Do you like space? Do you want to learn more about NASA?

Well in this essay you can

learn all about NASA and the international space program. So keep reading, and learn all about
space.
In 1957 Sputnik 1 was launched. In the post-World War II USSR, a group of scientists led
by Mikhail Tikhonravov at the newly created NII-4 military institute pioneered the work. Which
would ultimately lead to the first Soviet artificial satellite. This effort prepared ground work for
the political decision to go ahead with the launch of Sputnik. A decree of the Soviet government
No. 149-88ss formally authorizing the development of an artificial satellite was signed on
January 30, 1956. It called for the development of an unoriented satellite, designated Object D,
during 1957-1958. The spacecraft's mass was limited to 1,000-1,400 kilograms, relying on the
capabilities of the R-7 ballistic missile. Some 200-300 kilograms was available for scientific
instruments. The launch date was set for 1957.

Astronaut Alan B. Shepard is rescued by a U.S. Marine Helicopter at the end of his
suborbital Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) flight May 5, 1961. The stakes were raised in the space
race on April 15, 1961, when the Soviet Union launched cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space and
he became the first person to orbit the Earth.Born Nov. 18, 1923, to Renza Emerson and Alan
Shepard, Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. grew up in rural New Hampshire. After graduating from high
school, he attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating the day after D-Day. An ensign,
Shepard spent the last year of World War II on a destroyer in the Pacific.Over the next 15 years,
Shepard served in the Navy in various capacities. He received a civilian pilot's license while in
naval flight training, and spent several tours on aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean. He
attended the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School in 1950, and then went on to participate in a number of
developmental tests for various crafts, as well as trials of the first angled carrier deck

In the first decade of the 21st century NASA made some amazing discoveries such as
on June 21, 2004, September 29, 2004, and October 4, 2004 SpaceShipOne was launched from
its White Knight mothership, the rocket-powered SpaceShipOne and its pilot ascended just
beyond the atmosphere, arced through space (but not into orbit), then glided safely back to Earth.
Mars Exploration Rovers, 2004 On January 3, 2004, the Spirit rover landed on Mars in Gusev
crater, followed on January 25 by Opportunity reaching the Sinus Meridiani region, halfway
around the planet from its twin. Since that time, both rovers have been operating on the Martian
surface and returning stunning scientific findings that are restructuring our knowledge of the red
planet. NASA is an amazing group that has accomplished many things and will accomplish even
more in the future.
bibliography
Curtis, Editor@spacetoday.org Anthony R. Space Today Online - Occurrences - Alan
Shepard Spaceflight - First American in Space - 50th Anniversary. N.p., n.d. Web. 25
Apr. 2017

Sputnik. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2017

"#tbt: The First American in Space." CNN. Cable News Network, 05 May 2016. Web. 25
Apr. 2017

Zell, Holly. "Five Years of Great Discoveries for NASA's IBEX." NASA. NASA, 06 Mar.
2015. Web. 25 Apr. 2017

"Ten Events of Great Significance in Space Exploration during the Twenty-first Century's
First Decade." National Air and Space Museum. N.p., 22 Mar. 2017. Web. 25 Apr. 2017