TSIOLKOVSKY TIMELINE POWER POINT

By: Elizabeth Sanders

1900

Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky published Treatise on the Motion of Rockets. This work features the first exposition of rocket mechanics based on Newton’s third law of motion.

1914

U.S. rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard received two landmark patents for rockets. The first described a multi-stage rocket and the second described a rocket fueled with gasoline and liquid nitrous oxide. These two patents would become major milestones in the history of rocketry.

1926

March 16, 1926 U.S. rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard

launched the first liquid fueled rocket from his Aunt Effie’s farm in Auburn, MA. The 4-foot high rocket dubbed “Nell” reached an altitude of 41 feet and a speed of about 60 miles per hour. The flight lasted only 2 ½ seconds, but paved the way for the U.S. rocket program.

1930

German Wernher Von Braun and his colleagues produced a number of experimental designs, the most famous of which was the A-4 rocket, which has gained distinction in history under another name -- the vengeance weapon number two -- V-2 for short. The V-2 was the first successful, long range ballistic missile, and von Braun is credited as its principal developer.

1944

September 8,1944 First German V-2 fired in combat exploded in

Paris; the second struck London a few hours later.

1954

May 24, 1954 NRL Martin Viking #11 set an altitude record

of 158 miles ( 834,240 ft) and attained a speed of 4,300 mph in a flight from White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico.

1957

The USSR beat the United States into space by launchingSputnik 1. At 184 pounds, it was the world's first artificial satellite. Sputnik transmitted radio signals back to Earth for only a short time, but it was a major accomplishment.

1961

1961

April 12, First Man in SpaceRussian Cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first human to go into space. The Vostok 1 spacecraft made one complete orbit around Earth in 108 minutes, and reached altitudes of 112 to 203 miles. The flight lasted only one hour and 48 minutes.

1967

1969

July 20, 1969First Manned Moon LandingApollo 11 makes the first successful soft landing on the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr. become the first people to set foot on another world.

1971

April 19, 1971 The Salyut 1 station is launched by the

U.S.S.R. It remained in orbit until May 28, 1973.

1971

November 13, 1971 USA- American probe Mariner 9 took photos

on Mars and was the first spacecraft to orbit another planet.

1972

1973

May 14, 1973 USA launches Skylab the first US space

station. It is there for scientific experiments and was occupied by 3 crews.

1973

May 25, 1973 America launches first crew aboard the

Skylab. The crew fixes damage by Skylab station during it’s launch.

1976

July 20, 1976First Surface Images of MarsThe first pictures of the surface of Mars and martian soil are sent back to Earth by Viking 1, the first U.S. spacecraft to successfully land a on another planet.

1979

1981

April 12,1981 The first manned mission from the Space

Transportation System, Colombia is launched. It was the first re-usable shuttle.

1983

April 4, 1983Maiden Voyage of ChallengerAmerica's second Space Shuttle, Challenger, embarks on its first mission into space. The mission includes America's first space walk in nine years.

1986

February 20, 1986 The first phase of the Mir Space Station has

been successfully launched and put into Earth’s orbit.

1990

April 24, 1990 Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off for mission

STS-31 carrying the Edwin P. Hubble Telescope with it.