Mav Mark10/24/11

Scientists on the side of Earth opposite the epicenter of an

earthquake detect mainly which seismic wave(s)?

Mav Mark10/25/11

What causes charges to move in a circuit?

The Space Program

Notes

The Race for Space• The space race began in the 1950s. The

space race was between the Soviet Union, or USSR, and the United States.

• This was a time directly following WWII in which both superpowers (who didn’t really like each other due to the Soviet Union’s communist government) were capable of creating nuclear weaponry.

•Neither country wanted to start a thermonuclear war, so the superpowers entered a stalemate for many years. This became known as the Cold War.

The Race for Space• Instead of inciting a WWIII, both

countries turn their energies to space. To prove superiority, we entered the Space Race.

•Who could make it into space first?

•The first goal was to make an artificial satellite orbit the planet.

•A satellite is an object that revolves around another object in space. The moon is a natural satellite. A spacecraft orbiting Earth is an artificial satellite.

USSR USA

Sputnik 1October 4, 1957

Explorer IJanuary 31, 1958

The Race for Space•On October 4, 1957 the Soviet

Union successfully launched Sputnik I into space.

•One month later, the Soviets launched Sputnik 2. This satellite carried a living organism, a dog by the name of Laika.

The Race for Space• Two months after Laika achieved orbit, the

United Stated unsuccessfully launched a rocket. It rose one meter off of the ground that then promptly exploded.

• On January 31, 1958, the US achieved its first artificial satellite launch with Explorer I.

• Once up there, it discovered for the first time the Van Allen Belts. These belts are areas around Earth’s magnetic field that trap charged particles from the sun.

The Race for Space

•On July 29, 1958, the United States established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

•The second goal was to launch a human into space.

USSR USA

Yuri GagarinApril 12, 1961

Orbited in Vostok I

Alan ShepardMay 5, 1961

DID NOT ORBITin Freedom 7

The Race for Space• The Soviet Union launched the first

human into space on April 12, 1961. His name was Yuri Gagarin.

• Not only was he the first human in space, but he was also the first human to orbit the planet.

• The first American in space was Alan Shepard on May 5, 1961.

• The first American to actually orbit the planet was John Glenn aboard the Friendship 7 on February 20, 1962. He was the 5th human in space.

Missions to the Moon

•In 1961, President John F. Kennedy set a goal. He said that the United States would send a man to the moon within 10 years.

•The effort to put a man on the moon was called the Apollo program.

•On a very hot late summer's day in 1962, President Kennedy visited Rice University in Houston, Texas, and gave this speech outdoors in the football stadium.

Missions to the Moon

•http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKWHA-127-002.aspx

•Listen from 07:55 - 09:25

If you can’t view the video, use the link to the

right ⇒

Missions to the Moon

• Kennedy’s speech was ambitious. Keep in mind that as of that speech, America hadn’t even gotten a man to orbit the planet yet.

• Be that as it may, between 1964 and 1972, many missions to the moon were achieved by both the Soviet Union and the United States.

• The USSR achieved the first photographs of the moon and even the first unmanned soft landing on the lunar surface.

• On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the surface of the moon, and Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot upon an alien surface.

Missions to the Moon

•Apollo 11 landed in the Sea of Tranquility, containing both Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

•Unfortunately, Kennedy did not see his dream come true; he was assassinated 5 and half years before we landed on the moon.

Click for Recording of Moon Landing

If you can’t hear theaudio, use thefollowing link:

http://www.hark.com/clips/szgkkpwlbb-one-small-step-for-man-one-giant-leap-for-mankind

Missions to the Moon

•Apollo 11 left behind their Landing Module’s landing gear.

•On this gear is a plaque stating who’d been there.

•This landing gear can also be used to calculate the distance to the moon from Earth using Earth-based lasers and a retroreflective material on the landing gear.

Click to play

Missions to the Moon

• Over the next three years, five more Apollo missions landed on the moon.

• That’s a total of 17 Apollo missions.

• Apollos 11-17 all landed on the moon, with the exception of Apollo 13.

• Astronauts brought back to Earth samples from the moon (moon rocks) .

• The final Apollo mission, Apollo 17 took place on December 7, 1972. Humans have not been back to the moon, nor farther in space since that date.

New Missions to the Moon

• For the most part, the moon has been ignored since 1972.

• Recently, interest has be raised about using the moon as a colony and launching point for Mars.

• In 2004, President Bush laid out plans for humans to be back on the moon as early as 2015, but no later than 2020. Mar would be a goal as early as 2030.

• "With the experience and knowledge gained on the moon, we will then be ready to take the next steps of space exploration -- human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond.” - President George W. Bush

New Missions to the Moon

• On September 10, 2011, NASA launched the GRAIL Mission.

• GRAIL - Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory

• GRAIL is a set of two satellites designed to map the gravity of the entire moon based on how one satellite moves relative to the other due to varying gravitational pulls of the moon.

• You can view the same thing the satellites are seeing at https://moonkam.ucsd.edu/

• NASA is allowing students from grades K-12 to name the twin satellites. You could name these two craft if you enter the contest. DEADLINE is NOVEMBER 11

• http://grail.nasa.gov/contest