NASA
Space Age History
The Start of the Space Age
"An Act to provide for
research into the
problems of flight within
and outside the Earth's
atmosphere, and for
other purposes."
With this simple preamble,
the Congress and the
President of the United
States created:
•National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
(NASA) on October 1,
1958.
So it Begins….
The “Cold War”:
• After WWII the USA and the USSR were
locked in a struggle to prove which
country’s ideas and ways were the best.
Space Race
During this period,
space exploration
emerged as a major
area of contest and
became known as the
space race.
The first satellites
October 4, 1957 the
Soviets launched Sputnik
1, first unmanned satellite
to orbit the Earth.
The first satellites
October 4, 1957 the
Soviets launched Sputnik
1, first unmanned satellite
to orbit the Earth.
January 31, 1958 the US
launched it’s first
unmanned satellite,
Explorer 1
Sputnik I The Launch
Explorer I
Left to Right: Dr. William Pickering, Dr.
James Van Allen and Dr. Wernher von
Braun
hold aloft a model of Explorer I, the first
successful US satellite, launched Jan. 31,
1958.
NASA Programs
Mercury Program- 1st
manned flights
NASA Programs
Mercury Program- 1st
manned flights
•Alan Shepard – 1st American
in Space (did not orbit) May 5,
1961
NASA Programs
Mercury Program- 1st
manned flights
•Alan Shepard – 1st American
in Space (did not orbit) May 5,
1961
•Soviets beat us by a few
months-
NASA Programs
Mercury Program- 1st
manned flights
•Alan Shepard – 1st American
in Space (did not orbit) May 5,
1961
•Soviets beat us by a few
months-
Yuri Gagarin – 1st man in space
on April 12, 1961.
John H. Glenn Jr. became the
first U.S. astronaut to orbit
the Earth on February 20,
1962.
John H. Glenn Jr. became the
first U.S. astronaut to orbit
the Earth on February 20,
1962.
Gemini Program – Walk in
space & docking
John H. Glenn Jr. became the
first U.S. astronaut to orbit
the Earth on February 20,
1962.
Gemini Program – Walk in
space & docking
•June 3, 1965, when Edward H.
White, Jr., became the first
U.S. astronaut to conduct a
spacewalk
Going to the Moon - Project
Apollo
Apollo Program:
A NASA priority on May 25 1961, when
President John F. Kennedy announced
"I believe that this nation should
commit itself to achieving the goal,
before this decade is out, of landing
a man on the Moon and returning
him safely to Earth."
A direct response to Soviet successes in
space
Apollo Program
Apollo I- Disaster, astronauts
burned on launch pad
Apollo 11 – Neil
Armstrong- 1 st
man on the
moon
Apollo 13 – near disaster
Oxygen tank burst while in space
causing all involved to get very
creative in April 1970.
Apollo 13 – near disaster
Oxygen tank burst while in space
causing all involved to get very
creative in April 1970.
Due to the explosion Apollo 13 never
landed on the moon.
Space Shuttle Program
Space Shuttle Program
Reusable space transportation
Space Shuttle Program
Reusable space transportation
Rides piggyback on 747 on
Earth
Space Shuttle Program
Reusable space transportation
Rides piggyback on 747 on
Earth
Disasters
Space Shuttle Program
Reusable space transportation
Rides piggyback on 747 on
Earth
Disasters
•Challenger exploded shortly
after lift-off
Space Shuttle Program
Reusable space transportation
Rides piggyback on 747 on
Earth
Disasters
•Challenger exploded shortly
after lift-off
•Columbia burned on reentry
Probes –
•Unmanned missions that
travel farther than humans
go.
the Mars Pathfinder
spacecraft landed on
Mars on July 4, 1997 and
explored the surface of
the planet with its
miniature rover
Probes –
•Unmanned missions that
travel farther than humans
go.
Voyager 11 and Voyager
2 launched in 1977 are
now in the “heliosheath”
(the outer edges of the
galaxy)
NASA Future
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/75262
99.stm
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2007/09/24/scie
nce/space/1194817120962/sputnik-s-legacy.html
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/apollo11/
http://www.yourdiscovery.com/video/when-we-
left-earth-apollo-11/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/75234
60.stm
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/