Space-General Knowledge

First Spacecraft in Space

Name of the Spacecraft	Mission
Luna 2	Luna 2 was first spacecraft to make a landing on the moon. Launched by the USSR on 12 Sep 1959 it impacted the surface of the moon on 14.09.1959
Luna 3	Luna 3 was first space probe to photograph the far side or the dark side of the moon. It was launched by the USSR on 04 Oct 1959
Apollo 11	Apollo 11 was first spacecraft which landed the first humans, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon.
Mariner 4	Mariner 4 was the first spacecraft to flyby Mars and also the first to return images of another planet. It was launched by the USA on 28.11.1964
Mariner 9	It was the first spacecraft to orbit another planet – Mars. It was launched by the USA on 30.05.1971
Mars 3	It was the first spacecraft to land successfully on Mars. It was launched by the USSR on 28.05.1971
Pioneer 10	Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to reach the planet Jupiter. It was launched by the USA on 02.03.1972 and reached closest to Jupiter on 04.12.1973. In 1983, Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to travel past the orbit of the most distant planet, Neptune.
Galileo	Galileo launched by the USA on 18.10.1989 was the first spacecraft to flyby an asteroid, 951 Gaspra. It also discovered Dactyl, a moon of the asteroid Ida. The spacecraft was the first to orbit Jupiter in December 1995.
Mariner 10	Launched on 03.11.1973, Mariner 10 was the first spacecraft to flyby Mercury.
Messenger	Messenger was the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. It was launched by the USA on 03.08.2004, it entered the orbit of Mercury on 18.03.2011
Helios 2	Helios 2 launched on 15.01.1976 was a joint venture of the United States and West Germany. It set the record for being closest spacecraft to the Sun, at a distance of 43.432 million kilometers on 17 April 1976.
Voyager 1	Voyager 1 launched on 05.09.1977 by NASA, to study solar system and interstellar medium, became the first man-made object to enter the interstellar space on 25 August 2012. (This was confirmed by NASA in Sep 2013).
Philae	Philae, a lander which accompanied Rosetta spacecraft of the European Space Agency is the first spacecraft to land on a comet on 12 Nov 2014. The comet was 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
Chang’e 4	A Chinese lunar exploration mission that achieved the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, on 3 January 2019.

First in Space – Human Beings/Animals

Event	Name of the Person	Vehicle	Date
First animal in space	Laika, the dog	Sputnik-2	03 Nov 1957
First primate in space	Albert II, a rhesus monkey	V-2	14 Jun 1949
First man in space	Maj Yuri Gagarin	Vostok 1	12 Apr 1961
First woman in space	Valentina Tereshkova	Vostok 6	16 Jun 1963
First person to walk in space	Alexei Leonov	Voskhod 2	18 Mar 1965
First woman to walk in space	Svetlana Savitskaya	Salyut 7	25 Jul 1984
First American in space	Allan Shepard	MR-3 (Freedom 7)	05 May 1961
First American to orbit the earth	John Glenn	Friendship 7	20 Feb 1962
First man on moon	Neil Armstrong	Apollo 11	20 Jul 1969
First Indian in space	Sqn Ldr Rakesh Sharma	Soyuz T-11	02 Apr 1984
First US woman in space	Sally Ride	STS-7 (Challenger)	18 Jun 1983
First space tourist	Dennis Tito	Soyuz TM32/31	28 Apr 2001
First woman space tourist	Anousheh Ansari	Soyuz TMA9	18 Sep 2006
First Indian (American) Woman in space	Kalpana Chawla	Spaceship Columbia	19 Nov 1997
First Chinese in space	Lt Col Yang Liwei	Shenzou V	15 Oct 2003
First Chinese woman in space	Liu Yang	Shenzou 9	16 Jun 2012
First female commander of a space shuttle	Eileen Collins	Discovery	03 Feb 1995
First female commander of International Space Station	Peggy Whitson	–	October 2007

First Satellites – Countrywise

Event	Name of the Satellite	Date
First Satellite	Sputnik by USSR	04 Oct 1957
First American Satellite	Explorer 1	01 Feb 1958
First British Satellite	Ariel 1*	26 April 1962
First Canadian Satellite	Alouette 1#	01 Sep 1962
First Italian Satellite	San Marco 1@	15 Dec 1964
First French Satellite	Asterix	26 Nov 1965
First Japanese Satellite	Oshumi	11 Feb 1970
First Chinese Satellite	Dong Fang Hong I	24 Apr 1970
First Indian satellite	Aryabhatta**	19 Apr 1975
First Israeli satellite	Ofeq 1	19 Sep 1988
First Pakistani satellite	Badr-1@@	16 July 1990
First Iranian satellite	Sina 1##	28 Oct 2005
*Ariel 1 was made and launched by the USA. #Alouette 1 was constructed by Canada but launched by the USA. @San Marco 1 was built by Italy but launched by the USA. **Aryabhatta was made by India (ISRO) and launched by the USSR. ## Sina 1 was made by Iran and launched by Russia. @@Badr-1 was made by Pakistan and launched by China.

• ISRO was established in which year?* 15 August 1969

• What is the full form of ISRO?*Indian Space Research Organization

• Who is the first chairman of ISRO?*Vikram Sarabhai. The Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation is the highest-ranked official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the space agency of the India. The Indian Space Research Organisation in its modern form was created by Vikarm Sarabhai.

• where is the headquarters of ISRO?                                                                             * Bengaluru

• How many satellites are launched by ISRO?                                                                                   *104. ISRO launches 8 satellites in its 15th flight of the ‘XL’ version of the PSLV – 5 foreign satellites and 3 Indian satellites (SCATSAT-1, PRATHAM and PISAT). ISRO launched 104 satellites, of which 3 were Indian satellites. It is the largest number of satellites launched on a single flight by any space agency.

• Which was the first satellite launched by ISRO?                                                                              *Kalpana-1Kalpana-1 was the first dedicated meteorological satellite launched by Indian Space Research Organisation using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on 2002-09-12. The satellite is three-axis stabilized and is powered by solar panels, getting up to 550 watts of power.

• What is the name of first satellite built by India?                                                           *Aryabhata. ISRO built India’s first satellite, Aryabhata, which was launched by the Soviet Union on 19 April 1975. It was named after the Mathematician Aryabhata. In 1980, Rohini became the first satellite to be placed in orbit by an Indian-made launch vehicle,SLV-3.

• ISRO will launch India’s second mission to moon called ________.                                 * Chandrayaan-2. Chandrayaan-2, India’s second mission to the Moon is a totally indigenous mission comprising of an Orbiter, Lander and Rover. After reaching the 100 km lunar orbit, the Lander housing the Rover will separate from the Orbiter.

• What is full form of GSLV?                                                                                           *Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle. Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle abbreviated as GSLV, is an expendable launch system operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

• How many stages are there in GSLV?                                                                           *3. Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark is the largest launch vehicle developed by India, which is currently in operation. This fourth generation launch vehicle is a three stage vehicle with four liquid strap-ons.

• What is meant by PSLV?                                                                                              *Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
  The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). PSLV can also launch small size satellites into Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).

• Which is the latest PSLV launched by India?                                                                  * PSLV C42. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C42) of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) today (16 Sept 2018, Sunday) successfully launched two satellites — NovaSAR and S1-4 — from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.

• When was PSLV launched for the first time?                                                                   2016. The PSLV C37 mission, launched on September 26, 2016, was the first time that the rocket had inserted multiple payloads into two separate orbit altitudes.   

• How many stages are there in PSLV?                                                                           * 4 

• What is the full form of ASLV?                                                                                     *Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle. The Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle or Advanced Satellite Launch Vehicle, also known as ASLV, was a five-stage solid-fuel rocket developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to place 150 kg satellites into LEO.

• In which place Dr Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre is located?                                           *Thiruvananthapuram. It is located in Thiruvananthapuram, in the Indian state of Kerala. The centre had its beginnings as the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in 1962. It was renamed in honour of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, often regarded as the father of the Indian space program.

• Where is the headquarters of DRDO?                                                                            * New Delhi. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency of the Government of India, charged with the military’s research and development, headquartered in New Delhi, India.

•  The first cosmonaut to spend about 17½ days in space endurance flight
  * Adrin Nikolayev and Vitaly Sevastyanosov in soyuz-9 (June 1, 1970)

•  The first person in the world to land on the moon
  * Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Adrin Jr. of U.S.A. Armstrong was the first to set foot on the moon followed by Aldrin. July 21, 1969.

• The first man to enter space
  * Major Yuri Gagarin (Russian)

• The first woman cosmonaut of the world
  * Velentina Tereshkova

•  The first American astronaut to float in space
  * Edward White

• The first unmanned spaceship to have soft landed and lifted off from the moon to return to the earth
  * Luna-16 (U.S.S.R.) September 21, 1970

• The first manned space vehicle to land on the moon
  * Lunar Exploration Module (LEM) nick-named ‘Eagle’

•  The first spaceship which carried three American astronauts to land two of them on the moon
  * Apollo-11

• The first country to send man to the moon
  * U.S.A.

•  The first space-vehicle to orbit the moon
  * Luna-10 (U.S.S.R.)

• The first unmanned moon buggy to explore surface of the moon
  * Lunakhod-1 (U.S.S.R.)

•  The first space rocket brought back to earth after orbiting the moon
  * Zond-5

• First crew transfer between the orbiting spaceships
  * Soyuz T-15 with Mir Space Station

• The first mission of a linking-up in space by manned spaceships of U.S.A. and Soviet Union
  * Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Mission (ASTP) (launched on July 15 and linked up in space on July 17, 1975)

•  India’s first scientific satellite
  * Aryabhatta
  

• The first man to fly into space belonging to a country other than Russia or the U.S.A.
  * Vladimir

•  Russia’s first spaceship with international crew on board.
  * Remek (Czechoslovakia)

• The first country to send nuclear powered space craft to explore Jupiter
  * U.S.A.

•  The first Indian to go into space

* Rakesh Sharma

•  The first American astronaut to make two space flights
  * Gordon Cooper (U.S.A.)

• The first country to launch a cosmic space rocket towards moon
  * U.S.S.R.

•  The first space rocket to hit the moon
  * Lunik II

• The first spaceship in the world to sample moon’s crust
  * Surveyor-3 (U.S.A.)

• The first space vehicle to soft land on moon
  * Luna-9 (U.S.S.R.)

•  The first manned spaceship to perform the longest stay in space (11 days)
  * Apollo-7 (U.S.A.)

• The first manned spaceship to perform space flight round the moon
  * Apollo-8 (U.S.A.)

•  The first American manned spaceship to perform crew transfer in space
  * Apollo-9 (U.S.A.)

•  The first woman of Indian origin in space

* Kalpana Chawla

•  The first residents on the International Space Station
  * Bill shepherd (U.S.A.), Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev (Russia)

• The first space tourist in the world
  * Dennis Tito (U.S.A.)

•  The first European woman to international Space Station
  * Claudie Haignere (French cosmonaut)

•  The first space tourist of S. Africa and second of the world
  * Mark Shuttleworth (April 2002)

• The first US space shuttle to explode while returning home killing all the astronauts
  * Columbia (February 1, 2003)

• China’s first man in space
  * Yang Liwei

• European Space Agency’s first moon probe craft
  * SMART-I

•  America’s first Mission to Saturn
  * Cassini Spacecraft (Reached Saturn’s orbit in July 2004)

• First private, manned spacecraft
  * Spaceship One (Launched on June 21, 2004)

• First European space probe landing on the surface of the Saturnian Moon Titan
  * Huygens (January 15, 2005)

•  India’s first Mapping Satellite
  * CARTOSAT-I (Launched on May 5, 2005)

•  The first spacecraft to touch the surface of a comet
  * NASA’s Deep Impact hit its comet target temple-I (July 4, 2005)

•  The first Japanese spacecraft to get down to an asteroid and collect samples from there
  * Hayabusa (November 2005, Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

•  The first Probe Mission to planet Pluto
  * New Horizons (U.S. launched on January 19, 2006)

•  The first space woman to stay for the longest ever Perivale of time in space
  * Sunita Williams

• The first lunar orbiter of China
  * Chang’e-I (Lauched on October 24, 2007 from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre of South-Western Sichuan Province)

•  The first successful moon mission of India
  * Chandrayan-I (October 22, 2008)

•  The US software pioneer who became the first person to travel twice to space as a tourist
  * Charles Simonyi (March 26, 2009)