Space exploration

The idea of sending an object to space was conceived in the minds of many science fiction authors hundreds of years before it was actually feasible. Some of these works even included various descriptions of exactly how that would be done. During the 20th century, with the development of adequate propulsion technologies, stronger and lighter materials and other technological and scientific breakthroughs, the idea of outer-earth missions was longer a dream, but a viable practice.

The first successful space launch was of the Russian unmanned Sputnik I mission on October 4, 1957. Manned space exploration began with the orbital flight of Yuri Gagarin in April, 1961.

See also:

• Manned space missions
  • Vostok program
  • Mercury program
  • Soyuz program
  • Gemini program
  • Apollo program and others
  • Skylab
  • Space Shuttle program
• Unmanned space missions
  • Mariner program and others
  • Surveyor program
• Astronauts
• Space stations
• Space tourism