Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

Space flight

495

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Astronauts and space travel

Comets and meteors

Gravity

Moon

Planets

Rockets and missiles

Satellites

Firsts in space

1957 The first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1

(Soviet Union), goes into orbit around Earth.

1959 Luna 3 (Soviet Union), the first successful

space probe, flies past the moon and sends back the first

picture of the moon’s far side.

1961 Russian Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person

to fly in space, making one orbit of Earth.

1962 Mariner 2 (US), the first successful planetary

space probe, flies past Venus.

1969 Neil Armstrong (US) becomes the first person

to walk on the moon.

1971 The first space station, Salyut 1 (Soviet Union),

goes into orbit.

1981 US space shuttle Columbia makes its first

test flight into space.

1990 Hubble Space Telescope put into Earth orbit by the

space shuttle Discovery (US).

1995 Discovery (US) is the first shuttle mission to be flown

by a female pilot, Eileen Collins.

2001 Businessman Dennis Tito becomes the first space

tourist, aboard the Russian craft Soyuz.

2014 Rosetta spacecraft’s Philae probe becomes first probe

to land on a comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

iNTERPLANETARY

fLiGHT

Some aircraft are

designed to explore

objects in the solar system.

They are equipped with

cameras and all kinds of

sensors that take images

and collect information,

which is beamed back to

Earth by radio.

SPACE STATioN

People can make the longest space flights on

board space stations—large spacecraft that

spend several years in orbit around Earth.

Smaller spacecraft carry teams of astronauts

to the international Space Station,

where they live and work for weeks or

months at a time. Supplies and relief

crews come aboard in spacecraft that

dock (link up) with the international

Space Station.

iNSiDE THE iSS

While on board the international

Space Station (iSS), astronauts

conduct experiments and repair

equipment under weightless

conditions. The space station

became fully operational in

2009, but there are plans to

add new modules in the

years to come.

The probe was named

after Dutch astronomer

Christiaan Huygens,

the discoverer of

Titan. Huygens

collected and sent

back data during its

descent and for about

1.5 hours after landing.

CASSiNi

in 1997, the Cassini

spacecraft left Earth on its

seven-year journey to Saturn.

About the size of a small

bus, Cassini has studied the

gas giant, its rings, and its

moons. on board the

spacecraft was a small probe

called Huygens that landed

on the surface of Titan,

Saturn’s largest moon.

Pressurized

modules provide

living quarters and

laboratories

Heat shield to protect the

probe during its descent

through Titan’s atmosphere

Fuel tank

Radio dish

Cameras

Radiators

turn edge-on

to the sun to

lose excess

heat

Spacecraft dock

at ports in

positions like

this one

Solar panels

rotate to point

at the sun

Remote sensing

instruments look

down on Earth

Thermal control

panels regulate

temperature

Huygens probe

Parachute to

slow the speed

of the probe

International Space Station

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