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Set 4: Space Exploration Sputnik I The first satellite that the Soviet Union launched into space.

Explorer I The first satellite that the United States launched into orbit in 1961. Yuri Gagarin The first human to go to space in 1961 was a Russian. He made one orbit around the Earth. The Vostik I was the rocket that launched him. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) The organization that is in charge of the United States space effort Project Mercury The U. S. Space program began in 1958 with this project. The Soviet Union and the United States competed to be the first to get a human into space. The seven astronauts in Project Mercury.

Alan Shepard, Virgil Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Donald Slayton. Only Donald Slayton did not go into space. The Mercury spacecraft The Mercury capsule was launched by the Redstone Rocket. It was small and it wasn't until the second flight that a window was added so the astronauts could look out Ham the chimpanzee The first passenger in the U. S. Space mission in 1960. His flight lasted 18 minutes. He did very well and landed safely. Alan B. Sheppard and Virgil Grissom. The first two Americans to go into space. They did not orbit the Earth, but remained high in the Earth's atmosphere where they experienced weightlessness for about 5 minutes John Glenn The first American astronaut to orbit the Earth in 1962. He made three orbits and

stayed in space for 5 hours. Scott Carpenter and Walter Schirra. The next two astronauts to orbit the Earth just three months after John Glenn. Gordon Cooper The last Mercury astronaut to go into space in 1963. He stayed in space for a whole day. He orbited the Earth 19 times. Gordon had to land the spacecraft all by himself when his control system failed. Set 5: Space Exploration (Gemini Book) Project Gemini This project had the goal of proving that humans could spend more time in space. The Gemini Spacecraft This spacecraft could hold two astronauts. The Titan II launched it into space. The doors could now be opened so that the astronauts could work outside the spacecraft in space. The Gemini astronauts

White and McDivitt, Cooper and Conrad, Armstrong and Scott, Cernan and Stafford, and Stafford and Schirra. Gemini 3 Grissom and Young from the Mercury Project were the first to be launched in 1965. They changed the path of the orbit and tested the controls for 5 hours and then returned to Earth. Gemini IV In 1965 McDivitt and White went on a 4 day mission. They tried to catch a piece of the Titan rocket that had launched them, but were unsuccessful. They did learn a lot about how to pilot a spacecraft. White took the first spacewalk. He had a tether and drifted around the spacecraft for 21 minutes. Gemini V Conrad and Cooper spent 8 days in space and orbited the Earth 120 times. This trip proved that humans could stay in space long enough to go to the moon.

Gemini VI and VII Schirra and Staffor had the job of finding and docking with Borman and Lovell on Gemini VII. They came within 1 foot of each other. Gemini missions VIII, IX, X, XI and XII These missions all had problems, but the astronauts showed they were ready to go to the moon. They had practiced docking, spacewalks and changing orbits. Project Apollo Apollo 11 On July 16, 1969 Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin left Earth for the moon. Armstrong and Aldrin rode the lunar module to the moon's surface. When Armstrong stepped off the ladder onto the moon he said, " That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." They spent 2 hours on the moon. Apollo 12 Conrad, Gordon and Bean were on the next mission. Their job was to find the Surveyor 3

spacecraft that had been landed on the moon 2 years earlier and see how it had survived being on the moon. They also collected 74 pounds of moon rocks. Apollo 13 Lovell, Swigert and Haise were on their way to the moon when an explosion shook their spacecraft. The astronauts had to abandon their command module and move into the lunar module which still had oxygen. They were very lucky to survive and get back to Earth safely. Apollo 14 Six months later, Shepard, Roosa and Mitchell were on the moon. Shepard was the first person in space during Project Mercury and now he was the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon. Apollo 15 and 16 On these missions astronauts used a lunar rover to explore the moon further away from their lunar module. They traveled to the moon's mountains to gather old rocks. A top speed of 11 miles an hour was reached with this rover.

Apollo 17 This was the last mission to the moon. Cernan was the last astronaut to walk on the moon. The Apollo astronauts had collected more than 800 pounds of moon rocks and taught scientists a lot about the origins of the moon. The Apollo-Soyuz mission In this mission the Apollo 18 spacecraft linked up with a Russian spacecraft, the Soyuz 19. The Soviet cosmonauts and American astronauts shook hands.

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