12 Questions About the History of Space Exploration Answered

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Space shuttle launch

Ares I-X test rocket; Constellation program

Labeled diagram of a U.S. space shuttle showing its three main components: the winged orbiter with cargo bay and crew area, a large external liquid-propellant tank, and two solid-fuel rocket boosters, with key parts and systems identified.

Hubble Space Telescope

Yuri Gagarin in a spacesuit and helmet sits in preparation for the first manned space flight in 1961, with two uniformed men standing behind him.

Valentina Tereshkova wearing a Soviet space suit and helmet with CCCP lettering, standing in front of a spacecraft hatch.

12 Questions About the History of Space Exploration Answered: Media

How to go boldly where no (or, at least, not many) humans have gone before.

Images

Space shuttle launch

Space shuttle launch

Launch of space shuttle orbiter Columbia, July 1, 1997.

NASA

Ares I-X test rocket; Constellation program

Ares I-X test rocket; Constellation program

The Constellation program's Ares I-X test rocket lifting off from Launch Complex...

NASA

Sputnik 1

Sputnik 1

NSSDC

Labeled diagram of a U.S. space shuttle showing its three main components: the winged orbiter with cargo bay and crew area, a large external liquid-propellant tank, and two solid-fuel rocket boosters, with key parts and systems identified.

U.S. space shuttle

U.S. space shuttle, composed of a winged orbiter, an external liquid-propellant tank,...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

STS-128

STS-128

American astronaut John Olivas removing an empty ammonia tank from the International...

NASA

Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble Space Telescope, photographed by the space shuttle Discovery.

NASA

Voyager

Voyager

U.S. Voyager spacecraft, shown in an artist's depiction. The main body of the craft,...

NASA/JPL/Caltech

Yuri Gagarin in a spacesuit and helmet sits in preparation for the first manned space flight in 1961, with two uniformed men standing behind him.

Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, 1961.

NASA

Valentina Tereshkova wearing a Soviet space suit and helmet with CCCP lettering, standing in front of a spacecraft hatch.

Valentina Tereshkova

Valentina Tereshkova.

© Sovfoto—Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Guion Bluford

Guion Bluford

Guion Bluford exercising on a treadmill aboard the U.S. space shuttle Challenger...

NASA

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin stands on the Moon in a white spacesuit, with the lunar surface and his shadow visible; Neil Armstrong and the Lunar Module are reflected in his visor.

Buzz Aldrin on the Moon

American astronaut Buzz Aldrin walking on the Moon, July 20, 1969.

NASA

Laika, the dog sent into space on Sputnik II, sits inside a small capsule with her head and front paws visible, surrounded by equipment.

Laika

Laika, the dog who became the first living creature sent into space, aboard Sputnik...

Heritage Images—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

SpaceX Dragon

SpaceX Dragon

Dragon capsule by SpaceX docking with the International Space Station on May 25,...

SpaceX/NASA (A Britannica Publishing Partner)