Space Missions

Today we are living in Space Age. The launch of artificial satellite 'Sputnik' in Space by Soviet Union in October 1957 marked the start of golden era of Space Age. Space Age contributed to many technological advancements across the world and it happened in the wake of planning and implementation of many Space Exploration Missions undertaken mainly by the countries USSR and USA. Grasping the objective, execution and achievement of such missions is a stupendous challenge and the following link is devised to ease out complications and one can get the full details of each of such space missions by clicking the following link where an user is prompted to supply a keyword for a space mission :

Space Missions (Click)

Start of Space Missions

In the latter half of the 20th century, rockets were developed that were powerful enough to overcome the force of gravity to reach orbital velocities, paving the way for space exploration to become a reality.

In World War II, V-2 missiles, which travelled more than 3,500 miles per hour were used. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union created their own missile programs.

On Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviets launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into space. Four years later on April 12, 1961, Russian Lt. Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth in Vostok 1. His flight lasted 108 minutes, and Gagarin reached an altitude of 327 kilometers (about 202 miles).

The first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, went into orbit on Jan. 31, 1958. In 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American to fly into space. On Feb. 20, 1962, John Glenn’s historic flight made him the first American to orbit Earth.

The launching of 'Sputnik-1' by Soiviet Union in the year 1957 had initiated super power rivalry and cold war between Soviet Union and USA. The American response was establishment of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). President Dwight D. Eisenhower created DARPA to sort out and organize competing American missile and space projects and to delineate boundaries separating military from civilian space research. DARPA's projects contributed to many of its military innovations have had great influence in the civilian world, particularly in the areas of electronics, telecommunications, and computer science. The best known example is the ARPANET, an early network of time-sharing computers that formed the basis of the Internet.

Humans have always looked up into the night sky and dreamed about space. Man's quest for experimenting and exploring Space has become reality today. The invention of powered flight and 100 years of aviation history had made a strong foundation and prelude to space travel.