A Brief History of Space Exploration Focus on manned space flight Little emphasis on non-US...
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Transcript of A Brief History of Space Exploration Focus on manned space flight Little emphasis on non-US...
A Brief History of Space Exploration
• Focus on manned space flight
• Little emphasis on non-US contributions
• VERY limited highlights of unmanned missions
Robert Goddard
• Father of American Rocketry
• First liquid propelled rocket - 1926
Dr. Werner von Braun
• Leader of Nazi rocketry research
• Inventor of the V-2 Rocket
• War criminal? Victim of Nazi “scorched Earth”?
• American hero?
I have learned to use the word "impossible“
with the greatest caution.”
• Slated for execution to prevent capture by the Allies
• A “prize” for which the Russians and Americans competed
• Surrendered to Americans
• Became the “father” of the U.S. space program
Sputnik – October 4, 1957“October Sky”
The “Space Race”
• Sputnik puts America into near panic
• 4/12/61 USSR puts Yuri Gagarin into space
• America Responds with Project Mercury
Project Mercury – “The Right Stuff”
• Mercury Redstone Rocket
• Single astronaut
• First U.S. manned ballistic flight – Alan Shephard 5/5/61
Astronaut and SenatorJohn Glenn
• Mercury Freedom 7• First American to orbit
Earth 2/20/62• Oldest person to travel
in space (Space Shuttle)
Liberty 7 on the seafloor
A near tragedy
Project Gemini
• Titan Rocket• Two astronauts• First “Space Walk”
(EVA)• Rendezvous with
Agena modules and with other Gemini capsules
Gemini capsule
Ed White Gemini 4 EVA
Mercury and Gemini –preludes to Apollo Project
Apollo 8 Liftoff from KSC12/21/68
Earthrise from lunar orbit – Apollo 8
Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin
July 16, 1969
Apollo 11 LM – “Eagle”
“Houston, the Eagle has landed.”
Neil Armstrong – First Man on the Moon
Buzz Aldrin – second man on the moon
Lunar Rock fromApollo 11 Mission
Buzz Aldrin
Apollo 11 – American Heroes
Earthrise from lunar orbit
Apollo 17 Lunar Rover – 12/72
Apollo 17 Geologist Harrison Schmidt
Apollo 17 – Harrison Schmidt and Lunar Rover
Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt in the field with Oneonta
Alumni and Students - 2003
Skylab – a bridge between Apollo and the Shuttle - 1973
Space Shuttle – 1980’s to present (?)
Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster
• January 28, 1986
• Shuttle blows up 73 seconds after liftoff
• Six professional astronauts – a spectrum of America
• Christa McAuliffe – first teacher in space
HST – precious cargo for the Shuttle
Hubble Space Telescope
Hubble probes the mysteries of the cosmos
Soyuz – the Russian endeavor
Mir – a record of Russian accomplishment
Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker
• Gene Shoemaker – a would-be astronaut
• Geologist and land-based explorer of space
• Pioneer in study of impact structures
Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Jupiter
Scar from Shoemaker-Levy 9
Some Current Efforts
• International Space Station
• Search for extra-terrestrial planets
• Monitoring Earth’s atmosphere
• Sofia – Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
• Mars Global Surveyor
• Mars Rovers
Unmanned Exploration
• Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner Rover
Mars Pathfinder
Panorama from surface of Mars
Messenger
• Messenger will arrive at Mercury in 2011
• Begin 1 year orbit to image and map surface