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Space Exploration
In the 20th century, new technology spurred the development of space programs by countries around the world.
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The Space Race
During the 1950s and '60s, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a heated competition to see which superpower would dominate the exploration of space.
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
The independent U.S. governmental agency established to explore space.
any of a series of 10 artificial Earth satellites whose launch by the Soviet Union beginning on Oct. 4, 1957, inaugurated the space age. Sputnik 1, the first satellite launched by man, was a 83.6-kg (184-pound) capsule. It achieved an Earth orbit with an apogee (farthest point from Earth) of 940 km (584 miles) and a perigee (nearest point) of 230 km (143 miles), circling Earth every 96 minutes and remaining in orbit until early 1958, when it fell back and burned in the Earth's atmosphere.
Sputnik 2, launched on Nov. 3, 1957, carried the dog Laika, the first living creature to be shot into space and orbit Earth. Eight more Sputnik missions with similar satellites carried out experiments on a variety of animals to test spacecraft life-support systems; they also tested reentry procedures and furnished data on space temperatures, pressures, particles, radiation, and magnetic fields.
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This Day in History
May 28
Lead Story
Appeal for Amnesty campaign launches, 1961
On this day in 1961, the British newspaper The London Observer publishes British lawyer Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" on its front…
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Failure Is Not An Option (PDF)
Curriculum guide to the program that tells the story of the men and women behind the space program.
