Thanassis ZitonoulisNassos Karahalios

G2

2nd Experimental Junior High School of AthensProject in English 2017

Space travel is a form of transport when passengers enter space, the vast

region outside the Earth's atmosphere.

Space starts at 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the Earth's crust, and it

continues to be infinite.

Space is reshaped by celestial bodies such as stars, planets etc.

Humans always wondered what exists outside their solar system

People of the ancient times tried to explain some effects that had to dowith space such as the orbit of the earth around the sun or theconstellations.

With the evolution of technology people had the opportunity to finallytravel and explore space.

Later, films were made about space travelling such as Star Trek inwhich space was considered “the final frontier”.

NASA Soviet Space Programm

The National Aeronautics andSpace Administration (NASA) is anindipendent agency of USA that isresponsible for the civilian spaceprogram, aeronautics and aerospaceresearch.It was formed on July 29 1958.

The Soviet space program of the then Soviet Union (USSR) was responsible for some pioneeringaccomplishments in space travellingsuch as Sputnik 1, Vostoc etc.

After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Unioncreated their own missile programs.

On October 4, 1957, the Soviets launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, intospace.

People began traveling in space in 1961 in tiny spacecrafts called capsules. Capsules were launched from Earth by powerful rockets.

Russian Lt. Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth in Vostok 1. Hisflight lasted 108 minutes. Gagarin reached an altitude of 327 kilometers.

Russian crews still travel in this kind of craft, in Soyuz capsules.

“Soyuz capsule”

Sputnik 1

“Vostok 1 capsule which carried Yuri Gagarin on the firstmanned space flight (April 12, 1961). (RKK EnergiyaMuseum outside of Moscow)”.

“The Sputnik 1 spacecraft (1957) was the first artificial satellite successfully placed in orbit around the Earth.”

Americans however, travelled into space shuttles, which arerocket-powered space planes.

'Explorer 1' was the first U.S. Satellite that went into orbit onJanuary 31, 1958.

The first American to orbit Earth was John Glenn on February20, 1962.

In 1961 Alan Shepard became the first American to fly intospace.

“Space shuttle”

Humans on the moon

During the 1960s the moon was photographed and examined by ananmanned spacecraft.

On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first ever human to take“a giant step for mankind” as he stepped onto the moon.

After that, there were six Apollo missions that were carried out to explorethe moon between 1969 and 1972.

“Neil Armstrong' s footprint on moon'ssurface”

Voyager spacecraft sent back detailedimages of Jupiter and Saturn, theirrings, and their moons.

Skylab

Skylab, was America’s first spacestation and the Apollo Soyuz TestProject was the world’s firstinternationally crewed (American andRussian) space mission.

Voyager spacecraft

During the 1980s Satellites

were used:

for carrying television programs,

people were able to pick up the

satellite signals on their home

dish antennas

for the discovery of an ozone

hole over Antarctica

for pinpointing forest fires

for giving us photographs of the

nuclear power-plant disaster at

Chernobyl in1986.

for providing informationduring wars regarding enemytroops about their place and movement, early warning ofenemy missile attacks, andprecise navigation in thedesert terrain.

The Challenger tragedy led toa re-evaluation of America’sspace program.

The Challenger was the firstspacecraft to carry a schoolteacher that was going intospace. The launch ofChallenger had been delayedfive times due to bad weather, January 28 was the coldestday that NASA has everlaunched a shuttle.

“73 seconds into flight, the Orbiter Challenger exploded, killing all seven of its crew. Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch”

The International Space Stationis a research laboratory in lowEarth orbit. Different partnerscontribute to its design andconstruction.

Nowadays it has become a symbol of cooperation in spaceexploration.

“international space station”

“The Salyut programme”

The “Salyut programme” was thefirst space-station programmeundertaken by the Soviet Union.

Mars is the fourth planet and the

second smallest planet of our solar

system.

It is also known as the “Red Planet”

because of an atom named iron oxide

that gives the planet its red colour.

Distance from Sun: an average 227.9

million km. Year length :687 days

Day length: 24 hours 37 minutes 23

seconds

Atmosphere : 95% carbon dioxide, 2%

argon, 3% nitrogen

Surface temperature average: -23° C

Natural satellites: Phobos and Deimos

The gravity of Mars is only 38% as strong as the gravity of Earth.

The highest point on Mars is Olympus Mons, a volcano more than 16 miles tall. Astronomers say it is the tallest mountain in the Solar System.

Curiocity is a robotic rover that

was launced on the 6th of

November 2011 and landed on

Mars on August 6th 2012

Its main goals are:

to investigate Mars' climate

and geology

to determine if Mars was ever

able to support microbial life

to determine if Mars can

support human life in the future

“Curiosity rover is finding evidence of how ancient lakes and wet underground environments changed on Mars' surface billions of years ago”

Images Taken by the Curiosity Rover

“Martian Valley” “Dunes on Mars' surface”

“Sunset on Mars - captured on 15th ofApril 2015”

“Solar eclipse from Mars. Curiosity captured Phobos, one of the two small martian moons passing in front of the Sun in July, 2015.”

Mars One is an organization thathas proposed to land the firsthumans on Mars so that it canestablish a permanent humancolony there by 2025.

Mars One's original concept is first, to launch a robotic lander andorbiter as early as 2020 and then, to send a human crew of four in2024 and one in 2026.

The crew is planned to beconsisted of applicants who willbecome the first permanentresidents of Mars with no plan ofreturning to Earth.

Other options include a proposedtelevision documentary programdocumenting the journey.

“How the settlement will look like”

Among with missions to other planets there were also attemts to land a

spacecraft on commets.

One example is Rosetta, a space probe launched by ESA that had as its mission

to land on a commet and give specific details about its surface.

Rosetta was launced on 2nd of March 2004.

Due to technical problems and communication issuesrosetta crashed on the commet and the mission failed.

Cosmic Vision is a long-term space science missions programme by the

European Space Agency (ESA)

Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 was designed to address four main questions

that are high on the agenda of research across Europe (and the world)

concerning the Universe and our place in it

What the conditions are for planet formation and the emergence of life

How the Solar System works

What the fundamental physical laws of the Universe are

How the Universe originated and what it is made of

https://www.nasa.gov/

http://www.aerospace.org/education/stem-outreach/space-primer/a-brief-history-of-space-exploration/

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-space-travel.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_program

http://spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/MarsThePlanet/MarsSeasons.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars#Search_for_life

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong

http://www.mars-one.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_One#Criticism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_(spacecraft)#End_of_mission

http://earthsky.org/space/curiositys-10-best-images-of-mars-in-2015

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-035

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Space_Agency

https://www.google.gr/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=saturn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA

http://sci.esa.int/cosmic-vision/46510-cosmic-vision/?fbodylongid=2152

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_space_program#Funding_and_support