1958 Explorer 1, the first American satellite, encountered mysterious levels of radiation at 603 miles altitude, leading to the discovery of one of two radiation belts encircling Earth. Launched January 31, 1958 by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, the satellite was subsequently turned over to NASA. Preceding page: artist Alan Chinchar captures three decades of U.S. manned space flight. 1960 Tiros 1, a prototype meteorological satellite launched April 1, 1960, produced 22,500 photos of Earth's weather, providing an important new tool for accurate weather forecasting. Perched atop a Redstone booster is the Freedom 7 capsule that inaugurated U.S. manned space flight just three weeks after the Soviets orbited the first cosmonaut. Alan B. Shepard's 15-minute suborbital flight was viewed as a sign that the Russian space lead was narrowing. The launch of a turning point in preparation for manned landings. After six previous failures, three Ranger spacecraft captured more than 17,000 views of potential landing sites. 1965 Flights in the two-man Gemini spacecraft in 1965 and 1966 provided mastery of technology and skills that were crucial to Apollo: maneuvering in space, rendezvous and docking with another vehicle in orbit, extravehicular activity (see top photo), and demonstrating that man could function effectively in space for as long as two weeks with no lasting harmful effects. In addition, the Gemini missions obtained a wealth of data about Earth's geography, environment, and resources. |