latin and became known as a respected astronomer. • In 1576 Brahe was given his own island, Hven, by King Frederick II.

4. Kepler • Johannes Kepler was born in 1571 in Austria. • He was a mathematician and astronomer, Kepler was an assistant to Brahe. • He is best known for his laws about planetary motion. In his laws he says that planets move in an elliptical motion, they have angular momentum, and planets were kept in their orbit by “vis motrix” .

5. Galileo • Galileo Galilee was born in Florence in 1564. • He wrote a book which he emphasized math over rhetorical questions. • He built his own telescope and discovered many things about our sun, moon, and other planets. • He was honored by having a spacecraft being named after him. It explored Jupiter's moons for over 15 years.

6. Sputnik • Sputnik was a spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union (Russia) in 1957. Its job was to mark the start of the space age. • It was the first artificial satellite in space. • It was only 58 cm in diameter. • Its inventor was Sergei P. Korolev.

7. Mercury • This was an one man mission. John Glenn was aboard Friendship 7. • This mission was a simple orbit around Earth, but was helpful in many later explorations. • Although there was only one man in space, there were 31 others at the station on Earth.

8. Gemini On May 25, 1961 President Kennedy want to reach the moon before the end of the decade. This idea brought Project Gemini to life on January 3, 1962. It actually launched in 1965 It was a two person spacecraft. The only goal of the mission was to set examples for later exploration.

9. Apollo Missions • The Apollo Missions were funded and executed by NASA. • There were 17 missions in all. Only 6 of the missions landed on the moon. • The most famous missions are the Apollo 11 and Apollo 13. Apollo 11 was the first mission to land on the moon. Its astronauts were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. • Apollo 13 was a mission that had difficulties in space. It had to slingshot around the moon and get back to Earth. It never landed on the moon.

10. Shuttle Missions • In 1981, shuttle sts-1 was unsuccessful. It crashed during a test run. • In 1990, shuttle sts-41 launched Oct.6 working great. It landed four days later due to computer problems. • In 2000, shuttle sts-92 was a 12 day mission to the International Space Station. It did it’s mission and landed safely. • In 2008, shuttle sts-123 was a trip to explore space.

11. Mars Rover • There are currently only two Mars Rovers; Spirit and Opportunity • These rovers have been on the planet for over 5 years • The primary goal of the robots is to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils on the planet • Another goal of these rovers was to determine if there is or ever was life on the Mars.

12. Hubble (the man) • Hubble was not only a ingenious mind, but a great athlete, he broke a record in high jumping. He also played basketball and boxed. • Devised a classification system for galaxies; using content, distance, and shape. • Formulated Hubble’s Law which helped astronomers identify the age of the universe.

13. Hubble (the telescope) • It is named after Edwin Hubble • It examines galaxies far away, without the restraint of the atmosphere • It originally had problems so it has been launched multiple times • It is planned that in 2013 a new telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope will replace it.