Wernher von Braun: Father of Space Exploration

• Along with other German scientists, developed the first rockets during and after World War II

• Came to the U.S. after WWII, lived and worked in Huntsville, AL from 1950 – 1970

• Work provided the basis for all early NASA missions

• First director of NASA

Start of the “Space Race”

• October 4th, 1957, Russia launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into orbit

• Caused a wide-spread panic in the U.S.

• People feared the Soviet Union would dominate the world in space exploration

Formation of NASA

• Founded 1958 after Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act

• Formed in direct response to the launch of Sputnik• Purpose to provide organization and direction of U.S.

space program• First missions focused on getting humans into space,

studying effects of space on humans, and returning astronauts safely to Earth

Competitors in the Space Race

• After the launch of Sputnik, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. were in direct competition to have most advanced space program

• Viewed as contest between communism and capitalism• National pride and fears for national defense played large roles

in motivating space race

United States

Soviet Union

First Living Creatures in Space

The distinction of being the firstanimal into space goes to thefruit fly (1947).

The first monkey in space wasAlbert (1948). Between 1948and 1985, the U.S. sent 32monkeys into space (all namedAlbert).

Sputnik II (1957)carried the first animal into orbit – a dog namedLaika. She died during the flight.

First Human in Space

Yuri and his

spacecraft, Vostok 1

On April 12, 1961, the Soviets succeeded in launching the first human into space, Yuri Gagarin, and returning him safely to Earth

The Mercury Project

• NASA’s first mission• Mission goals:

– getting an astronaut into space

– completing an orbit– returning astronaut to

Earth safely• Several preliminary

Mercury launches were unmanned

The Mercury - Atlas I spacecraft

Enos the chimpanzee, crew of the Mercury – Atlas V spacecraft

First American in SpaceAlan Shepard becomes the first American

astronaut to enter space, aboard the Freedom 7 spacecraft, on May 5, 1961

Alan and his spacecraft, Freedom 7

Mercury Friendship 7On February 20, 1962, John Glennbecame the first American to orbit the earth. In five hours, he orbitedthe earth three times.

In 1998, Glenn returned to space in theSpace Shuttle Discovery. Then 77, he was (and still is) the oldest person to fly in space.

The Gemini Project• Involved sending two

astronauts into orbit for longer periods of time

• Paved the way and tested equipment for the Apollo missions to the moon

• Astronaut Ed White, II performs the first spacewalk by an American during the Gemini IV mission

Astronaut Ed White, II

The rendezvous of the Gemini VI and Gemini VII spacecraft

President Kennedy’s Challenge

• May 21, 1961: President Kennedy challenged the United States to land astronauts on the moon and to return them safely to Earth

• Challenge provided a “finish line” for the space race

President John F. Kennedy

The Apollo Missions• Apollo 11-17 involved landing

men on the moon; Apollo 13 was aborted due to a malfunction

• July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong of Apollo 11 were first men on the moon

• Each mission consisted of three astronauts: one stayed on Command Module in lunar orbit, two descended in Lunar Module to moon’s surface

• Total of 12 men have walked on the moon

Buzz Aldrin, in Apollo 11 and on the moon (above and right)

The Apollo 11 launch

Neil Armstrong

When did the space race end?• Some historians believe the Space Race ended

when Apollo 11 returned safely from the Moon• Others believe that the Race ended when the

United States’ Apollo 18 spacecraft docked with a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 1975

A drawing of the Apollo –

Soyuz rendezvous

(Apollo 18 is on the left)

Skylab: The First Space Station• Launched by the U.S. in 1973• Built from a modified Apollo command module• Occupied by 3 different teams of astronauts for a total of 171 days• Purposely burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere in 1979• Over 2,000 hours of scientific and medical experiments performed

onboard

Two photographs of Skylab, taken by

astronauts on their approach to the space

station

Space Shuttles• Originally spacecraft were used only

once• In the 1980s, NASA developed reusable

spacecraft, the space shuttles• Launched like rockets but land like

modern-day airplanes• Considered the most complex machines

ever built• Used to take satellites and instruments

into space• Originally five shuttles, two of which

have been destroyed (Challenger, Columbia), three remaining in service (Atlantis, Endeavor, Discovery)

• Fleet of shuttles scheduled to be retired in 2010

The International Space Station (ISS)

• 15 nations participating• Assembly began in 1998;

should be completed by 2010

• Teams of astronauts have lived aboard the ISS since 2001

• Provides a permanent laboratory for conducting experiments in space

Images of the

ISS

Unmanned Missions: Space Probes and Landers

• Besides manned missions like Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, NASA launched a series of unmanned missions

• Probes sent to study the outer planets and to land on planets of the inner solar system like Mercury, Venus, and Mars

• Probes also sent to gather information about the moon before astronauts ventured there

Why send robotic probes instead of human?

• Benefits:– Cheaper: there’s no need to send along food, air, and living

space for astronauts or fuel for a round-trip– Safer: there’s no danger to human life

• Drawbacks:– Robotic probes can only do what they’re programmed to do; they

cannot grow or adapt to face unforeseen changes– Robotic probes often must be controlled remotely from Earth– Some feel that robotic missions lack the romance of discovery

and experience of manned missions

Voyager

• Launched in 1977, first spacecraft to visit the outer planets of our solar system and send back pictures of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

• Continue to function to this day

• Now the farthest man-made objects in the solar system

Images of Saturn (left) and Jupiter (below) from the Voyager spacecraft

The Hubble Telescope

• In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was placed in orbit by the shuttle Discovery

• Example of scientific instrument in space• Used to measure the age and size of the universe • Able to take extremely clear images that are

undistorted by Earth’s atmosphere

From left: Images from the Hubble telescope of the Sombrero Galaxy, Orion Nebula, Messier 101 Galaxy

The Cassini-Huygens Mission

• First spacecraft to explore Saturn and its rings and moons from orbit• Has been in orbit around Saturn since January 30, 2004• The Huygens probe was released from the Cassini spacecraft in

January 2005 to study Titan, Saturn’s largest moon

An image of Saturn relayed to Earth by the Cassini – Huygens spacecraft

Mars Rovers

• Probes launched to Mars with robotic rovers to explore surface

• Spirit landed on Mars January 4, 2004; Opportunity landed December 12, 2004

• Primary mission scheduled to last ~ 3 months, but mission has been active over two Earth years

• Rovers remotely controlled by scientists on Earth

Top and bottom: images of Mars from the rovers. Left: an artist’s vision of Spirit on Mars

In Memory

Apollo 1: Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chafee January 27, 1967

In Memory

Space Shuttle Challenger January 28, 1986Ronald Reagan Tribute

STS-51-L crew: (front row) Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair; (back row) Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik.

In Memory

Space Shuttle Columbia Feb. 1, 2003