Curated category
Soviet inventions
- Salyut 1Salyut 1 lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the 19th of April 1971, becoming the world's first space station to reach orbit.
- SatelliteOn the 4th of October 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to reach Earth's orbit. The unexpected announcement of its…
- Sputnik 1Sputnik 1, a polished metal sphere barely 58 centimetres across, crossed the sky on the 4th of October 1957 and changed everything.
- Lander (spacecraft)A lander is a spacecraft built to do something extraordinarily difficult: descend toward an alien world and come to rest on its surface without being…
- R-7 SemyorkaThe R-7 Semyorka was the weapon that changed the geometry of the Cold War. In August 1957, a 34-meter rocket lifted off from a remote site in Kazakhstan and…
- Sputnik 2Sputnik 2 lifted off at 02:30:42 UTC on the 3rd of November 1957, carrying something no spacecraft had ever carried before: a living creature.
- Fast-neutron reactorIn 1946, the Clementine reactor at Los Alamos National Laboratory began operating with a core that relied on neutrons carrying energies above 1 MeV.
- LaserOn the 16th of May 1960, Theodore H. Maiman switched on the first functioning laser at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
- Space stationSpace stations exist to keep human beings alive in orbit for weeks, months, or longer - a feat that requires solving problems no terrestrial architect has…
- Vostok 1Vostok 1 lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 06:07 UTC on the 12th of April 1961, and the world changed in 108 minutes. A single orbit.
- Soyuz (rocket family)Soyuz holds the record for the most launches in the history of spaceflight. That single fact, buried in technical documents and launch logs, is extraordinary…