Space Probes and Living and Working in Space

1. Space Probes and Living and Working in Space Pgs. 136 – 141 and 142 – 147

2. Space Probes A space probe is a vehicle that carries scientific instruments to planets or other bodies in space. The Soviet Union was the first to launch a space probe. Unlike satellites probes travel away from Earth and continue on.

3. Visits to Our Neighborhood The moon and the inner planets are the closest to our planet and were the first to be explored. Luna 1 was the first space probe launched by the Soviet Union in 1959; it flew past the moon. The U.S. launched Pioneer 4 two months later with the same results.

4. Luna 9 and Clementine Missions Luna 9 made the first soft landing on the moon’s surface where it took pictures of the surface. There have been over 30 lunar missions between the U.S. and Soviet Union. In 1994, the Clementine probe discovered evidence of water at the south pole of the moon. It may have been left by a comet impact.

5. Venera 9 The Soviets landed the first probe on Venus called the Venera 9. It parachuted into Venus’s atmosphere and transmitted pictures of its surface. It had rocks of similar composition. The planet had a high atmospheric pressure and greenhouse effect.

6. Magellan Mission In 1989, the U.S. launched the Magellan space probe to map the surface of Venus. It showed us that the geology of Venus is similar to that of Earth. Also, it found that Venus does have some form of plate tectonics.

7. The Viking Missions In 1975 the U. S. sent Viking 1 and 2 to Mars to study the surface and look for signs of life. The probes had instruments designed to collect soil samples without positive results. The probes found that Mars was once warmer and wetter than it is now. Scientists are still not sure what caused the climate change.

9. Mars Pathfinder In 1997, NASA launched the Mars Pathfinder. Its goal was to land on the surface, deploy the Sojourner rover and collect data and images. It was successful.

10. Pioneer and Voyager Missions Pioneer 10 and 11 were space probes designed to visit the outer planets. They sampled solar wind, found that dark belts on Jupiter are warmer than light belts, and became the first to travel past Pluto’s orbit. The Voyager 2 was the first to fly by the four gas giants. They are still sending back information.

11. The Galileo Missions The Galileo space probe arrived at Jupiter in 1995. The Galileo sent a smaller probe into Jupiter’s atmosphere to measure its composition, density, temperature, and structure. It discovered that two of the moons have magnetic fields and that Europa may have water under its icy surface.

12. New Approach to Space Probes NASA has been working to make space exploration faster and cheaper. The newer program Discovery seeks to provide faster results at a lower cost. The first approved missions include small probes to asteroids, a Mars landing, moon studies, solar wind, and comet studies.

13. Stardust – Comet Detective Stardust was launched in 1999 to study a comet. It will collect comet tail dust and return it to Earth. The dust should help scientists understand the evolution of the sun and planets.

14. Deep Space 1 This mission is to test new and risky technologies so that they can be used with confidence in the years to come. Its first mission was to test an ion-propulsion system. This could allow probes to carry charged particles rather than chemical fuel.

15. Cassini Mission In 1997 the Cassini space probe was launched on a 7-year mission to Saturn. The probe will send a smaller probe, called the Huygens probe to study the atmosphere of Saturn. There are future mission planned for Pluto, but are not yet finalized.

16. Living and Working in Space The exploration of space includes the ability to put humans into space. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth. Alan Sheppard became the first American to reach space, but not orbit. Since the Soviets appeared to be winning the Cold War, America made an Important announcement.

17. President John F. Kennedy “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”

18. Reaction People were surprise by President Kennedy’s announcement, especially NASA’s leaders. The challenge was taken seriously and in 1962, NASA had sent a man, John Glenn, into orbit successfully.

19. The Dream Comes True On July 20, 1969 astronauts landed on the moon. Neil Armstrong was the first to walk on the moon. Apollo 11 carried back 22kg of moon rocks for study and place equipment on the moon to study moonquake activity.

20. The Space Shuttle Early in the manned space program von Braun suggested a reusable space transportation system would be needed. In 1972, President Nixon announced that a space shuttle program would be the economical way to get into space regularly. A space shuttle is a reusable vehicle that takes off like a rocket and lands like an airplane.

21. Challenger The first shuttle launch was done on April 12, 1981. There were two dozen successful missions until 1986. On January 28, 1986, the booster rocket exploded after takeoff. The shuttle program was suspended until the disaster could be explained. 2 years later the program restarted with Space shuttle discovery.

22. Commuter Shuttle NASA is working to develop a space plane that will fly like a normal airplane through the atmosphere but have rocket engines for the use in space. Once in use, the space plane may lower the cost of getting material to LEO.

23. Space Stations In 1971, the Soviets became the first to place a manned space station in LEO. A space station is a long-term orbiting platform from which other vehicles can be launched or used for scientific research. By 1982, the Soviet Union had put up 7 space stations.

24. Home Away from Home Skylab is the U.S.’s first space station that orbited Earth in LEO. It was used to conduct scientific studies for astronomy, biological experiments and experiments in space manufacturing. Skylab was successful until its orbit began to decay due to atmospheric gases. It fell to Earth in 1979.

25. From Russia with Peace In 1986, the Soviets launched pieces of space station Mir (peace). Mir conducted experiments to provide biological and Earth orbital observations, study manufacturing technologies in space and astronomy experiments. It was also the inspiration to build the International Space Station. Mir was almost continuously inhabited between 1987 and 1999.

27. International Space Station The new International Space Station was a collaboration between Russia and the United States. The station was assembled in LEO with materials brought up on the space shuttle or Russian rockets. Contributions from Japan, Canada, and several European countries made the ISS possible. The ISS will provide a place for experimentation and innovation of new technology.

29. Moon, Mars, Beyond Someday it may become necessary to find resources on other celestial bodies. There is a rare form of Helium on the moon that leaves no radioactive waste. A colony or base on the moon or Mars could be an important link to bringing space resources to Earth. Only the Future Knows