Aerospace Timeline A History of Man’s Dream to Reach Space

Aerospace TimelineA History of Man’s Dream to Reach Space

Leonardo da Vinci drew the first pictures of parachutes and helicopters, but they were never built 1490

Joseph Montgolfier made one of the first hot air balloons. “Man’s first flight” was 2 men in his balloon for 25 minutes. 1783

Sir George Cayley identified the forces of flight (lift, drag, and thrust) that unlocked the secrets of heavier that air flight. 1809

Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin flew the first successful blimp or dirigible. It was steerable and the first aircraft used for public transportation 1900

The Wright brothers made the first “real” flight in a motor-powered airplane. The flight at Kitty Hawk, NC was less than one minute. December 17, 1903

Louis Bleroit was the first person to fly across the English Channel from France to England July 25, 1909

Doctor Robert Goddard, “Father of modern rocketry” developed the first liquid fueled rocket 1926

Charles Lindbergh flew the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean 1927

Amelia Earhart was the first woman to make a trip across the Atlantic Ocean solo 1932

The Hindenburg crashes and burns in New York City – 35 people died. 1937

The first flight by a jet plane August 27, 1939

Charles Yeager was the first to fly faster than the speed of sound 1947

Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite of the Earth, was launched by Russia. Its launch began the Space Age. October 4, 1957

Sputnik II was launched by Russia with the first animal in space Laika, a dog November 2, 1957

Explorer I was the first satellite launched by the United States January 31, 1958

A United States Mercury capsule carried its first live cargo, Ham the Chimpanzee, into space January 31, 1961

Russia put the first man in space, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, for a single orbit around the Earth April 12, 1961

Alan Shepard became the first American in space, when he was launched in a Mercury capsule for a 15 minute flight before he splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. May 5, 1961

John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth. He orbited the Earth 3 times during a flight of almost 5 hours February 20, 1962

Russia sent the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, into orbit around the Earth 1963

Ed White, an American astronaut, left the spacecraft to walk in space 1965

Surveyor 1 from the United States June 2, 1966 The first soft landings on the moon were made by the United States and Russia Luna 9 from Russia February 3, 1966 1966

Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon, from Apollo XI spacecraft “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” July 20, 1969

The space shuttle “Columbia” was launched. It was the first spacecraft to land like an airplane. April 12, 1981

The United States is the first to send a rover to another planet. The Mars Rover, Sojourner, lands on Mars and transmits information back to Earth. July 4, 1997

Aerospace Timeline A History of Man’s Dream to Reach Space