Space History

History of Flight

• 1900 - Pioneers began with gliders made of little more than wood and canvas and risked their lives to further our knowledge of flight.
• 1920 - Spectacular air shows drew huge crowds, single seater monoplanes traveled faster than ever before, and aviation capture the attention of a word wide audience
• 1930 - Golden age of aviation brought aircraft that were safer and more reliable than ever before. Air travel remained the province of the wealthy.
• 1940 - The innovations of the time included high speed long range bombers and the cat changed the face of modern warfare. After the war large numbers of piston engines aircraft were used for commercial transport until superseded by jet power.
• 1950 - The jet age came into its own with setting of new speed records and the first jet airliner. Electronic control made flying much safer than ever before
• 1960 - The cold war gave rise to ever faster jets, sleek spy planes, and sophisticated helicopters. Airliners such as the Boeing 707 came into sue on the long haul routes.
• 1970 - The Boeing 747 revolutionized commercial air transport. Fighter planes were routinely flying faster than the speed of sound, and Concorde brought the same performance to the civilian market. Vertical takeoff allowed powerful combat jets to be launched from the ocean going carriers
• 1980 - Flying became a standard mode of travel, creating a fiercely competitive market. Jets became increasingly powerful, and the military revealed stealth planes.
• 1990 - Airlines became bigger than ever before, and the executive jet market expanded. Military planes took a leap forward with B2 Spirit flying wing.
• 2000 - After 100 years of flight there are more frontiers of flight for journeying to the edge of space.

History of Space Flight

• 1950 - Space Exploration – Russia Sputnik
• 1952: Russia: First artificial satellite Sputnik 1 (10/4/1957)
• 1955: Hovercraft: Christopher Cockerell
• 1957: USSR: Sputnik 2: Laika
• 1958: USA: Explorer 1: Discovered the Van Allen Belts
• 1958: Flight data recorder: David Warren
• 1959: USSR: Luna 2: First spacecraft to reach the Moon
• 1959: USSR: Luna 3: First circumnavigation of Moon
• 1962: USA: Mariner 2: First interplanetary mission – Venus flyby
• 1962: USSR: Ranger 7: Impact with the Moon
• 1964: USA: Mariner 4: First close up pictures of Mars
• 1964: USA: Mariner 5: Venus flyby
• 1966: USSR: Luna 9: First successful lunar soft landing
• 1966: USSR: Luna 10: First spacecraft in lunar orbit
• 1966: USA: Surveyor 1: First US soft landing on the Moon
• 1966: USA: Lunar Orbiter 1: First lunar orbiting survey vehicle
• 1967: USSR: Venera 4: First data back from inside atmosphere of Venus
• 1969: USA: Mariner 6: Mars flyby, first high resolution images from Mars
• 1970: USSR: Venera 7: First data back from surface of Venus
• 1970: USSR: Luna 16: Soft landing on Moon with return of samples to Earth
• 1971: USSR: Mars 2: Mars orbiter and landers, only orbiter successful
• 1971: USA: Mariner 9: Mars orbiter, first global mapping of planet
• 1972: Pioneer 10: First Jupiter flyby
• 1972: Venera 8: First chemical analysis of Venus
• 1973: USA: Pioneer 11: Second Jupiter flyby and first Saturn flyby
• 1973: USA: Mariner 10: First flyby of Mercury, obtained Venus data en route
• 1975: USSR: Venera 9: Data from surface of Venus and from orbiter
• 1975: USSR: Venera 10: Data from surface of Venus and from orbiter
• 1975: USA: Viking 1: First soft landing on Mars, also Mars orbiter
• 1975: USA: Viking 2: Second soft landing on Mars, also Mars orbiter
• 1977: USA: Voyager 1: Flybys of Jupiter, Saturn , Titan
• 1977: USA: Voyager 2: Grand your flybys of Jupiter, Saturn , Uranus, Neptune
• 1978: USA: Pioneer Venus Orbiter: First radar mapping of Venus from orbit
• 1978: USA: Pioneer Venus Probe Carrier: Atmospheric composition, radiation balance, cloud particle characteristics from four entry probes
• 1978: USSR: Venera 11: Atmospheric and cloud composition of Venus, surface studies
• 1978: USSR: Venera 12: Atmospheric and cloud composition of Venus, surface studies
• 1981: USSR: Venera 13: Venus atmosphere and surface studies: detection of lightning discharges
• 1981: USSR : Venera 14: Venus atmosphere and surface studies: detection of lightning discharges
• 1983: USSR: Venera 15: Orbiting radar mapping of Venus surface topography
• 1983: USSR: Venera 16: Orbiting radar mapping of Venus surface topography
• 1984: USSR: VEGA 1: Venus flyby, descent probe landing, balloon deployment
• 1984: USSR: VEGA 2: Closest to Halley nucleus, imaging
• 1985: ESA: Giotto: Closest approach to Halley nucleus, imaging
• 1989: USA: Magellan: Orbital radar mapping of Venus
• 1989: USA: Galileo: Flybys of Moon, Venus, and asteroids Gaspra and Ida, jovian orbital tour
• 1996: USA: NEAR: First near Earth asteroid mission, orbiting Eros
• 1996: USA: Mars Global Surveyor: Mars polar orbiter
• 1996: USA: Mars Pathfinder: Mars lander, small rover

International Space Station

• Space station assembled from modules in Earth orbit largely by the U.S. and Russia, with assistance and components from a multinational consortium.
• 1998: The launches of a Russian control module and a U.S.-built connecting node, which were linked in orbit by space shuttle astronauts
• The project, which began as a U.S. effort, was long delayed by funding and technical problems. Originally called Freedom in the 1980s, it was redesigned in the 1990s to reduce costs and expand international involvement, at which time it was renamed. In-orbit construction started in late 1998 with the launches of a Russian control module and a U.S.-built connecting node, which were linked in orbit by space shuttle astronauts. In mid 2000 a habitat and control center module was added, and later in the year the ISS received its first resident crew, comprising two Russians and an American. Other elements were subsequently joined to the station, with the overall plan calling for a complex of laboratories and habitats crossed by a long truss supporting four large solar power arrays. Station construction involved at least 16 countries, including Canada, Japan, Brazil, and 11 members of the European Space Agency. Much of the early work aboard the ISS would focus on long-term life-sciences and material-sciences research in the weightless environment. It was expected to serve as the basis for human operations in Earth orbit for at least the first quarter of the 21st century.

Venture Star - Next generation reusable spacecraft

• 2004 - Fixed the tanks for spacecraft.