Curated category
Soviet inventions
- Salyut 1The Soviet Union launched Salyut 1 into low Earth orbit on the 19th of April 1971. This event marked the beginning of the world's first space station program.
- SatelliteIsaac Newton published his cannonball thought experiment in 1687 to explain how natural satellites move. This mathematical study laid the first theoretical…
- Sputnik 1On the 17th of December 1954, chief Soviet rocket scientist Sergei Korolev proposed a developmental plan for an artificial satellite to the Minister of the…
- Lander (spacecraft)A lander is a spacecraft that descends towards, then comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body other than Earth.
- R-7 SemyorkaIn 1953, a directive from the USSR Council of Ministers set a new standard for Soviet missile development. The requirement demanded a launch mass between 170…
- Sputnik 2Nikita Khrushchev demanded a new satellite launch by early November 1957, just three weeks after Sputnik 1 had orbited the Earth.
- 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 stationEdward Everett Hale published a story called The Brick Moon in 1868. This tale featured the first mention of anything resembling a space station.
- Vostok 1The Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States began just before the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in 1957.
- Soyuz (rocket family)The first Soyuz launcher touched down in 1966 after a series of four failed test flights. This vehicle emerged from the R-7 Semyorka, which served as the…