Spaceflight: Human and Robotic Travel Beyond Earth's Atmosphere

The chronological listing of previous space missions is divided:

• Timeline of the exploration of space
• list of manned space flights

In addition, there are the main articles

• History of space travel
• manned space flight
• unmanned space flight

and main article about

• Rocket and launcher
• Satellite (space) and space probe
• interplanetary navigation.

The article Spaceflight summarizes the most important aspects and deals with the basics of spaceflight.

Although the idea of travelling to the moon or other planets and stars existed for a long time, it was not until the 20th century, with the development of rocket technology, that the only techniques so far that could achieve a sufficiently high speed came into being. For a single orbit, this is at least 7.9 km/s from Earth (see Cosmic Velocity).

Theoretical foundations and rocket pioneers

The Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) was the first to deal more precisely with the theory of space flight: he formulated the basic mathematical principles of rocket propulsion and the basic rocket equation. In 1923, the German Hermann Oberth (1894-1989) also established the basic equation of rocket technology and, like Tsiolkovsky, showed with the concept of the step rocket how large payloads could be brought into the desired trajectory in an energetically favourable way.

Among the first engineers and experimental scientists, the South Tyrolean astronomer and rocket pioneer Max Valier (1895-1930) and the US-American R. H. Goddard (1882-1945) should be mentioned. Valier was the first European to dare to experiment with liquid propellants and built, among other things, a rocket car (exhibited in the German Museum). During a laboratory test in Berlin, an aggregate exploded and a metal splinter killed the only 35-year-old. Goddard developed small rocket engines from around 1910, with which he succeeded in launching the first liquid rocket in 1926.

Other well-known pioneers include:

• Sergei Pavlovich Korolyov, Soviet Union
• Nikolai Dmitrievich Kuznetsov, Soviet Union
• James Van Allen, USA
• Wernher von Braun, Germany, from September 1945 USA
• Helmut Gröttrup, Germany.

Military and industry discover space travel

This process first began in the German Reich, which saw in the new technology an opportunity to circumvent the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. By the outbreak of the Second World War, the Peenemünde Army Experimental Station was thus established under Wernher von Braun, where the A4/V2 rocket was eventually built. The A4 was designed as a long-range ballistic artillery rocket and was the first human-designed object to cross the boundary into space (defined by the FAI as more than 100 km in altitude, the Kármán line). This first large rocket in the world was used as a long-range weapon, primarily against London and Antwerp. Due to the relative inaccuracy of hits and the extraordinarily poor ratio of cost and destructive effect, this type of missile was a bad decision from a military-economic point of view. The military strategists and politicians of the Soviet Union and the United States recognized the potential of rocket technology, which lay primarily in the fact that rockets were practically impossible to intercept, and sought to capture from occupied Germany not only equipment and blueprints, but also knowledge of action. This began a race between the two countries as early as the last days of World War II that would last for decades. After the war, complete rockets as well as production facilities and numerous scientists and technicians were taken to the USA and the Soviet Union, where they formed the basis of rocket development for the next decades (see Operation Paperclip).

Cold War Space Race

In the Cold War that was now beginning, space travel was above all of mass psychological and propagandistic importance. In addition to its obvious military value, it was perceived by contemporaries as a yardstick for the performance and progressiveness of the two competing systems. In the USA, Wernher von Braun was largely responsible for the progress in development and was correspondingly present in the public eye, while his counterpart Sergei Korolyov was virtually unknown even in the Soviet Union.

As a result of the so-called Sputnik shock in October 1957, the American public suddenly became aware that the Soviet Union had almost completely caught up with the original technological backlog. From this point on, space travel was also vigorously promoted in the USA, and a veritable race ensued. Soviet spaceflight now achieved many significant firsts. One month after the launch of Sputnik 1, it brought the dog Laika into space. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth in space. The Lunik 2 and Luna 9 probes performed the first hard and soft landings on the Moon in 1959 and 1966, respectively. In contrast, U.S. efforts under President Kennedy focused on the manned lunar landing, which was witnessed by half a billion television viewers on July 20, 1969.

Although NASA, the civilian space agency, has been and remains the focus of public attention, the development of spaceflight, away from the high-profile prestige projects, has been determined exclusively by military considerations. About three quarters of all satellite launches serve and served military purposes. The USA had reconnaissance satellites since 1959 and weather, navigation and early warning satellites since 1960.

The Soviet Union continued its research on docking maneuvers, long-duration flights and space exits of cosmonauts, which had already begun in the 1960s, via the first space station Salyut 1 to joint docking maneuvers with the USA in 1975 and finally to the permanently manned space station Mir.

Cooperation and globalization of space travel

Even during the Mir era, an increased willingness to cooperate between the USA and Russia could be observed. For example, the space shuttle docked several times at the aging space station and thus contributed significantly to its preservation.

The joint efforts eventually resulted in the planning and construction of the International Space Station (ISS) starting in 1998. After the crash of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003, it was only accessible by Soyuz spacecraft, as it has been since the decommissioning of the space shuttle fleet in 2011. The operation of the ISS has been agreed at least until 2024, with a possible extension until 2028.

Milestones in space travel (selection)

• 3 October 1942: First successful launch of an A4 rocket (also known as V2). However, the A4 does not reach the first cosmic speed required to enter Earth orbit. (German Reich)
• 20th June 1944: The A4 rocket MW 18014 reaches an altitude of more than 100 km and is the first man-made object to cross the definition limit of space, the Kármán line. (German Reich)
• 20 February 1947: First animals in space: Fruit flies are transported into space to an altitude of 109 kilometres by the US-Americans in a V2 rocket in order to test the effects of radiation. (USA)
• June 14, 1949: Albert II, a rhesus monkey, becomes the first mammal to be carried by a U.S. V2 rocket to an altitude of 134 kilometers, but subsequently dies on impact with Earth. (USA)
• October 4, 1957: Launch of Sputnik 1, the first man-made satellite. (Soviet Union)
• November 3, 1957: Sputnik 2 puts a living creature into orbit for the first time, Laika the dog. (Soviet Union)
• September 13, 1959: The first man-made spacecraft, Lunik 2, hits the lunar surface. (Soviet Union)
• 7 October 1959: Lunik 3 photographs the far side of the moon. (Soviet Union)
• August 19, 1960: With Sputnik 5, two living beings (the females Strelka and Belka) land safely on Earth for the first time after a space flight. (Soviet Union)
• April 12, 1961: Vostok 1. Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly into space and orbit the Earth. (Soviet Union)
• May 5, 1961: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space on a parabolic flight lasting just a few minutes.
• 11/12 August 1962: Vostok 3 and Vostok 4: Andrijan Nikolajew and Pavel Popowitsch launch for the first space rendezvous. For the first time, two people are in space; the spacecraft come within 5 km of each other. (Soviet Union)
• June 16, 1963: Vostok 6. Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to fly into space. (Soviet Union)
• March 18, 1965: Voskhod 2: Alexei Leonov becomes the first human to leave a spacecraft and float freely in space. (Soviet Union)
• February 3, 1966: The Luna 9 probe makes the first soft landing on another celestial body, the moon. (Soviet Union)
• March 16, 1966: First docking in manned spaceflight - Gemini 8 docks with an unmanned target satellite. (USA)
• December 21, 1968: With Apollo 8, humans leave Earth orbit for the first time. The crew consists of Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders. (USA)
• 16 July 1969: Apollo 11, launch for the first moon landing. Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon on July 21, 1969, followed by Buzz Aldrin. Michael Collins remains in lunar orbit. (USA)
• November 17, 1970: Lunochod 1 becomes the first rover to travel to another celestial body, the moon. (Soviet Union)
• December 15, 1970: Venera 7 makes the first soft landing on another planet, Venus. (Soviet Union)
• December 3, 1973: Pioneer 10 becomes the first spacecraft to pass one of the outer planets of the solar system, Jupiter. (USA)
• 24 December 1979: Maiden flight of the European launcher Ariane 1 (ESA)
• 12 April 1981: The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on its maiden flight. It is the first partially reusable space transportation system. (USA)
• February 19, 1986: The Mir space station base block is launched into space. (Soviet Union)
• 20 November 1998: The launch of the Russian Zarya module marks the beginning of the construction of the International Space Station - the largest project in space travel to date.
• October 15, 2003: Yang Liwei becomes the first Chinese to launch into space with the Shenzhou 5 mission.
• June 21, 2004: SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately operated manned spacecraft to reach space. (USA)
• 24 October 2007: China launches its first lunar probe Chang'e-1.
• October 22, 2008: India launches its first lunar mission with Chandrayaan-1. (India)
• August 2012: Voyager 1 becomes the first man-made object to reach interstellar space. (USA)
• 12 November 2014: The Philae probe launched by Rosetta makes the first soft landing on a comet, Churyumov-Gerasimenko. (ESA)
• 23 November 2015: The US space company Blue Origin succeeds with the New Shepard in the first controlled landing of a rocket after a flight into space.