Space Exploration/Parts of the Universe Notes 1957 Oct 4 USSR launches Sputnik 1.

. Nov 3 USSR launches Sputnik 2 which carried a dog named Laika into orbit. 1958 Jan 31 Explorer 1, the first US satellite to reach orbit is launched. Mar 5 Explorer 2 is launched but it fails to reach orbit. Mar 17 Vanguard 1 satellite is launched. It continues to function for 3 years. May 15 Sputnik 3 is launched. Oct 1 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is formed, it replaces the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics. Oct 11 Pioneer 1 is launched to a height of 70,700 miles. 1959 Jan 2 Luna 1 is launched by the USSR. It is the first manmade object to orbit the Sun. Mar 3 Pioneer 4 is launched on an Earth-Moon trajectory. It passed within 37,000 miles of the moon before falling into a solar orbit. Sept 12 Luna is launched. It impacts the moon on Sept 13, becoming the first manmade object to do so. Oct 4 Luna 3 orbits the Moon and photographs 70% of its surface. 1960

Apr 1 Tiros 1, the first successful weather satellite, is launched. Aug 18 The US launches Discoverer XIV, its first camera equipped spy satellite. Nov 8 JFK elected as 35th President of the USA. 1961 Apr 12 Yuri Gagarin orbits the Earth once and becomes the first man in space. May 5 Alan B. Shepard becomes the first American in space. May 25 Pres JFK addresses Congress and challenges the nation to go to the Moon before the end of the decade. Jul 21 Gus Grissom is launched on a sub-orbital flight. His liberty-bell capsule is lost when it fills with water and sinks after splashdown. Aug 6 Gherman Titov spends a day in space aboard Vostok 2. Dec 7 NASA announces the Gemini Program. 1962 Feb 20 John Glenn orbits the Earth 3 times. May 24 Scott Carpenter repeats John Glenns flight aboard Aurora 7. Oct 3 Walter Schirra orbits the Earth six times. Dec 14 Mariner 2 flies past Venus and enters a solar orbit. 1963 May 15 L. Gordon Cooper spends 34 hours in space. He is the last American to fly in space alone. Jun 16 Cosmonaut Valentia Tereshkoba becomes the first woman in space.

Nov 22 JFK Assasination. 1964 Jul 31 Ranger 7 transmits the first close range images of the Moon. 1965 Mar 18 Alexei Leonov spends 12 minutes outside his Voskhod spacecraft after performing the first spacewalk. Mar 23 Gus Grissom and John Young fly the first manned Gemini spacecraft. Jun 3 Ed White performs Americas first spacewalk. Jim McDivitt remains in the Gemini capsule. Jul 14 Mariner 4 returns close ranger images of Mars. Nov 16 Venus 3 is launched. It becomes the first manmade object to impact Venus on March 1, 1966. Dec 2 Frank Borman and James Lovell being a two week stay in Earth orbit aboard Gemini 7. Dec 15 Walter Schirra and Thomas Stafford, in their Gemini 6 spacecraft, make the first space rendezvous with Gemini 7. 1966 Feb 3 Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon. Feb 28 Astronauts Charles Bassett and Elliott See die when their plane crashes in bad weather. Apr 3 Luna 10 becomes the first satellite to orbit the Moon. Jun 2 Surveyor 1 soft-lands on the moon. Aug 14 Lunar Orbiter 1 enters orbit around the moon and takes first picture of the Earth from a distance. Nov 11 Gemini 12, the last flight of the Gemini Program,

launches James Lovell Buzz Aldrin aboard. 1967

and

Edwin

Jan 27 Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee are killes when fire ignites in their Apollo 1 capsule while performing a test on the launch pad. Apr 24 Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov is killed when the parachutes of his Soyuz 1 capsule fail to open properly following reentry. Oct 18 Venera 4 transmits data about the atmosphere of Venus. 1968 Sept 15 Zond 5 is launched. It carried a biological payload (including two turtles) around the Moon and returned to Earth six days later. Oct 11 The crew of Apollo 7 being a 10 day mission to study the new spacecraft. Dec 21 Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders being the first manned journey from the Earth to the Moon. On Christmas Eve they take turns reading Genesis in a broadcast heard around the world. 1969 Jan 16 Soyuz 4 & 5 perform the first Soviet spacecraft docking. Jul 20 Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon while crewmate Michael Collins orbits around the Moon alone. Nov 19 Pete Conrad and Alan Bean perform the first precision lunar landing, touching down just 600 feet from the Surveyor 3 probe that arrived 2 years earlier.

Parts of the Universe Mercury 87.969 Earth days = 1 Sun orbit. Part of the wandering stars Evening star Hermes, morning star Apollo (Greek) Roman messenger of the Gods Exerts a pressure of about bars. Its a dead planet that consists of cratered terrain. Venus 224.7 Earth days = 1 Sun orbit Covered by a layer of sulfuric acid clouds and (95%) carbon dioxide. 470 degrees Celsius (896 Fahrenheit) planets surface Earth Mars

Ganymede (Galiliean Moon, part of the 60) is the largest moon in our Solar system.

686.971 Earth days = 1 Sun orbit Roman god of War Iron oxide surface that features a landscape dotted with deserts, valleys, volcanoes and ice caps. Asteroid Belt Came to be from the primordial solar nebula Lies between Mars and Jupiter Rubble pile of ice chunks and rock Jupiter 11.86 Earth years (4330 Earth days) = 1 Sun Orbit Made of hydrogen gas and of helium. Has more than 60 moons. Great Red Spot storm of swirling gas that lasted for hundreds of years.

Saturn 29.4 Earth years (10759 Earth days) = 1 Sun orbit Surface is made out of iron, silicon, oxygen, nickel, metallic hydrogen, liquid helium and liquid hydrogen. Has 9 rings which consists of ice with tiny amounts of dust and rocky debris 53 moons, to date. Uranus 84.3 Earth Years (30687 Earth days) = 1 Sun orbit Ice giant since it is dominated by water, ammonia, methane, helium, and hydrogen Magnetosphere Many rings Many moons Lies on its side as it revolves around the Sun Neptune 164.79 Earth years (60190 Earth days) = 1 Sun orbit Ice giant similar composition as Uranus Interior made up of ice and rock Planet with most storms 8 known moons Trans-Neptunian Region An area beyond the planet Neptune Largely unexplored Kuiper Belt 20 times larger than the Asteriod belt Objects in the Kuiper Belt are made up of water, ammonia and methane Pluto, Eris, Makemake and Haumea all orbit here

Pluto 247.92 Earth years (90582 Earth days) = 1 Sun orbit 3 known moons Charon is the biggest: made up of frozen nitrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide -233 degrees Celsius Pluto was declassified as a planet then classified as a dwarf planet. Haumea 285 Earth years = 1 Sun orbit Also found in the Kuiper Belt Severe elongation Believed to be made up of ice and rock Makemake Low temperature Made up of nitrogen ice, ethane, and methane God of Fertility in Rapanui mythology Comets Icy and small Solar system bodies Dirty snowballs Nucleus ice and gas, Coma dense water cloud (carbon dioxide), hydrogen cloud, Dust tail most visible part of the comet made out of dust from the nucleus, and Ion tail longer than the dust tail, consists of plasma. Meteorology Atmosphere It is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that absorbs ultraviolet solar radiation and reduces the extremes between day and night. Exosphere Composed helium

of

hydrogen

and

Particles are far apart and rarely collide, may migrate out of the magnetosphere or the solar wind Thermosphere Temperature can rise to 1500Celsius (2700F) though the gas molecules are so far apart The International Space Station orbits this layer Mesosphere Layer where most meteors burn up upon entering the atmosphere 80-85km from stratopause Temperature of -85C to -100C Stratosphere 1/1000 pressure sea level Temperature increases die to increase absorption of UV radiation by the ozone layer Troposhere Begins at surface and extends to between 9Km at the poles and 17km at the equator. Mostly heated by transfer of energy from the surface Contains 80% of the mass of the atmosphere Tropopause is the boundary between troposphere and stratosphere Ozone Layer 90% is contained within the stratosphere Ionosphere Ionized by solar radiation Stretches from 50-1000km Overlaps exosphere and thermosphere Responsible for auroras Homosphere and Heterosphere Homosphere gases mixed by turbulence Includes troposphere, stratosphere and mesosphere

Heterosphere is composed of hydrogen Climate It refers to the average pattern of weather in a specific place over several years Weather It encompasses the natural events happening in the atmosphere each day, including temperature and rainfall. Latitude It is how far one from the equator is and it greatly affects the climate and weather of an area. Altitude It is how high one is above sea level and has a similar effect Proximity of the Ocean Proximity of water moderates the climate while inland climates are harsher. Mountains Mountainous regions block the flow of air masses, which rise to pass over the higher terrain. It is colder due to higher altitudes. Vegetation Hot and wet climates in the tropics develop rainforests Earths Tilt Earths axis is tilted 23.5 degrees, we have seasons.

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