Space Exploration
A Visual History
Philip Stooke
It all began with Sputnik…
4th
October
1957
It all began with Sputnik…
4th
October
1957
It all began with Sputnik…
4th
October
1957
… and Laika …
Laika on the Cosmonautics
monument, Moscow
Sputnik 2 The first living creature in space
3rd November 1957
… and the first Moon probes …
Luna 2 – first contact,
September 1959
Luna 3 – first far side
view, October 1959
Luna 9 – first landing,
February 1966
… and Yuri Gagarin – the first person in space
April 12th 1961 – a single orbit of Earth
Gagarin statue at Star City
Gagarin’s office at Star City
Gagarin and Sergei Korolev, the ‘Chief Designer’ who put him into
space, are still revered in Russia after 50 years
‘We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men
must fully share…. 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’ JFK
‘We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men
must fully share…. 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’ JFK
Project Mercury
NASA’s first suborbital and orbital flights, doing everything for the first
time: control, navigation, communication, life support, re-entry.
Alan Shepard John Glenn
May 5, 1961 February 20, 1962
(suborbital) (first orbital flight)
Project Gemini
Two-person spacecraft to practice what Apollo would need:
Two-week flights Rendezvous and docking Spacewalks (EVA)
Apollo – and the Saturn 5 rocket
took crews of three astronauts to the Moon nine times
- six times to the surface – between 1968 and 1972
Apollo landing video
The landing of Apollo 16 – April 21st 1972
Apollo landing video
The landing of Apollo 16 – April 21st 1972
Apollo 11
First steps and famous first words, Neil Armstrong on July 20th 1969
Apollo 11
First steps and famous first words, Neil Armstrong on July 20th 1969
Apollo lunar rover
Apollo 16, April 21st 1972
Apollo lunar rover
Apollo 16, April 21st 1972
(no sound)
Apollo 17 – lunar geological fieldwork
Gene Cernan - December 12th 1972
Apollo 17 – lunar geological fieldwork
Gene Cernan - December 12th 1972
The final takeoff – Apollo 17
Apollo astronauts leave the Moon for the last time,
December 14th 1972
The final takeoff – Apollo 17
Apollo astronauts leave the Moon for the last time,
December 14th 1972
Fatalities on the road into space
Ed White, Gus Grissom & Vladimir Komarov, Soyuz 1
Roger Chaffee, Apollo 1 crew (pictured with Gagarin at left)
January 21st 1967 April 24th 1967
Not shown: USSR’s second accident, three crew die in Soyuz 11, June 29th 1971
The Soviet response to Apollo
Step 2 – robotic alternatives
Step 1 – try to beat Apollo
Step 3 – space stations
Skylab
NASA’s first space station, the only remnant of an ambitious post-
Apollo program. It was visited by three crews in 1973 and 1974
The Space Shuttle
US space goals are set by Presidents. Kennedy sent NASA to the Moon.
Nixon initiated the Space Shuttle program.
First flight, April 12th 1981
The Space Shuttle
Used to launch satellites and renovate the Hubble Space Telescope
Galileo to Jupiter, 1989 Hubble launched in
1990, five servicing
missions
Magellan to Venus, 1989
The Space Shuttle
Satellite repair and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
The Soviet shuttle – Buran
Flew only once, without a crew, in 1988 – technology development
Buran test vehicle in Gorky Park, Moscow
Mir
After a series of Salyut space stations the Soviet Union built a
modular station called Mir (= world or peace)
First
component
launched on
February 19th
1986
De-orbited on
March 23rd
2001
Mir
Mir survived a fire and a collision with a cargo vehicle.
It taught us how to build and service multi-component space stations.
Longest human flight: 438 days (Valeriy Polyakov, 1994-5)
The International Space Station
Initiated by President Reagan, a laboratory in space.
First component, Zarya (= dawn), November 20th 1998.
ISS in 2002
Zarya and Unity, 1998
The Station Grows
ISS in 2009
The International Space Station
Used for research and planning for future space flights until 2020
Robotic solar system exploration
One of the defining scientific achievements of our time
Zond 3, 1965: Ranger 9, 1965: LRO, 2009:
Lunar far side Alphonsus Apollo 15 tracks
close-up
From the Moon to Mars
Mariner 4, 1965:
craters on Mars
Viking, 1976:
landing on Mars
And out past the asteroid belt
into the wilderness of the outer solar system
Pioneer 10, 1974:
First to Jupiter
Cassini, 1997: New Horizons, 2006:
Saturn orbiter On its way to Pluto
Exploration is difficult and dangerous
The Challenger accident – January 28th 1986
A seam in the solid rocket booster fails
The Columbia accident
Heat protection tiles on the wing are damaged during launch.
Columbia is destroyed during re-entry, February 1st 2003.
A new Vision for Space Exploration
George W. Bush outlines a new path beyond Earth orbit.
Fix the Shuttle, finish the Station, back to the Moon, prepare for Mars
Constellation
NASA’s program to accomplish the Vision
Ares 1 Orion and Altair
Constellation missions
1. Apollo-style ‘sorties’ to different science targets
Surface activity plan, Marius Hills,
J. Bleacher, 2009
Constellation missions
2. Build a lunar outpost, probably at the south pole
JAXA
Asteroid expeditions
Learning to operate at greater distances
A giant leap – to Mars
We are not ready to do this yet, but it is probably in our future.
A Mars trip would take two or three years, with 500 days on the planet.
An intermediate step might be landing on the little moons of Mars.
Planning the scientific exploration of Mars
A big study in recent years suggested long stays on Mars at three
different sites, with rovers to allow long distance exploration from
the base camp.
The nature of future exploration is now
being debated
Current plans:
Soon – start building the large launcher needed for exploration
2020s – first human mission to an asteroid
mid-2030s – first human expedition to Mars orbit
Unspecified later date – human Mars landing
The Moon is not part of this plan.
But is this the only way to the Moon?
Google Lunar X Prize
2004: X Prize Foundation - $10 million for first private suborbital flight.
2007: GLXP announced - $30 million for first lunar lander and rover.
2013: expected date of first attempt on the prize.
1990s: several other plans for private lunar missions.
Raising money has always been the biggest problem.
The Future of Space Exploration
Not just one program to one destination
NASA: developing technology, but no clear goals yet. They can only
come from the President and Congress.
Other nations and agencies: Space becomes truly international.
Private sector: an increasing role, and not just as contractors.
Robotic exploration continues, but will people follow? Not yet clear.
End
Thanks for your interest in space.
Philip Stooke
