Space Timeline

1. Space Timeline By: David Ritzel, Jacob Godwin, and Landon Stefanick

2. Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish astronomer who is best known for the astronomical theory that the Sun was near the center of the universe and that the Earth and other planets rotated around the center. He also stated that the Earth spinning on its axis, rotates once daily and makes a full revolution around the Sun in a year. Copernicus did not believe that the Earth and other planets were influenced by or revolved due to the Sun, instead he believed that the Sun was located near the center of the universe. It was this center of the universe which influenced those bodies and caused them to revolve. This theory is called the heliocentric or sun-center theory of the universe. In his discoveries, writings and speeches, Galileo contributed to the plausibility of the Copernican theory By postulating only the rotation of the Earth, revolution about the sun, and tilt of Earth's rotational axis, Copernicus could explain the observed motion of the heavens. However, because Copernicus retained circular orbits, his system required the inclusion of epicycles. Unfortunately, out of fear that his ideas might get him into trouble with the church, Copernicus delayed publication of them

3. Brahe Tycho Brahe made a remarkable star catalogue of over 1000 stars. This was not the biggest catalogue in the number of stars, but in accuracy. His improvements of methods and accuracy in observations were very significant. He proved that comets are not objects in the atmosphere. He showed irregularities in the moons orbit. His wall quadrant and other instrument became widely copied and lead to improved stellar instruments. Kepler used Tycho Brahe's observations when he constructed his famous laws of planetary movement. 1601. Tycho Brahe dies

4. Kepler • Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer, born on December 27, 1571. • Kepler developed the three laws of planetary motion, which are: • The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the sun at a focus. • A line jointing a planet and a sun sweeps out equal areas during the equal intervals in time. • The square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit. • Kepler used these laws to describe the motion of the planets in the Solar System.

5. Galileo Galileo Galilei was born on February 15, 1564 in Pisa, Italy. Galileo pioneered "experimental scientific method" and was the first to use a refracting telescope to make important astronomical discoveries. In 1609 Galileo learned of the invention of the telescope in Holland. From the barest description he constructed a vastly superior model. Galileo made a series of profound discoveries using his new telescope, including the moons of the planet Jupiter and the phases of the planet Venus (similar to those of Earth's moon). As a professor of astronomy at University of Pisa, Galileo was required to teach the accepted theory of his time that the sun and all the planets revolved around the Earth. Later at University of Padua he was exposed to a new theory, proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus, that the Earth and all the other planets revolved around the sun. Galileo's observations with his new telescope convinced him of the truth of Copernicus's sun-centered or heliocentric theory The Catholic Church, which was very powerful and influential in Galileo's day, strongly supported the theory of a geocentric, or Earth-centered, universe. After Galileo began publishing papers about his astronomy discoveries and his belief in a heliocentric, or Sun-centered, Universe, he was called to Rome to answer charges brought against him by the Inquisition (the legal body of the Catholic Church). Early in 1616, Galileo was accused of being a heretic, a person who opposed Church teachings. Heresy was a crime for which people were sometimes sentenced to death. Galileo was cleared of charges of heresy, but was told that he should no longer publicly state his belief that Earth moved around the Sun. Galileo continued his study of astronomy and became more and more convinced that all planets revolved around the Sun. In 1632, he published a book that stated, among other things, that the heliocentric theory of Copernicus was correct. Galileo was once again called before the Inquisition and this time was found guilty of heresy. Galileo was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1633. Because of his age and poor health, he was allowed to serve his imprisonment under house arrest. Galileo died on January 8, 1642.

6. Sputnik History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. Or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.

7. Apollo The Apollo was a human spaceflight program undertaken by NASA during the years of 1961-1975 with the goal of conducting manned moon landing missions. The Apollo program, specifically the lunar landings, is often referred to as the greatest achievement in human history. The program set major milestones in the history of human spaceflight. This program stands alone in sending manned missions beyond low Earth orbit. Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to orbit another celestial body, while Apollo 17 marks the time of the last moonwalk and also the last manned mission beyond low Earth orbit.

8. Gemini Project Gemini was a transitional step between the pioneering Mercury Program and the actual landing a man on the moon. Its success was critical to achieving the goal of reaching the Moon and was not without its problems and difficulties. The main objectives of the ten Gemini missions spanning a period of 20 months from 1965 to 1966, were to learn how to "fly" a spacecraft by 1) maneuvering it in orbit and by 2) rendezvousing and docking with other vehicles, which were essential skills for the later Apollo missions. One of these missions, Gemini VIII, nearly killed the man who would go on to be the first person to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong The second U.S. manned space program was announced in January 1962.Its two-man crew gave it its name, Gemini, for the third constellation of theZodiac and its twin stars, Castor and Pollux. Gemini involved 12 flights,including two unmanned flight tests of the equipment. Like Mercury's, its major objectives were clear-cut With Project Mercury, in August 1962 John H. Glenn Jr. became the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth. In the mid-1960s, U.S. scientists used the Gemini program to examine the effects of prolonged space flight on man. Gemini, Latin for "twins," carried two astronauts, one more than the earlier Mercury series and one less than subsequent Apollo spacecraft. Gemini achieved several firsts, including an eight-day mission in August 1965 -- the longest space flight at that time -- and in November 1966, the first automatically controlled reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. Gemini also accomplished the first manned linkup of two spacecraft in flight as well as the first U.S. walks in space.

9. Mercury Project Mercury began on October 7, 1958, one year and three days after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 and was the United States' first manned space program. The objectives of the program, which was made up of six manned flights from 1961 to 1963, were specific: 1) To orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth 2) To investigate man's ability to function in space 3) To recover both man and spacecraft safely. However, three weeks after Alan Shepard's first U.S. human suborbital flight, on May 5, 1961, and with only 15 minutes of U.S. space flight experience, President John F. Kennedy announced the goal of landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Project Mercury was American's first "small steps" toward that "Giant Leap for mankind."

10. Shuttle Missions NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its huma spaceflight missions and is scheduled to be retired from service in 2010. At launch, it consists of a rust-colored external tank (ET), two white, slender Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), and the orbiter, a winged space plane which is the space shuttle in the narrowest sense.

11. Mars Rover A Mars rover is a spacecraft which propels itself across the surface of Mars after landing. Rovers have several advantages over stationary landers: they examine more territory, they can be directed to interesting features, they can place themselves in sunny positions to weather winter months and they can advance the knowledge of how to perform very remote robotic vehicle control. There have been three successful Mars rovers, all of which were robotically operated.

12. Hubble Edwin Hubble was an American astronomer. He profoundly changed astronomers' understanding of the nature of the universe by demonstrating the existence of other galaxies besides the Milky Way. He also discovered that the degree of redshift observed in light coming from a galaxy increased in proportion to the distance of that galaxy from the Milky Way. This became known as Hubble's law, and would help establish that the universe is expanding. The Hubble Space Telescope, built in April of 1990, is named after him and his work. Edwin Hubble believed that the universe went beyond the Milky Way.

13. Bibliography • http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Science/Copernicus.htm • www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Brahe.html • galileo.rice.edu/sci/kepler.html • galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu • history.nasa.gov/sputnik • nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo.html • www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/gemini/gemini.htm • www.thespaceplace.com/history/mercury2.html • www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/ • marsrover.nasa.gov/ • hubblesite.org