Space Age

The Space Age is the time period in human history related to the space race, space exploration, and space technology. Most people say this started when Sputnik 1 was launched in 1957, and continues to today. This has influenced culture such as in movies, television, music, art, and architecture. 

Chronology

 Date First ... Mission Person(s) Country June 20, 1944  Artificial object in outer space, i.e. beyond the Kármán line  V-2 rocket, test flight"Long-range" in the context of the time. See NASA history article  –        N/A Germany  October 24, 1946 Pictures from space (105 km)  U.S.-launched V-2 rocket from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.  –        N/A United States February 20, 1947  Animals in space   U.S.-launched V-2 rocket on 20 February 1947 from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.  - fruit flies  United States October 4, 1957  Artificial satellite  Sputnik 1  –        N/A Soviet Union November 3, 1957  Animal in orbit  Sputnik 2  Laika the dog Soviet Union January 2, 1959  Lunar flyby, and first spacecraft to achieve a heliocentric orbit  Luna 1https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1959-012A  - 27 February 2020  –        N/A  Soviet Union September 12, 1959  Impacted on the Lunar surface; thereby becoming the first human object to reach another celestial body  Luna 2  –        N/A  Soviet Union October 7, 1959  Pictures of the far side of the Moon  Luna 3   –        N/A  Soviet Union  April 12, 1961  Human in space  Vostok 1  Yuri Gagarin  Soviet Union  May 5, 1961  Manual orientation of crewed spacecraft and first human space mission that landed with pilot still in spacecraft, thus the first complete human spaceflight by FAI definitions Freedom 7  Alan Shepard  United States December 14, 1962  Successful flyby of another planet (Venus closest approach 34,773 kilometers)  Mariner 2  –        N/A United States March 18, 1965  Spacewalk  Voskhod 2  Alexei Leonov   Soviet Union December 15, 1965  Space rendezvous  Gemini 6A With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. and Gemini 7  Schirra, Stafford, Borman, Lovell  United States February 3, 1966Soft landing on the Moon by a spacecraftLuna 9–        N/ASoviet UnionMarch 1, 1966First human-made object to impact another planetVenera 3–        N/ASoviet Union March 16, 1966  Orbital docking between two spacecraft  Gemini 8 & Agena Target Vehicle   Neil Armstrong, David Scott  United States April 3, 1966  Artificial satellite of another celestial body (other than the Sun)  Luna 10  –        N/A  Soviet UnionOctober 18, 1967First spacecraft to perform transmit data from the atmosphere of another planetVenera 4–        N/ASoviet Union December 21–27, 1968  First humans to enter the gravitational influence of another celestial body (the Moon) and orbit it  Apollo 8  Borman, Lovell, Anders United States   July 20, 1969  Humans land and walk on another celestial body (Moon)  Apollo 11  Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin  United StatesDecember 15, 1970First telemetry from the surface of another planetVenera 7–        N/ASoviet Union April 19, 1971  Operational space station  Salyut 1  –        N/A  Soviet Union June 7, 1971  Resident crew  Soyuz 11 ()  Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, Viktor Patsayev  Soviet Union July 20, 1976  Pictures from the surface of Mars  Viking 1Image – Viking 1 Approaches Mars  –        N/A  United States April 12, 1981  Reusable orbital spaceship  STS-1  Young, Crippen  United States February 19, 1986  Long-duration space station  Mir  –        N/A  Soviet Union  February 14, 1990  Photograph of the whole Solar SystemSee  under "Extended Mission"  Voyager 1–        N/A United States November 20, 1998  Current space station  International Space Station  –        N/A  Russia  August 25, 2012  Artificial space probe in interstellar space  Voyager 1–        N/A United States November 12, 2014  Artificial probe to make a planned and soft landing on a comet (67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko)Rosetta  –        N/A European Space Agency July 14, 2015  Nation to have its space probes to explore all of the nine major planets recognized in 1981  New Horizons–        N/AUnited States December 20, 2015  Vertical landing of an orbital rocket booster on a ground pad.  Falcon 9 flight 20–        N/AUnited States April 8, 2016  Vertical landing of an orbital rocket booster on a floating platform at sea.  SpaceX CRS-8 –        N/AUnited States March 30, 2017  Relaunch and second landing of a used orbital rocket booster.  SES-10–        N/AUnited States January 3, 2019  Soft landing on the lunar far side by a spacecraft. Chang'e 4 –        N/A China May 30, 2020  First human orbital spaceflight launched by a private company.  Crew Dragon Demo-2/Crew Demo-2/SpaceX Demo-2/Dragon Crew Demo-2 Bob Behnken, Doug Hurley United States

References

Category:Outer space
Category:Periods and ages in history