Josh's+Report

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” said Neil Armstrong as he landed on the moon. In this non-fiction article, you’ll learn about Men in Space, Rockets, Planets, Space Shuttles, The International Space Station and Asteroids.

__ Men in Space __

Did you know that astronauts have been exploring space for 31 years? The first man in space was Yuri Gagarin. He went into space on April 12, 1961. He traveled there on a small capsule named Vostok I. He landed there in just a few hours. He was killed in 1968 when a plane he was testing crashed.

John Glen was the 1st American to make it up in space. He did this on Feb. 20, 1962. He was aboard a small capsule in the Mercury series. After the success of men in space, NASA wanted to send a man to walk on the moon. They launched an American space capsule called Apollo II on the moon with 3 men in it, Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin descended to the surface of the moon on board the Lunar Module and made a soft landing. The Modules television cameras captured Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon and transmitted it to earth, where hundreds of millions of people were able to see it on TV. The astronauts were able to jump easily due to the reduced gravitational force. After that, the United States launched 5 more Apollos.

On January 27, 1967, an equipment failure in a rocket caused a fire & 3 astronauts, Grissom, Chafee, and White, were burned to death. In mid 1967 the Soviet Cosmonaut V. Kamarou was killed when the parachute of the first Soyuz Spaceship failed to open and the spacecraft crashed into earth. The worst disasters were on January 28, 1986, when the seven astronauts of the Challenger died in an explosion during takeoff, and on February 1, 2003, when spacecraft Columbia Disintegrated during Reentry, killing the 7 crew members.

R.H. Goddard succeeded in launching a liquid/oxygen rocket, but not with him in it. He came up with this from K.E. Tsiolowski when he knew you could use liquids to launch a rocket.

The first satellite was launched in October 4, 1957, by the Soviet Union, Sputnik 1.

On November 3, Sputnik 2 was put up in space. It had a husky named Laika in it so humans could see what animals or humans needed to survive space. Sadly, she died when Sputnik 2 burned up in the earth’s atmosphere.

While scientists were using Sputnik 2 and 1, they wanted to try using other animals such as rats and monkeys. They first launched a rat named Mia into space for up to 4,880 miles, (8,000 kilometers), but the rocket got lost in the ocean when it returned. They tried another rat, which returned successfully but wasn’t much use because the monitors were not working properly. Flights using monkeys were more successful, they provided valuable information from subsequent manned flights.

On July 31, 1964, the American Space Probe ranger 7 crashed onto the surface of the moon after taking 4,000 close-up photographs. On February 3, 1966, the Soviet Space probe, Luna 9, gently landed on the surface of the moon and began to transmit photos. In June of the same year, the American Probe Surveyor 7 also landed on the moon.


 * __Planets __**

The Solar System is… eight planets including earth that move around (orbit) the sun along with lots of moons, meteoroids, asteroids, and comets. The sun is a star that is not big. It just looks big to us because it’s the closest star to earth. Here is more information about the planets...

Venus – clouds on it made of carbon Dioxide trap the sun’s heat at daytime it is 887°F (475°C)

Mercury - closest to sun, 788°F (420°C), at night it’s 292°F (Minus 180°C) small, rocky

Earth - brightest about ¾ water, has oxygen, circles sun in 365.25 days

Mars – has volcanoes, canyons, dust storms, polar caps, and craters. Some call it the red planet

Jupiter – almost was a star, biggest planet, has a strange red spot that could swallow earth

Saturn – Most beautiful, like a smaller version of Jupiter. Second largest planet in solar system

Neptune – it’s blue, has a dark spot which is four times the size of earth.

Uranus – planet of gases, its poles are at an angle of 98° in relation of the plane of its orbit

Pluto – smallest planet, has a moon named Charon that’s almost the same size as Pluto. It may have been a moon of Neptune that broke free.


 * __ Asteroid Facts __**

· Come in many sizes · There are craters that appear when a meteorite hits the planets or orbits space · They orbit the sun · If they break free, they become meteors · When coming down at earth, called a meteorite · Largest asteroid called Ceres. Has a diameter of about 470 miles (750km) · It’s possible to see about ten meteors or shooting stars an hour on a clear night · Meteors are the size of a grain of sand, so they usually burn up while traveling at a very high speed


 * __ Rockets __**

How does a rocket Work? A rocket consists of a propulsion chamber, where the liquid fuel is burned, and that releases gases at more than 5,000 degrees FAHRENHEIT. For that reason, the turbines have to be very durable so they don’t melt. The escaping gases propel the rocket in the opposite direction. The payload is located at the opposite end; that may be other rockets and a space capsule.

There is such a rocket as a stage rocket. It flies up, and then a part comes off. This continues until there is only one left.

The lighter a rocket is the less fuel it uses. Rockets normally use liquids for fuels. Chinese invented solid fuels that can be used for fireworks.

__ Space Shuttles __ The Space Shuttle is what astronauts use to do some of their missions in space. It is made of 3 parts: an orbiter with engines, rocket boosters, and an external fuel tank. The major fuel tanks are reusable, and are collected up from the ocean and refilled for later use.

There have been 5 space shuttles today: Columbia, Discovery, Challenger, Atlantis, and Endeavour, and the test model Enterprise which never flew into space. Columbia is the oldest space shuttle in the fleet. The Challenger had 9 successful missions but was destroyed in a tragic accident during its Tenth flight in 1986. Unexpectedly cold temperatures caused mechanical failure in the rocket and all of the crew passed out. Their names are Gregory Jarvis, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Francis Scobee, Judy Resnik. Michael Smith, and S. Christa McAuliffe. All shuttle missions stopped for two years after the disaster. In use since 1984, the 3rd shuttle, Discovery, has retrieved satellites, released the Hubble Space telescope in 1990, visited the Russian Mir Space Station in 1995 and allowed John Glen to return for another trip into space. Finished in 1984 shuttle Atlantis was the fourth shuttle built. It weighs about 7,000 lbs, less than Columbia and was faster to build. It has worked on missions since 1986, including the launching of the Galileo space craft and the Magellon Probe.

__ The International Space Station (ISS) __

The International Space Station is like a mansion in space. It took Over 40 space flights to complete the building of the space station: the parts of it were sent by the space shuttle, the Russian Soyuz rocket, and the Russian proton rocket. Only a few dozen people have seen the earth from orbit, but space travel has the possibility of becoming more accessible in the future. The space program today is run by an agency in the government, an immediate result of the Cold War Competition with the Soviet union and different countries as people slowly start to come up with new technology, like reusable launch vehicles, someday people might be able to purchase tickets to actually take a ride into space on a space shuttle.

The International Space Station (ISS) was in the planning stages for many years. The space station was supposed to be a United States project, but since NASA’s funds were low there was not enough money to finish the project. Because of this, The US let Russia join in on their project because it does make sense to work together with as many people as possible to make this dream come true. Now the International space station is a joined together project of 15 different countries. Currently there are Russian, Japanese, and American astronauts. It started in 1998 and continues today.

In this non-fiction article you have learned about Men in Space, Rockets, Asteroids, Space Shuttles, Planets, and The International Space Station.