The distance that mankind challenges space can be shared by both China and foreign countries.

Putnik 1 artificial earth satellite was successfully launched by the Soviet Union in 1957.

Since ancient times, the pace of human exploration of space has never stopped. A few days ago, Wired magazine rated 10 as a landmark event in human space journey since 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite:

1, 1957 The Soviet Union successfully launched the artificial earth satellite "Putnik1"(Sputnik1,which means companion star in Russian).

1957 10, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial earth satellite "Putnik 1", which marked a real step for mankind to March into space.

With the successful launch of this satellite, the political, military and technical ties between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, have also undergone profound changes. As the Soviets first launched the first man-made earth satellite, the Americans immediately gave up the previous plan to develop the pioneer satellite and began to implement the "Explorer" plan.

2. 1958, the United States successfully launched the satellite explorer I.

The successful launch of "Explorer 1" indicates that the United States has also entered the space age.

Explorer 1 is a tiny satellite with a length of about 203 cm and a radius of 15.9 cm. Its total weight is only 30 pounds, half of which are scientific instruments. In addition, Explorer 1 is equipped with a cosmic ray detection device, which consists of a series of temperature sensors and a microscope, and is mainly used to detect space radiation. The Explorer 1 orbited the Earth 12.5 times a day, running within the range of 354 km to 25 15 km from the Earth.

Although the structure of Explorer I is simple, it can run normally. In NASA's own words, "Explorer I adhered to the principle of simplicity in design and construction, but its quality was excellent because the satellite could reach a limited height and launch capacity at that time, and only rockets could be used to carry low-weight satellites. The launch and operation of Explorer 1 was very successful.

3. 196 1 year, enos became the first gorilla to enter earth orbit.

In order to test whether the space environment will cause harm to human body, American scientists plan to send monkeys, orangutans and dogs into space for testing first.

196165438+1October 3 1 day, the Mercury spacecraft flew 700 kilometers across the Atlantic with a chimpanzee named Ham. However, the spacecraft broke down in flight, and Ham the chimpanzee survived and landed successfully at sea.

196 1 year165438+1October 29th, Enos, a chimpanzee who was trained in holloman Aero-Medical Laboratory, became the first mammal to be sent into earth orbit and fly around the earth. Enos entered Earth orbit with Mercury -Atlas 4. However, due to technical problems, Enos only flew around the earth twice. Subsequently, he successfully returned to Earth, healthy, but died of dysentery after 1 1 month.

4. The first manned spacecraft Soyuz-1 (Soyuz 1) was launched in 1967.

1967, when the former Soviet Union 1 spacecraft returned to Earth, the spacecraft crashed due to a parachute device failure, and astronaut Vladimir marov died on the spot, thus becoming the first astronaut killed in human space exploration.

In fact, Soyuz 1 is only a part of the space exploration series. At that time, the plan was that after komarov returned, another astronaut would take off on Soyuz spacecraft. However, komarov's spaceship crashed due to malfunction, and the whole plan was cancelled.

5. 1968, "apollo 8" completed the first human flight around the moon.

Three astronauts on the apollo 8 spacecraft (Frank Baumann, James Love and William Anders) became the first astronauts to successfully see the back of the moon. Apollo 8's successful flight around the moon paved the way for 1 1 Apollo11in 1969 to land on the moon for the first time.

6. 1969 "Apollo 1 1" spacecraft realized manned landing on the moon for the first time.

1On February 3, 966, the "Moon 9" spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union successfully landed on the surface of the moon for the first time and sent back panoramic photos of the moon to the Earth. However,1On July 20th, 1969, American astronaut neil armstrong successfully landed on the surface of the moon in the Apollo 1 1 spacecraft, becoming the first man to land on the moon, realizing his dream of landing on the moon. The United States has also won a very meaningful victory in the space race with the Soviet Union.

At that time, michaeljohn collins, the pilot of the command module, flew around the moon on Apollo 1 1, while Armstrong and another astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, left Apollo 1 1 on the lunar module eagle and headed for the moon. At 4 pm EST, Armstrong announced to the world: "The Eagle Lunar Module successfully landed on the moon."

7. 198 1 year, the American space shuttle Columbia disintegrated.

The American space shuttle Columbia is the first reusable space shuttle in the world. From April 12 to April/4 14, the Colombian space shuttle * * * completed 36 flights around the earth. However, on February 1 2003, the space shuttle Columbia suddenly disintegrated during its re-entry to the ground, killing all seven astronauts on board. NASA believes that the accident was caused by a wing perforation when the space shuttle returned to Earth. From the first mission of 198 1 to the crash of the space shuttle in 2003, Columbia successfully completed 26 missions.

1985 Atlantis sent two national defense communication satellites into space.

19851October 3, the space shuttle Atlantis was launched for the first time. Its first flight was to carry out a secret operation of the US Air Force and send two defense communication satellites into space. Some of the shuttle's more remarkable flight actions include sending Galileo and Magellan planetary probes into space in 1989, and sending Compton Gamma Ray Observatory into space in 199 1 year.

Currently, the space shuttle Atlantis is still in use. Its next flight plan is this year 165438+ 10/2.

9. 1989 The Delta II rocket completed its launch mission for the 75th time in a row.

NASA * * * used Delta II system to complete 142 missions, including Mars exploration mission. Delta rocket family was put into use in 1989. On September 18, 2007, NASA successfully completed the launch mission 75 times in a row using Delta II system, which has never been broken.

The space shuttle Endeavour arrived at Kennedy Space Center.

199 1 On May 7, 2008, the space shuttle Endeavour arrived at Kennedy Space Center to replace the space shuttle Challenger which exploded in 1986. At present, the space shuttle Endeavour is 1 of the three space shuttles still in use in the United States. It has successfully carried out 30 space missions. Nasa plans to retire the space shuttle endeavour in 20 10.

The course of human space exploration

Development of space probes (spaceships);

19571On October 4th, the former Soviet Union successfully launched its first artificial earth satellite.

1 959 65438+1On October 2nd, the moon1was launched in the Soviet Union.

1959 65438+On February 6th, the United States also successfully launched an artificial earth satellite.

An unmanned lunar probe launched in September 1959. This is the first spacecraft in the world to make a hard landing on the surface of the moon.

1 962 1 65438+1October1,the former Soviet Mars probe1flew over Mars and ended in failure.

1965165438+1On October 28th, the American Mariner 4 interplanetary probe flew over Mars.

1969 On March 27th, American Mariner 7 sent back 126 photos.

1On April 24th, 970, China's first artificial earth satellite went into space.

197 1 years ago, the Soviet Mars-2 probe landed on Mars.

1971On May 28th, the former Soviet Mars-3 probe landed on Mars and sent back photos.

1972 On May 30th, American Mariner 9 flew around Mars and sent back 7329 photos.

1On July 25th, 973, the former Soviet Mars-5 probe flew along the orbit of Mars for several days.

1On February 24th, 974, the former Soviet Mars-6 and Mars-7 probes landed on Mars, and the detection results were not announced.

1975, American Viking 1 and Viking 2 landed on Mars on August 20th and September 9th, respectively, and sent back more than 50,000 photos and a lot of data. 1977, NASA launched the Voyager probe 1 and 2 on September 5th and August 20th.

1989 The former Soviet Phobos 1 and Phobos 2 probes disappeared on the way to Mars on July 7 and July 20, respectively.

1993 the American mars observer disappeared before he was scheduled to reach the orbit of mars.

1996 Russian "Mars -96" spacecraft failed to launch.

1996 Mars global probe was launched,

1997 enters orbit around mars.

1998 us launches mars climate probe.

1September 23, 999, the probe lost contact with the ground.

1999 US launches Mars polar landing probe.

On June 2, 2003, the European Space Agency launched the Mars Express probe.

On June 8, 2003, NASA launched the Mars rover -A probe. On June 25 of the same year, the "Rover -B" detector was launched.

The development of the space shuttle;

1981April 12, the first practical space shuttle "Columbia" was launched for the first time. The two-day flight mainly verified its ability to launch and land safely, and opened a new era of human space flight.

1983 On August 30th, the space shuttle Challenger was launched in the dark for the first time and landed in the dark six days later. Braford was the first black astronaut.

On February 3rd, 1984, Challenger was launched again. During the seven-day mission, astronauts made the first unconstrained spacewalk. Since then, astronauts' "spacewalk" has become a common picture in space shuttle missions.

19841015 October, it was Challenger again, carrying seven astronauts into space for the first time. Among them, female astronaut Catherine Sullivan was the first American woman to walk in space. Since then, the space shuttle has often transported seven astronauts.

1986 65438+1On October 28th, Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts. After that, NASA suspended the space shuttle launch mission. 1On September 28th, 988, Discovery was launched 32 months after the space shuttle mission was suspended. Five astronauts released a satellite and completed several scientific experiments, which marked that the space shuttle project was on the right track again.

1On April 24th, 990, the space shuttle Discovery put the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit, giving mankind a "golden eye" to observe the distant universe.

1September, 992 12, Endeavour was launched. This space shuttle became the "wedding express" for astronauts Li Pingbin and Jane Davies. They were the first couple to get married in space.

1On June 27th, 995, Atlantis was launched, which realized the first docking between the space shuttle and the Russian orbital space station "Peace". American and Russian astronauts visited each other in outer space, and the news commented that the "Cold War" had ended beyond the earth.

1996165438+1October19th, Columbia was launched, flying for 423 hours and 53 minutes, setting a record for the longest space shuttle stay.

19981kloc-0/On October 29th, Discovery took off with 77-year-old Senator john glenn. Glenn was the first American astronaut to take off in a Mercury spacecraft, and this time he became the oldest "astronaut".

On July 23rd, 1999, Colombia went online. This time, under the command of Irene Collins, it marks the first time that a woman has become the captain of the space shuttle.

On February 1 day, 2003, Columbia disintegrated in the air while returning to the ground, killing all seven astronauts.

On August 9, 2005, the American space shuttle Discovery landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California, ending its 14-day space trip. This is the first time that the American space shuttle has successfully returned to space and returned home safely since the Columbia space shuttle crash.

On June 7, 2006, the space shuttle Discovery landed successfully at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery successfully completed the maintenance and construction of the International Space Station and sent an astronaut to the International Space Station.

In 2009, the American space shuttle Atlantis was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at around 2 pm on May 1 1. The seven astronauts on board will carry out the final maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope. At 8: 39 on the 24th, US Western Time, the space shuttle Atlantis landed safely with seven astronauts at Edwards Air Force Base in California, successfully completing the last maintenance mission of the Hubble Space Telescope.

On July 15, 2009 (6: 03 Beijing time), the American space shuttle Endeavour successfully lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and went to the Japanese module of the International Space Station to install the last module.

In August 2009, at 23: 59 EDT on 28th (29th Beijing time 1 1 59), the American space shuttle Discovery was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery, carrying seven astronauts, was launched from Kennedy Space Center to the International Space Station, carrying tons of materials and equipment. Previously, the launch of Discovery had been postponed three times. The 25th was postponed because of the weather, and then it was postponed twice on 26th and 28th. The main reason is that there is a problem with the fuel tank valve containing liquid hydrogen.

At 7: 47 pm EST on September 0, 2009 (7: 47 am Beijing time 12), Discovery started to ignite and change its orbit, and landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base at 8: 53 pm that day (8: 53 am Beijing time 12).

20 10 On April 5th, the American spaceship Discovery was successfully launched at 6: 2 am EST1(6:5438+08:08, 2 1 Beijing time), carrying seven astronauts to the International Space Station. In addition to four male astronauts, Discovery also carried three female astronauts, and will board the International Space Station with 1 female astronauts, setting a record for the largest number of female astronauts in space in history, reaching four.

20 1 1 On February 24th, the American space shuttle Discovery was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and headed for the International Space Station. After nearly 27 years of service, Discovery will perform its mission for the last time.

Man went into space:

196 1 12 In April, the Soviet Union launched the world's first manned spaceship "Dongfang" 1. Major yuri gagarin took the "Orient" spacecraft 1 Orbit the Earth 108 minutes, and then returned safely near saratov. Gagarin became the first astronaut in the world to travel in space.

196 1 On May 5th, 2008, Allen B. Shepard, the first American astronaut who made suborbital flight, piloted the American Mercury MR3 spacecraft for the first time, making the United States the second country in the world with manned space flight capability after the Soviet Union.

1962 On February 20th, the United States launched the manned spacecraft Mercury 6. Astronaut Lieutenant Colonel John H Glenn flew Mercury 6 three times around the earth, which lasted 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds and returned safely in the Atlantic Ocean.

On August 1962, 1 1, the Soviet Union launched the "Dongfang III" spacecraft carrying Major nikolayev. On August 12, the Soviet Union launched the "Dongfang" 4 spacecraft carrying Lieutenant Colonel Popovich. "Dongfang" IV and "Dongfang" III realized the rendezvous and flight of manned spacecraft in space for the first time. Recently, they were separated by 5 kilometers and transmitted back to TV for the first time from space.

1On June 6th, 963, Captain tereshkova, the world's first female astronaut, went into space in the Soviet "Orient" 6 spacecraft. The spacecraft circled the earth 48 times, lasting 70 hours and 50 minutes, and returned on June 9, 65438.

1 96410 12, the Soviet Union successfully launched the second-generation manned spacecraft "Ascension"1,carrying three people. Astronauts komarov, Lazar Love and Fetis Tofu circled the earth 16 times in 24 hours 17 minutes and returned to Kustanai. This is the first three-person flight in the space history of the Soviet Union and the world.

1March, 965 18, the Soviet Union launched the "Ascension to Heaven" 2 spacecraft carrying Belyaev and leonov. During the flight, leonov made the first spacewalk in the world space history. He spent 12 minutes at a distance of 5 meters from the spacecraft, and completed experiments such as visual observation and disassembly.

1on March 23, 965, the United States successfully launched the second-generation manned spacecraft Gemini 3. The spacecraft carried American astronauts Lieutenant Colonel Grissom and Major John Young five times around the earth, which lasted 4 hours and 53 minutes. This is the first time that the United States has carried two people.

1On June 3, 965, the United States launched Gemini 4 spacecraft, carrying astronauts Captain McDivitt and Captain White, circling the earth 62 times. White walked outside the cabin for 2 1 minute and used a jet device to manipulate himself in space. This is the first spacewalk in the United States.

1965 15 February 15, the United States launched the Gemini 6 spacecraft, carrying Lieutenant Colonel Sheila and Captain Stamford. The spacecraft circled the earth 16 times, lasting 25 hours 5 1 minute. This flight rendezvous with Gemini 7 launched on February 4, 65438, keeping a close formation flight, and the latest flight was about 0.3m ... This is the first space rendezvous flight of American manned spacecraft.

1March, 966 16, the United States launched Gemini 8 with astronauts Armstrong and Scott, circling the earth 6.5 times, lasting 10 hour 4 1 minute. The manned spacecraft docked with the docking module named "Aquinas" for the first time in flight. This is the first space docking in the world space history.

1967 65438+1On October 27th, the American Apollo 4A spacecraft conducted a ground test on the launch pad. In the spaceship sat Colonel Gleason, who had participated in the flight of Mercury and Gemini spacecraft, Lieutenant Colonel White, the first American to complete extravehicular activities, and Major Chafei, who was preparing to take part in space flight for the first time. Suddenly, the cockpit filled with pure oxygen caught fire and exploded, and three astronauts were burned to death immediately.

1 on April 23, 967, the Soviet union launched the third-generation spacecraft Soyuz1by Soyuz carrier rocket. On April 24th, when the spacecraft returned, it crashed near Orlenpoc in Urals due to parachute failure, and astronaut komarov was killed.

1968 On April 4, the Soviet Union launched the unmanned spacecraft Cosmos 2 12. The spacecraft automatically docked with the later launched Cosmos 2 13 unmanned spacecraft in orbit. This is the first space docking completed by the Soviet Union.

On June1968 65438+1October 1 1, the United States launched the Apollo 7 spacecraft. Astronauts Sheila, Eisele and Cunningham circled the Earth 163 for 260 hours and 9 minutes and returned on the 22nd. This is the first manned earth orbit flight of Apollo spacecraft.

1968 65438+February 2 1 day, the United States launched the apollo 8 spacecraft with Paalmann, Love and Anders. The spacecraft entered the lunar orbit112km away from the lunar surface, flew 10 for 20 hours and 6 minutes, and sent back TV to the earth. Return on the 27th. This is the world's first manned spacecraft around the moon.

1On July 6, 1969, the United States launched the manned spaceship Apollo 1 1, which sent a man to the moon for the first time. The spaceship carried three astronauts, Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin. After a flight of 75 hours and 50 minutes, they entered the orbit around the moon. At 2: 56 GMT on July 2 1 day, astronaut Armstrong stepped on the moon with his left foot, becoming the first man in the world, and said a well-known saying: 19 minutes later, Aldrin followed closely. They planted the American flag on the surface of the moon, placed scientific instruments and collected 22 kilograms of moon rocks and soil samples. * * * The activity lasted 2 hours 3 1 minute 40 seconds.

1 June, 9701day, the Soviet Union launched Soyuz-9 spacecraft, carrying astronauts nikolayev and Lasky Yanov. The spacecraft circled the earth 268 times, lasting 424 hours and 59 minutes, setting a new record in the history of manned flight.

197 1 April19, the Soviet union launched the world's first manned space station "salute" with a proton rocket1. Salute 1 Space Station crashed in the Pacific Ocean on 197 1, 1 1 and flew for 175 days. During the operation, two Soyuz spacecraft were docked, and the astronauts of Soyuz 1 1 worked in the station for three weeks. From then on, until 1982, the Soviet Union launched Salute 2 ~ 5 space stations and Salute 6 and 7 space stations of the second generation.

197 1 On June 6th, 2008, the Soviet Union launched a spaceship and Soyuz 1 1 carrying astronauts Dobro Volschi, PaChayev and volkov. The spacecraft successfully docked with the salute 1 space station. After 24 days in orbit, the air in the return cabin leaked on the way back. When it returned to the ground, it found that all three astronauts without spacesuits were killed.

19711On February 7th, the United States launched the Apollo 17 spacecraft, carrying Cernan, Evans and Schmidt. 1 1 Arriving at the moon, two astronauts stayed on the moon for 75 hours and released a satellite in lunar orbit. Spaceship 19 returns. This is the last manned flight to the moon and the seventh flight of Apollo spacecraft to the moon.

1973 on may 14, the United States launched a space station called skylab with Saturn v rocket. After docking with some Apollo spacecraft, there were three groups of nine astronauts working on them. Originally, it was expected that Skylab could run to 1982, but due to the serious failure of the space station, it could not be used normally, and its orbit dropped sharply. In July, 1979, it fell into the southwest waters of Australia in the South Indian Ocean. This is the first manned space station launched by the United States.

1On April 5, 975, the Soviet Union launched the Soyuz 18A spacecraft, carrying lazarev and makarov, ready to dock with Salute 4. Shortly after the third stage ignition of the rocket, when the rocket rose to the height of 144 km, due to the failure of the guidance system, the spacecraft rolled in the air and deviated from the scheduled orbit. The ground control center had to issue an emergency life-saving instruction, so that the rocket was shut down urgently, the return capsule was separated from the spacecraft, and the astronauts returned according to the emergency plan and landed safely in the mountainous areas of western Siberia. The flight lasted only 22 minutes. This is the first emergency rescue measure successfully taken due to abnormal rocket flight since manned space flight.

1In July, 975, the Soviet Union and the United States launched spacecraft for joint docking flight. The first launch was Soyuz 19 spacecraft carrying Soviet astronauts leonov and Kubasov. 7.5 hours after the launch, American Apollo 18 was successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center with American astronauts Stamford, slaton and Brand. On July 17, Apollo 18 successfully docked with Alliance 19. The docking state of the spacecraft remained for two days, and American and Soviet astronauts exchanged visits between the spacecraft. This is a rare "space handshake" between the two major competitors of the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

1981April 12, the United States launched the world's first space shuttle "Columbia". Since then, the space shuttles Challenger, Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour have been built one after another.

1986 65438+1On October 28th, the space shuttle Challenger exploded only 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven astronauts on board. On February 1 2003, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on the way back, and the seven astronauts on board were killed again. Nevertheless, in the 22 years since it was put into operation, the American space shuttle has successfully flown11times, deployed satellites in space, repaired Hubble and completed countless scientific experiments. It is the main means of transportation for the International Space Station currently under construction.

1984 On July 7, the Soviet Union launched the Soyuz T 12 spacecraft. The spacecraft carrying Zani Baikoff, Volcker and female astronaut Savikaya docked with the Salute 7 space station-Soyuz T 10 spacecraft consortium. On 25th, Savika and Zani Baikoff had an extravehicular activity for 3 hours and 35 minutes. Savika became the first woman in the world to walk in space.

1On February 20th, 986, the Soviet Union launched the third generation long-term manned space station-the core module of the "Peace" space station. It lasted for 10 years, and it was not until 1 April 26, 1996 that the Soviet Union (Russia) built a complete module consisting of core module, quantum module1,quantum module 2, crystal module, spectrum module and natural module.

On March 23, 2003, after flying around the earth for more than 80,000 times, with a journey of about 3.5 billion kilometers, the "Peace" crashed in the scheduled waters of the Pacific Ocean after nearly 10 years of overdue service. As the world's first long-term manned space station, "Peace" is the spacecraft with the largest mass, the largest number of people and the longest life in the 20th century, and it can be called "a generation of pride"! In the recent 15 years of "peace", * * * received more than 100 astronauts from many countries and international organizations. Among them, Russian astronauts created two space flight records on "Peace": one was created by poliakov, who lived and worked in space for 438 days continuously, and the other was created by Avdeev, who spent 748 days in space. Scientists have used the "Peace" space station to carry out thousands of scientific experiments in life science, microgravity science and application, space science, earth observation and other fields, and have achieved fruitful results that have attracted worldwide attention.

1On June 27th, 995, the American space shuttle Atlantis took off with five American astronauts and two Russian astronauts, which was the first docking flight with the Russian Mir space station. Since then, until 1998, the American space shuttle has made eight docking flights with the Russian space station "Peace", and the successful experience gained has reduced the technical risks in the assembly and operation of the international space station currently being assembled.

1On September 26th, 996, Lucid, an American female astronaut working in the Russian space station "Peace", returned to the ground on the space shuttle Atlantis. Lucid lived in space for 188 days, breaking the female space flight record created by Russian astronaut Kondakova.

1998165438+1On October 20th, Russia sent Dawn, the first component of the International Space Station, into space with a proton K rocket. The International Space Station is 1 10 meters long and 88 meters wide, roughly equivalent to the size of two football fields, with a total mass of more than 400. It runs in an orbit with an inclination of 565,438+0.6 and a height of 397 kilometers, and can accommodate 6-7 astronauts in orbit. The International Space Station will begin a permanent manned operation period of 65,438+00-65,438+05 years.

On April 28th, 2000/kloc-0, Tito, the world's first space tourist and American billionaire, set off from Baikonur space launch site in Kazakhstan on Soyuz TM32, stayed at the International Space Station for 8 days and returned to the ground on May 6th. Tito's trip cost 20 million dollars. In addition to space sightseeing, he is also responsible for some radio communication, navigation and power supply tasks of the spacecraft, and carries out earth observation tasks with Russian astronauts. Tito's space travel initiated a new era of space tourism. From April 25th to May 5th, 2002, the world's second space tourist, South African billionaire Mark Sood Voss, also spent 10 days in space, including 8 days living and working in the International Space Station.