Space Exploration

April 12, 1961

Yuri Gagarin, age 27, becomes the first man to orbit the Earth aboard the Soviet spacecraft, Vostok 1. He remains in space for an hour and forty-eight minutes before re-entering the atmosphere. This ultimately was Gagarin’s only space flight. He died on March 27, 1968 when the MiG-15 he was piloting crashed near Moscow. Reportedly, at the time of his death, Yuri Gagarin was in training for a second space mission.

April 9, 1959

NASA announces the selection of the United States’ first seven astronauts, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Donald Slayton, The seven were chosen from 110 applicants to participate in the Mercury program, the nation’s first manned space program. The news media quickly dubs the group the “Mercury Seven.” On May 5th, 1961, Shepard will become the first American in space during the flight of Freedom 7.

April 6, 1973

NASA launches Pioneer 11, the second of two probes along with Pioneer 10 sent out to explore the outer solar system. Pioneer 11 became famous for being the first man-made object to fly by Saturn and also for making the closest flyby of Jupiter. After passing Saturn, Pioneer 11 continued on a trajectory towards the center of the Milky Way and will pass the star Lambda Aquila in 4 million years. The last contact with Pioneer 11 was in November of 1995. Both Pioneer spacecraft carry a plaque with a message from humanity in the chance that it is ever intercepted by intelligent life.

April 6, 1965

Intelsat I, the world’s first commercial communication satellite was launched into geosynchronous orbit above Earth. Built by the Hughes Aircraft Company, launched by NASA, and run by the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT), Intelsat I was was nicknamed “Early Bird” and would go on to handle the first nearly instantaneous communications between Europe and North America. When activated in June of that year, Early Bird proved the feasibility of using synchronous satellites for commercial communications and handled telephone traffic, TV signals, telegraph, and faxes. 

April 3, 1966

The Soviet space probe Luna 10 becomes the first spacecraft to orbit around the Moon. It was launched by the USSR from an Earth orbiting platform on March 31, 1966. Luna 10’s battery will operate for 460 lunar orbits before deactivating as planned on May 30, 1966.

March 29, 1974

Mariner 10 becomes the first spacecraft to flyby the planet Mercury. At a range of 437 miles, Mariner 10 was able to send back the first close up images of Mercury indicating a Moon-like surface of craters and ridges. Until Mariner ran out of fuel and contact terminated about one year later, it made two more flybys of Mercury returning over 2,700 pictures of the innermost planet in our solar system.

Mariner 10 also was famous for many other firsts:

• The first spacecraft to use the gravity of one planet (Venus) to reach another (Mercury)
• The first spacecraft to return data on a long-period comet (Kohoutek)
• The first mission to explore two planets (Mercury and Venus) during a single mission
• The first spacecraft to use a gravity assist to change its flight path
• The first spacecraft to return to its target after an initial encounter
• The first probe to use the solar wind as a major means of spacecraft orientation during flight

March 28, 1935

Robert Goddard, considered the father of modern rocketry, successfully launches the first gyroscope controlled rocket. His A-5 rocket flew to an altitude of 4,800 feet, flew horizontally for 13,000 feet and reached a speed of 550 miles per hour. Gyroscopic technology is critical for the stabilization of modern flight systems in airplanes and spacecraft.

March 25, 1979

The first space flight capable Space Shuttle, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center. Columbia was the second orbiter built, but its predecessor Enterprise was built primarily as an early testing prototype and without engines and functional heat shielding was not capable of space flight. Columbia was set to launch in late 1979 but due to various problems, did not launch until April 12, 1981. Columbia was lost on February 1, 2003 upon re-entry due to damage to the heat shield on its wing from an impact from falling foam insulation.

March 23, 2001

The Russian space station Mir burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere after fifteen years in orbit. The debris that isn’t burned up falls safely into the Pacific ocean between Chile and New Zealand, in a region from which governments had routed planes and ships away. The station, which was launched in 1986, far exceeded its intended lifespan of five years.

March 21, 1965

NASA Launches Ranger 9, the last of the Ranger series of unmanned lunar exploratory spacecraft. Ranger 9 was the first moon probe to point its cameras directly in the direction of its travel, capturing 5,814 detailed images of the moon’s surface into which it would crash land almost 3 days later. It also sent back video images which were broadcast on live TV. The Ranger series was the precursor to the Apollo Moon landing program.