| Astronauts
Astronauts Selection
Photo Page
What's New
Contact Page
Favorite Links
|
|
 |
I. INTRODUCTION
ASTRONAUT.
A traveller in space. The word is derived from astronautics, the science and technology of space flight. In the countries of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) this field is called cosmonautics, and crew members cosmonauts; the term astronaut is therefore sometimes reserved for crew members on United States space missions.
Astronaut Bruce McCandless floats free above the earth in a manned manoeuvring unit (MMU) during a shuttle mission. McCandless helped design the MMU and was the first to fly one. The MMU is propelled by small nitrogen thrusters controlled by the astronaut's hands. Because no umbilical cord attaches the astronaut to the spacecraft, the MMU gives much greater mobility than was available to earlier spacewalkers.
MILESTONES
The first man to orbit the Earth was cosmonaut Yury A. Gagarin, in 1961, and the first American in space was Alan B. Shepard, Jr., also in 1961, in a non-orbiting or ballistic flight. The following year, John H. Glenn became the first US astronaut to circle the Earth, and in 1963, Valentina V. Tereshkova of the USSR became the first woman in space. Three US astronauts� Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins�manned the historic flight that landed Armstrong and Aldrin on the Moon in July 1969. In 1983, astronaut Sally K. Ride became the first American woman to enter space.
|
 |
  
|
|
Left - Portrait of the Apollo 11 crew: Neil Armstrong, commander (on left); Michael Collins, command module pilot (mid); and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, lunar module pilot. Right - The crewmen leave the Kennedy Space Center's Manned Spacecraft Operations Building during the prelaunch countdown, then are loaded into the van for the drive to Launch Complex 39A.
July 16, 1969. As the 363 ft. tall space vehicle is launched from Kennedy Space Center at 9:37 a.m. From the launch tower the smoke and flames from the five engines of the Saturn V rocket generate 7.5 million pounds of thrust. The launch tower is cleared. Twelve minutes later, the astronauts are in orbit 120 miles above the Earth at 17,400 mph, then begin their four day journey to the Moon, nearly a quarter of a million miles away.
|
|
|
