Aviation/Space Exploration

The Soviets launched Sputnik, the first man-made satellite, on October 4, 1957. Forty years later, the Cold War is over, and the Russian space program frightens only its own cosmonauts. It's difficult to recapture the sense of paranoia and self-doubt that Sputnik created in the U.S., but The New York Times' coverage of that week helps a bit. If journalism is the first draft of history, this was an especially rough draft, because the Soviets released information about the satellite in limited bursts, leaving much to speculation. But the paper's stories delved into the political and military implications of the Soviet feat, while managing to convey a sense of wonder. After all, the first step into space was an achievement that transcended politics.

Since about 1895, Konstantin Tsiolkovskiy, (born in 1857) works on the idea of a rocket-propelled spaceship in the relative obscurity, in the town of Kaluga southwest of Moscow.

On November 20th, 1998 the first module of the new International Space Station (IS(I)S) was launched at 6:40 AM GMT from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakstan. The timing of this launch was evidently designed to coincide with a number of significant celestial alignments consistent with NASA's long established ritual pattern. The precise nature and meaning of these alignments took on different characteristics depending on just where you stood within the vast Cosmodrome.
Located just north of the former city of Leninsk in central Kazakstan, initial construction of the Baikonour facility was commenced on May 5th, 1955 and the first launch was in 1957. By 1989, the Cosmodrome encompassed an incredible 1560 square km. and over 80 launch pads.

The "magnificent little workhorse" Delta rocket is one of the world's most reliable expendable launch vehicles. Delta has been a mainstay of the U.S. rocket stable since its introduction in 1960. This site looks at Delta's development and evolution, contains the most complete and up-to-date flight log available, and gives the latest news and a schedule of upcoming launches.

The Cold War was only beautiful once, and that was during the race to space. Because after the Russians fired Sputnik across our bow in October 1957, and generals and presidents fretted over great missile silos in the sky, there were others who just wanted to see whose guys could fly the highest. When Yuri Gagarin (above) went first, America countered with its first real heroes since the war: The Mercury Seven. Alan Shepard was the first American to go up, in '61; John Glenn went up and around and around and around, and we all craned our necks and cheered and made him a senator. We saw blood on the launchpad after three were burned alive right on the ground; we saw footprints on the moon, back in 1969 when something like a moon landing could still get an 80 share (what were the other 20 percent watching?). And of course there was the Challenger in 1986, that awful fire in the sky. But we won. And we've been lucky. And we've used the moon for a driving range. Now for the planets, and the stars in the sky at night.

The Flights of the Space Shuttle: Basic information about each mission in the Space Shuttle.
NASA Shuttle Launches by Vehicle: Information on each orbiter.
Shuttle History Archive at Kennedy Space Center: A fine collection of materials relating to each Space Shuttle mission including an impressive collection of images.
Shuttle Press Kits from the the NASA Newsroom

Apollo was America's program to land men on the moon and get them safely back to the earth. In May 1961 President Kennedy gave the signal for planning and developing the machines to take men to that body. This decision, although bold and startling at the time, was not made at random - nor did it lack a sound engineering base. Subcommittees of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), predecessor of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), had regularly surveyed aeronautical needs and pointed out problems for immediate resolution and specific areas for advanced research. After NASA's creation in October 1958, its leaders (many of them former NACA officials) continued to operate in this fashion and, less than a year later, set up a group to study what the agency should do in near-earth and deep-space exploration. Among the items listed by that group was a lunar landing, a proposal also discussed in circles outside NASA as a means for achieving and demonstrating technological supremacy in space. From the time Russia launched its first Sputnik in October 1957, many Americans had viewed the moon as a logical goal. A two-nation space race subsequently made that destination America's national objective for the 1960s.

The Aviation History Online Museum
Aircraft Photo Gallery Airmen

Why flight?
Since the beginning of time, man has wanted to float through the sky like a bird. From fashioning huge feathered wings to creating complex machines, many people have tried to take to the skies unsuccessfully throughout history. However, it was the Montgolfier brothers of France that discovered the secret.