NASA Timeline for Kids
The main events of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration can be seen in the
comprehensive, history timeline for kids.
NASA
Timeline: Main Dates and Events
NASA
Timeline: 1915 -
The National
Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a U.S.
federal agency founded on March 3, 1915. NACA was
replaced by NASA in 1958.
NASA
Timeline: 1957 -
USSR
launch Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite
on October 4, 1957
NASA
Timeline: 1957 -
The
Soviets
launch Sputnik 2, just a month
later on 3 November 1957. Sputnik-2 carried a
female dog named Laika into space.
NASA
Timeline: 1957 -
Vanguard TV3 was
the first attempt by the United States to launch a
satellite into orbit around the Earth but America's
first satellite fails in a launch pad explosion on
December 6, 1957
NASA
Timeline: 1957 -
The
Cold War Space
Race (1957 - 1975) begins
NASA
Timeline: 1958 -
The United States
successfully launched its first artificial satellite
called the 'Explorer' satellite on February 1, 1958 under the
US Army's Jupiter project. The Explorer satellite was
launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
NASA
Timeline: 1958 -
The top secret
Discoverer, the forerunner to the later Corona, Argon,
and Lanyard spy satellite missions and defence projects
were run by the CIA and the military and would operate
an independent space program that would work in parallel
with NASA
NASA
Timeline: 1958 -
The
National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 was sent to
Congress on 2 April 1958
NASA
Timeline: 1958 -
The National
Aeronautics and Space Act was signed into law on 29
July, 1958 and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) was established replacing NACA.
NASA
Timeline: 1958 -
NASA began its
operations on October 1, 1958 and Pioneer 1 was the
first spacecraft launched by NASA on October 11, 1958 at
Cape Canaveral, Florida.
NASA
Timeline: 1958 -
Pioneer 1 became
the first spacecraft launched by NASA on October 11,
1958 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
NASA
Timeline: 1958 -
NASA research
pilot John McKay was on the last flight in the Bell X-1
Rocket plane on November 7 1958.
NASA
Timeline: 1958 -
On December 18,
1958, an Atlas booster missile was used to launch the
Signal Communication by Orbiting Relay Equipment (SCORE)
satellite that transmitted the first message from space
to Earth. The communication was a pre-recorded Christmas
message from President Eisenhower.
NASA
Timeline: 1959 -
The
NASA Earth-orbiting weather satellite, Vanguard 2, was
launched on February 17, 1959
NASA
Timeline: 1959 -
Project Mercury
(1959-1963) began as the first US human spaceflight
program rivaling the Soviet Vostok program. Project
Mercury was followed by the Apollo and Gemini projects.
NASA
Timeline: 1959 -
The NASA unmanned
spacecraft Pioneer 4 was launched on March 3 1959 from
Cape Cape Canaveral to the Moon with a lunar probe and
successfully made the first U.S. lunar flyby.
NASA
Timeline: 1959 -
The NASA Astronaut
Corps began on 9 April 1959 to select and train
astronauts for Project Mercury
NASA
Timeline: 1959 -
A Jupiter missile
was launched on 28 May 1959 that carried and recovered
two monkeys after a suborbital flight.
NASA
Timeline: 1960 -
USA
Corona Spy Satellite - successful recovery of
photographs from space
NASA
Timeline: 1960 -
The
NASA meteorological satellite TIROS 1 was launched on April
1, 1960 to monitor Earth’s weather.
NASA
Timeline: 1960 -
Transit
1B, the first experimental orbital navigation system was
launched on April 13, 1960
NASA
Timeline: 1960 -
Project Echo was
the first passive communications satellite experiment.
Echo 1 balloon satellite was launched on 12 August 1960.
NASA
Timeline: 1961 -
On 12 April 1961
Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to
enter space and safely come back to Earth.
NASA
Timeline: 1961 -
Alan Shepard
became the first American to fly in space in a
suborbital flight on May 5 1961 on the Mercury-Redstone
3, or Freedom 7 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
NASA
Timeline: 1961 -
Project Gemini
(1961 - 1966) followed Project Mercury to develop space
travel techniques to support Apollo's NASA mission to land
astronauts on the Moon.
NASA
Timeline: 1961 -
On 25 May 1961
President John F. Kennedy made his "Urgent National
Needs" speech, committing the United States and NASA to
land on the Moon by the end of the decade.
NASA
Timeline: 1961 -
The second piloted
flight of a Mercury spacecraft, Liberty Bell 7, took
place on 21 July 21 1961 when astronaut "Gus" Grissom
undertook a sub-orbital mission.
NASA
Timeline: 1961 -
NASA Administrator
James E. Webb announced on September 19 1961 that the
site of the NASA center dedicated to human space flight
would be Houston, Texas. It became known as the Manned
Spacecraft Center and was renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson
Space Center in 1973.
NASA
Timeline: 1961 -
The first
NASA successful test of the Saturn I rocket was accomplished
on October 27, 1961
NASA
Timeline: 1962 -
John Glenn became
the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20,
1962, making three orbits in his Friendship 7 Mercury
spacecraft. His 15-minute suborbital flight ended with a
successful splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.
NASA
Timeline: 1962 -
Two more of the
'Mercury Seven' astronauts went into space. Scott
Carpenter flew in Aurora 7 on May 24, 1962 and Walter
Schirra flew in the Sigma 7 on October 3, 1962
NASA
Timeline: 1962 -
NASA launched
Telstar l, the first privately built communications
satellite, on July 10 1962. Telstar transmitted the
first telephone and television signals that were carried
via satellite.
NASA
Timeline: 1962 -
Mariner 2 made the
first successful planetary flyby of Venus on December
14, 1962
NASA
Timeline: 1963 -
Astronaut L.
Gordon Cooper circled the Earth 22 times in 34 hours on
May 15-16 1963 aboard the Mercury capsule Faith 7 in the
final Mercury space mission.
NASA
Timeline: 1964 -
Saturn SA-5 the
largest launch vehicle to date sent 19 tons into orbit
during a test flight on January 29 1964
NASA
Timeline: 1964 -
The first Apollo
Command Module was launched on May 28, 1964 as an
automated test flight atop a Saturn I in preparation of
the lunar landing program.
NASA
Timeline: 1965 -
Following two
robotic test flights, Gemini III undertook the first
operational mission of Project Gemini took place on 23
March 23, 1965
NASA
Timeline: 1965 -
Astronaut Edward
H. White II piloted the second operational Gemini
mission June 3-7, 1965 and performed the first spacewalk
by an American.
NASA
Timeline: 1966 -
Neil A. Armstrong
and David Scott performed the first orbital docking on
March 16, 1966 as part of the Gemini project
successfully coupling two spacecraft.
NASA
Timeline: 1966 -
Surveyor 1 landed
on the Moon on June 2, 1966 and transmitted more than
10,000 photographs of the surface.
NASA
Timeline: 1967 -
During a
simulation aboard Apollo-Saturn 204 on January 27, 1967
at the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center a flash fire
broke out in and the pure oxygen atmosphere of the
capsule was engulfed by fire. The three astronauts
aboard, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, all
died of asphyxiation. As a result of this accident the
Apollo program was delayed until the spacecraft could be
redesigned.
NASA
Timeline: 1967 -
The first NASA test
flight of the Saturn V rocket took place on November 9,
1967.
NASA
Timeline: 1968 -
Apollo 8 Manned
Moon Orbit was launched atop the Saturn V booster from
Kennedy Space Center with three astronauts, Frank Borman,
James A. Lovell, Jr., and William A. Anders on December
21 1968. The crew transmitted images of the "blue
marble" Earth hanging in space.
NASA
Timeline: 1969 -
The
Apollo program (1969 - 1972) followed Project Gemini
aiming to land the first humans on the Moon
NASA
Timeline: 1969 -
The First Man on the Moon.
Apollo 11 was the first lunar landing mission with
astronauts July 16 – 24, 1969. Neil A. Armstrong and
Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin were able to walk on the Moon
whilst Michael Collins orbited overhead in the Apollo
command module.
NASA
Timeline: 1969 -
The Apollo 12
mission (14-24 November 1969) in which astronauts
Charles Conrad, Richard Gordon, and Alan Bean go to the
Moon for second manned landing.
NASA
Timeline: 1970 -
The flight of
Apollo 13 (April 11-17,1970) was one of the near
disasters of the Apollo program. 2 days and 8 hours into
the flight of Apollo 13, the oxygen tank in the service
module burst damaging several of the electrical and life
support systems. All crew members of Apollo 13 were able
to return safely to Earth.
NASA
Timeline: 1971 -
Apollo 14 (January
31- February 9, 1971) was the third lunar landing
mission. Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell went to the
Moon whilst Stuart Roosa piloted the Command Module.
Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell performed nine hours of
moonwalks and brought back 98 pounds of lunar samples.
NASA
Timeline: 1971 -
Apollo 15 (26 July
26 - August 7 1971) was the fourth lunar landing mission
with astronauts David R. Scott, Alfred M. Worden and
James B. Irwin and the lunar rover.
NASA
Timeline: 1971 -
Mariner 9 was
launched on November 13, 1971 and was the first NASA mission
to orbit another planet (Mars).
NASA
Timeline: 1972 -
NASA administrator
James C. Fletcher met with President Richard M. Nixon on
January 5 1972 and the decision was made to proceed with
the Space Shuttle development.
NASA
Timeline: 1972 -
Pioneer 10 and
Pioneer 11 were launched from Kennedy Space Center to
the planet Jupiter in the outer Solar System.
NASA
Timeline: 1972 -
Apollo 16 (April
16-27, 1972) made the fifth landing on the Moon with
astronauts John Young, Thomas Mattingly II, and Charles
Duke.
NASA
Timeline: 1972 -
Landsat 1 was
launched on July 23, 1972 from Kennedy Space Center on
an Earth resource mapping mission.
NASA
Timeline: 1972 -
Apollo 17
(December 7-19 1972) was the last of the six Apollo
missions to the Moon with a three-member crew consisting
of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald
Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt.
NASA
Timeline: 1973 -
Skylab, a small
orbital space platform, was launched on 14 May 1973.
Skylab became home to three crews of astronauts during
1973–1974 for periods of 28, 59, and 84 days,
respectively.
NASA
Timeline: 1975 -
The Apollo-Soyuz
Test Project (July 15-24, 1975) was the first joint
international human space flight effort. The first multi-national manned missions ending the
Cold War Space Race.
NASA
Timeline: 1975 -
Viking 1 was
launched on August 20, 1975 from Kennedy Space Center on
a trip to Mars. The Viking 1 probe landed on Mars on
July 20, 1976.
NASA
Timeline: 1977 -
The first NASA Space
Shuttle orbiter, Enterprise (OV101), was launched on
February 18, 1977. Tests demonstrated that the Space
Shuttle could fly attached to the Boeing 747 creating
the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
NASA
Timeline: 1978 -
The first of two
spacecraft called Pioneer Venus were launched on May 20,
1978 to study the Venusian atmosphere.
Continued...
NASA
Timeline: Main Dates and Events
NASA Timeline for kids:
Dates and Events
Our interesting
NASA Timeline continues with more facts for kids that are
detailed below. The history is told in a
factual timeline sequence consisting of a series of short facts
providing a simple method of relating the
history and the important events
and people who feature in the NASA Timeline.
NASA
Timeline: Main Dates and Events
NASA
Timeline: 1980 -
The Solar Maximum
Mission was launched on 14 February 1980 to study the
Sun in detail.
NASA
Timeline: 1981 -
The first Space
Shuttle Columbia flight was launched in April 1981.
NASA
Timeline: 1982 -
The Space Shuttle
Columbia, launched November 11-16, 1982 in which the
astronauts deployed two commercial communications
satellites.
NASA
Timeline: 1983 -
The Space Shuttle
Challenger was launched April 4-9 1983.
NASA
Timeline: 1983 -
Sally K. Ride
became the first American women to fly in space on the
seventh Space Shuttle STS-7 mission (June 18-24 1983) on
the Space Shuttle Challenger.
NASA
Timeline: 1983 -
On August 30, 1983
Guion S. Bluford became the first African American
astronaut on the Space Shuttle Challenger.
NASA
Timeline: 1983 -
On November 28,
1983 the Space Shuttle Columbia transported Spacelab 1,
the first space laboratory.
NASA
Timeline: 1984 -
On January 25,
1984 President Ronald Reagan made the announcement to
build a Space Station within a decade.
NASA
Timeline: 1986 -
On January 1986
the Space Shuttle Challenger, STS-51L, was destroyed
during its launch from the Kennedy Space Center. The
terrible accident was witnessed as millions of people
around the world saw the accident on television. Its
crew of seven were all killed.
NASA
Timeline: 1986 -
The Mir space
station was launched by the Soviet Union on February 19,
1986 was launched on February 19, 1986
NASA
Timeline: 1989 -
The NASA Magellan
mission to Venus was launched on May 4, 1989 and arrived
at Venus in September 1990. With the use of radar
Magellan mapped 99% of the surface of the planet.
NASA
Timeline: 1989 -
President George
H. W. Bush made a speech on July 20, 1989 announcing
plans for the Space Exploration Initiative to send
astronauts back to the Moon and to Mars. The mission
failed to survive.
NASA
Timeline: 1989 -
The NASA Galileo
spacecraft and probe was launched on 18 October 18, 1989
to begin a gravity assisted journey to Jupiter.
NASA
Timeline: 1990 -
The Hubble Space
Telescope was launched from the Space Shuttle Columbia
on April 24, 1990.
NASA
Timeline: 1992 -
First flight of
Space Shuttle Endeavour May 2-16, 1992.
NASA
Timeline: 1992 -
The NASA Space Shuttle
Endeavour was launched on December 2, 1993. The
astronauts conducted a successful mission repairing the
optics of the Hubble Space Telescope.
NASA
Timeline: 1994 -
Cosmonaut Sergei
Krikalev became the first Russian to fly aboard a U.S.
space shuttle (February 3-11, 1994) with American
astronauts Charles F. Bolden and Kenneth S. Reightler,
Jr.
NASA
Timeline: 1995 -
The NASA Space Shuttle
Atlantis docked to the Mir Space Station (27 June – 7
July 1995). It was the first of nine Shuttle-Mir link
ups between 1995 and 1998 that were to include docking
procedures and crew transfers.
NASA
Timeline: 1995 -
On August 7, 1996
NASA announced that a team of its scientists uncovered
evidence, but not conclusive proof, that
microscopic life may have once existed on the planet
Mars.
NASA
Timeline: 1996 -
On February 17,
1996, Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft
became the first to orbit and land on an asteroid.
NASA
Timeline: 1996 -
The Mars
Pathfinder, an American robotic spacecraft with a roving
probe, was launched on a Delta II rocket from Cape
Canaveral on 4 December 1996.
NASA
Timeline: 1997 -
On January 13,
1997 NASA scientists announced the discovery of three
black holes in three different galaxies. Using data from
the Hubble Space Telescope it was discovered that Black
Holes once powered quasars (the nuclei of galaxies).
NASA
Timeline: 1997 -
NASA’s Earth
Observing System launched a series of artificial
satellite missions in Earth orbit designed for long-term
global observations of the land surface, atmosphere,
biosphere and oceans of the Earth.
NASA
Timeline: 1997 -
The Tropical
Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spacecraft, a joint
mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA), was launched on 27 November 1997 to
monitor tropical rainfall
NASA
Timeline: 1997 -
The international
Cassini space probe mission left Earth bound for Saturn
on October 15, 1997
NASA
Timeline: 1998 -
Lunar Prospector
was launched on January 6, 1998 for a one-year polar
mission to explore the Moon for water and minerals.
NASA
Timeline: 1998 -
The first piece of
the International Space Station was launched on November
20, 1998.
NASA
Timeline: 1999 -
The Stardust comet
mission was robotic space probe launched on February 7,
1999 to collect dust samples from the comet Wild
2.
NASA
Timeline: 1999 -
The NASA Landsat
7, part of the series of Landsat satellites to map
Earth’s Surface, was launched on April 15, 1999
providing images useful in the fields of agriculture,
geology and forestry.
NASA
Timeline: 1999 -
The NASA QuikSCAT
/ SeaWinds satellite, measuring Ocean Winds from Space,
was launched on 19 June 1999 to help understand global
climate change and weather patterns.
NASA
Timeline: 1999 -
Terra, a climate
research satellite, was launched
from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California by NASA on December
18, 1999.
NASA
Timeline: 1999 -
The Active Cavity
Radiometer Irradiance Monitor Satellite (ACRIMSAT) was
launched on December 20, 1999 to measure the sun’s total
energy output and to helps scientists to better predict
changes in climate.
NASA
Timeline:
2000 -
ISS Expedition One
with astronaut Bill Shepherd and cosmonauts Yuri
Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, docked at the
International Space Station (ISS) on November 2, 2000
and stayed there for several months.
NASA
Timeline:
2000 -
EO-1 the Earth
Observing Mission NASA satellite was launched on
November 21, 2000 to demonstrate new technologies for
improved Earth observations.
NASA
Timeline:
2001 -
Genesis was a
sample return probe that was launched on August 8, 2001
to collect a sample of solar wind and return it to Earth
for analysis.
NASA
Timeline:
2001 -
Jason-1, the NASA
Ocean Surface Topography Mission satellite was launched
on December 1, 2001 to improve forecasting of climate
events.
NASA
Timeline:
2002 -
The GRACE twin
satellites, measuring changes in Earth’s Gravitational
Field, were launched by NASA on March 17, 2002 to help
scientists to measure the changing mass of polar ice
caps.
NASA
Timeline:
2002 -
NASA’s Aqua
satellite, measuring Earth’s Water Cycle was launched on
May 4, 2002 providing info on the temperatures of air,
land, and water.
NASA
Timeline:
2002 -
The Comet Nucleus
Tour, or CONTOUR, mission on July 3, 2002 to study
comets in the solar system
NASA
Timeline:
2003 -
SORCE, the Solar
Radiation and Climate Experiment NASA satellite was
launched on January 25, 2003 long-term climate change
and the effects of solar changes on Earth
NASA
Timeline:
2003 -
STS-107 was the
113th flight of the Space Shuttle program. On February
1, 2003 the last flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia
(January 16, 2003 – February 1, 2003) ended in tragedy
when it broke up in the atmosphere 15 minutes before its
scheduled landing. The seven crew members were all
killed.
NASA
Timeline:
2004 -
Two Mars
Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, landed on
the Martian surface in January 2004 and continue to
explore Mars today.
NASA
Timeline:
2004 -
Following a
seven-year, two-billion-mile journey, the Cassini –
Huygens spacecraft became the first spacecraft to go
into orbit around Saturn. The Cassini – Huygens
spacecraft which was launched from Cape Canaveral on
October 15, 1997 completed the two billion mile journey
to go into orbit around Saturn on January 14, 2004..
NASA
Timeline:
2004 -
On January 14,
2004 President George W. Bush made a speech announcing
the new 'Vision for Space Exploration' aimed at
achieving a manned return trip to the Moon by 2020, in
preparation for human exploration of Mars and other
destinations by NASA.
NASA
Timeline:
2004 -
The Aura satellite
mission, dedicated to the Health of Earth’s Atmosphere,
was launched by NASA on July 15, 2004
NASA
Timeline:
2004 -
SpaceShipOne, a
suborbital air-launched spaceplane completed the first
manned private spaceflight on September 30, 2004.
NASA
Timeline:
2005 -
The Deep Impact
mission on January 12, 2005 sent a copper projectile to
gather info about the structure of a comet
NASA
Timeline:
2005 -
The Discovery Program: The launch of the
Space Shuttle Discovery on July 26, 2005 marked NASA’s
first return to manned spaceflight after the Columbia
tragedy that occurred on February 1, 2003.
NASA
Timeline:
2006 -
The New Horizons
spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral January 19 2006
starting its 9 year journey to Pluto and the Kuiper
Belt.
NASA
Timeline:
2006 -
CloudSat
(Revealing the Inner Secrets of Clouds) NASA satellite
was launched on April 28, 2006
NASA
Timeline:
2006 -
The Phoenix lander,
a robotic spacecraft on a space exploration mission on
Mars, was launched on August, 4 2007 under the Mars
Scout Program.
NASA
Timeline:
2007 -
The Dawn mission
was launched September 27, 2007 on a journey in both
space and time by traveling to the asteroid belt between
Mars and Jupiter, Vesta and Ceres.
NASA
Timeline:
2008 -
The Jason-2 Ocean
Surface Topography Mission NASA satellite was launched
on June 20, 2008 to improve forecasting of climate
events and measure global sea-level change
NASA
Timeline:
2009 -
The Kepler Mission
was launched on March 6, 2009 carrying the first space
telescope designated to search for Earth-like exoplanets.
NASA
Timeline:
2011 -
Messenger, a
robotic spacecraft was launched on March 18, 2011 to
make the first orbit of the planet Mercury.
NASA
Timeline:
2011 -
The Aquarius
mission satellite was launched by NASA on 10 June 2011
to enhance the understanding of the climatic
interactions between the global water cycle and ocean
circulation.
NASA
Timeline:
2011 -
On September 10,
2011 the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory
(GRAIL) mission launched on a Delta II rocket to put
twin satellites around the Moon to map the Moon's
interior and its gravitational pull
NASA
Timeline:
2012 -
The Voyager 1
mission launched the first manmade probe into
interstellar space on August 25, 2012.
NASA
Timeline: 2014 -
The Rosetta
mission launched the first man-made probe on November
12, 2014 to make a planned and soft landing on a comet.
NASA
Timeline:
2015 -
On March 6, 2015
the Dawn mission made the first orbit of the dwarf
planet (Ceres).
NASA
Timeline:
2015 -
The New Horizons
mission completed the first flyby of dwarf planet
(Pluto) in July, 2015.
NASA
Timeline:
2016 -
The InSight
mission, scheduled to launch in March 2016, to place a
geophysical lander on Mars to study its interior.
NASA
Timeline: Main Dates and Events
Facts and
NASA Timeline for kids: Dates and Events
●
Interesting Facts and NASA Timeline for kids and schools
● Important NASA Timeline
in US history
●
Facts and NASA Timeline with important dates and key
events
● NASA Timeline with important dates and key
events
●
Fast, fun, interesting
facts and history via the NASA
Timeline
● NASA history Timeline
● NASA History
timeline for schools,
homework, kids and children |