It was the bloodiest, deadliest war the world had ever seen. More than 38 million people died, many of them innocent civilians. It also was the most destructive war in history. Fighting raged in many parts of the world. More than 50 nations took part in the war, which changed the world forever.
The V2 Rocket was the first ballistic missile used in warfare. They were built in Germany, over 3,000 of them were launched in WWII.
See WWII
he Cold War started soon after World War II. The two main countries that were so-called enemies were the United States and the Soviet Union. Why did they call it the Cold War? The war among the countries was called so because neither the United States nor the Soviet Union wanted to openly fight each other and they were afraid of each other’s power.
Korean War, conflict between Communist and non-Communist forces in Korea from June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953. At the end of World War II, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet (North Korean) and U.S. (South Korean) zones of occupation.
See Korean War
The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The war began in 1954 (though conflict in the region stretched back to the mid-1940s), after the rise to power of Ho Chi Minh and his communist Viet Minh party in North Vietnam, and continued against the backdrop of an intense Cold War between two global superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union.
Sputnik was the first satellite put into orbit. It was made by the Soviet Union. The United States' response to this wasn't very positive. This marked the beginning of the Space Race between the United States, and Soviet Union.
U.S. launched their first satellite into orbit in 1958. This was their first successful attempt. It was burned in the atmosphere. It was called Explorer 1. It was made by Werhner Von Braun, and 2 other people.
NASA's mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.
The actual beginning of the effort that resulted in manned space flight cannot be pinpointed although it is known that the thought has been in the mind of man throughout recorded history.
On April 12, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, making a 108 minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft.
Alan Shepard became the first man in space on May 5, 1961. He was in space for only fifteen minutes, but this was a huge victory for the United States.
President John F. Kennedy announced his goal of sending the astronauts to the moon.
On February 20, 1962, NASA launched one of the most important flights in American history. The mission? Send a man to orbit Earth, observe his reactions and return him home safely. The pilot of this historic flight, John Glenn, became a national hero and a symbol of American ambition.
The Gemini Program was a necessary intermediate step between Project Mercury and the Apollo Program, and had four objectives:
The objective of Mariner was to observe Mars
The Apollo program was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them safely back to Earth.
See Mercury Programs
See Gemini Programs
Tragedy struck on the launch pad during a preflight test for Apollo 204, scheduled to be the first Apollo manned mission. It would have been launched on February 21, 1967, but Astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives when a fire swept through the Command Module (CM).
The easing of the Cold War between U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. The first steps by humans on another planetary body were taken by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969.
The Apollo 13 Mission was planned as a lunar landing mission but ended up orbiting the moon after about 56 hours of flight due to loss of service module cryogenic oxygen and consequent loss of capability to generate electrical power, to provide oxygen and to produce water.
The objective of Pioneer is to take pictures of Jupiter.
See Apollo Program
See Vietnam War
Apollo Soyuz was the first international manned spaceflight. It was designed to test the compatibility of rendezvous and docking systems for American and Soviet spacecraft, to open the way for international space rescue as well as future joint manned flights.
The objective of Viking is to orbit Mars and take pictures of the surface.
The objective of Voyager is to study the outer solar system, and eventually interstellar space, also to locate and study the boundaries of the solar system, including the kuiper belt, the heliosphere, and interstellar space.
See Detente
NASA's Space Shuttle program, officially called Space Transportation System (STS), was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011.
Challenger was NASA's second space shuttle orbiter to be put into service. 73 seconds after the launch of its tenth mission, STS-51-L on January 28, 1986, resulting in the death of all seven crew members.
Hubble's orbit above the Earth's distorting atmosphere allows astronomers to make the very high resolution observations that are essential to open new windows onto planets, stars and galaxies. Hubble was designed as a high standard flagship mission and has paved the way for other space-based observatories. Notably it can access the otherwise invisible ultraviolet part of the spectrum, and also has access to areas of the infrared not visible from the ground.
See Cold War
In December of 1991, as the world watched in amazement, the Soviet Union disintegrated into fifteen separate countries. Its collapse was hailed by the west as a victory for freedom, a triumph of democracy over totalitarianism, and evidence of the superiority of capitalism over socialism. The United States rejoiced as its formidable enemy was brought to its knees, thereby ending the Cold War which had hovered over these two superpowers since the end of World War II. Indeed, the breakup of the Soviet Union transformed the entire world political situation, leading to a complete reformulation of political, economic and military alliances all over the globe.
The objective of Cassini is to study the Saturn System, and its moons.
The International Space Station is an unprecedented achievement in global human endeavors to conceive, plan, build, operate, and utilize a research platform in space. With the assembly of the space station at its completion and the support of a full-time crew of six, a new era of utilization for research is beginning. During the space station assembly phase, the potential benefits of space-based research and development were demonstrated; including the advancement of scientific knowledge based on experiments conducted in space, development and testing of new technologies, and derivation of Earth applications from new understanding.
The objective of the present Mars Missions is to study the history of water in all of its phases, and search for evidence of habitable zone and assess the biological potential of the ice-soil boundary.
The Columbia STS-107 mission lifted off on January 16, 2003, for a 17-day science mission featuring numerous microgravity experiments. Upon reentering the atmosphere on February 1, 2003, the Columbia orbiter suffered a catastrophic failure due to a breach that occurred during launch when falling foam from the External Tank struck the Reinforced Carbon Carbon panels on the underside of the left wing. The orbiter and its seven crewmembers (Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, David Brown, Laurel Blair Salton Clark, Michael P. Anderson, Ilan Ramon, and Kalpana Chawla) were lost approximately 15 minutes before Columbia was scheduled to touch down at Kennedy Space Center.
See STS Program
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