In the subject of astronomy many people give credit to the astrnomers and astraunauts that obtain pictures and data about the star, planets, moons and other celestial bodies. Rarely any credit is given to the engineers that design and build the expensive equipment and technology that the personel utilizes. This webpage has been written to inform the masses about the technology and the principles behind them.
There are two main types of rocket engines that launch and propel the spacecraft. They are known as solid-propellant rockets and liquid-propellant rockets. Solid-propellant rockets utilizes chemicals that burn in way that is familiar to gunpowder. Liquid-propellant rockets utilizes liquid fuels and oxidizers which are contained in seperate holding tanks. The force that is exerted by the expanding gas that rapidly moves out of the rocket overcomes the gravity of Earth (9.8 m/s).
Most rockets are equiped with several stages that holds fuel that powers that particular stage. After the fuel in each stage has been consumed by the craft The empty stage drops away from the spacecraft. These stages are droped into the pacific ocean. Later they are retrived from the depths of the ocean and are repaired and reused in another launch. Rockets are usually launcehd from an especially designed and constructed for the transportation and launch of the spacecraft. It is more commonly known as the crawler.
| Date Launched | Name | Accomplishments |
| 1958 Dec. 18 | Project Source | Broadcast first voice message from space. |
| 1962 July 10 | Telstar 1 | First satellite to relay telivision programs between U.S. and Europe |
| 1963 July 26 | Syncom 2 | First synchronous satellite. |
| 1965 Apr. 6 | Early Bird | First commercial communications satellite. |
| 1967 Jan. 11 | INTELSAT 2B | First of a series of satellites in stationary orbit; used for television, data or voice. |
| 1971 Jan. 26 | INTELSAT 4A | First high-capacity communications satellite. |
| 1972 Nov. 9 | Anik 1 | First Canadian Communications satellite. |
| 1977 Jan. 26 | CS | First Japanesse communications satellite. |
| 1981 Feb. 21 | Comstar D | Synchronous satellite; part of worldwide communications system. |
| 1988 June 15 | Pan American Satellite | First privately owned internatinal telecommunications satellite. |
| Date Launched | Name | Accomplishments |
| 1959 Feb. 17 | Vangaurd 2 | First satellite to send weather information back to earth. |
| 1960 Apr. 1 | Tiros 1 | Took the firsy detailed weather pictures. |
| 1974 May 17 | SMS-1 | First full-time weather satellitein synchronous orbit. |
| 1975 Oct. 16 | GOES-1 | First satellite with enough speed to maintain observational position over the earth. |
| 1978 June 16 | GOES-3 | Equipped to provide both day and night pictures of the earth's weather patterns. |
| 1980 Sept. 9 | GOES-D | Designed to help track storms. |
| 1984 Dec. 12 | NOAA-F | Weather observatory equipped with instruments to aid in search and rescue missions worldwide. |
| Date Launched | Name | Accomplishments |
| 1958 Jan. 31 | Explorer 1 | First U.S. satellite; discovered Van Allen radiation in space. |
| 1962 Mar. 7 Apr. 26 Sept. 28 | OSO-1 Ariel Alouette | First orbiting solar observatory. First international satellite;carried both U.S. and British instruments. First Canadian satellite. |
| 1963 Apr. 2 | Explorer 17 | First satellite to study the atmosphere. |
| 1967 Sept. 7 | Biosatellite 2 | Carried living cells,plants,and animals into space and return them to earth. . |
| 1968 Dec. 7 | OAO-2 | First orbiting astronomical observatory. |
| 1972 July 23 | Landsat-1 | Photographed the earth with different wavelength of light to provide information about the earth's natural resources. |
| 1973 June 10 | Explorer 49 | Conducted radio astronomy research on the far side of the moon. |
| 1976 May 4 | Lageos | First satellite designed for high-precision geographic measurments . |
| 1977 Aug. 12 | HEAO-1 | Orbiting observatory used to locate objects in outer space that emit X-rays. |
| 1978 Oct. 24 | Nimbus 7 | Collected data for studying the earth's atmosphere and oceans. |
| 1979 Feb. 18 | SAGE | Primarily designed to measure florocarbon content in the earth's stratosphere. |
| 1980 Feb. 15 | Solar Max | Designed to study solar flares and the conditions on the sun that cause such eruptions. |
| 1983 Jan. 25 | IRAS | Collected information on infared radiation given off by dust clouds, stars, and galaxies. |
| 1984 Aug. 16 | AMPTE | Produced an artificial comet to collect information on solar wind and the magnetosphere. |
| 1989 Nov. 17 | COBE | Designed to map cosmic background radiation given and thereby test theories about the formation of the universe. |
| 1990 Apr. 24 | Hubble Space Telescope | Firt optical telescope placed in the earth's orbit(U.S). |
| 1990 Oct. 5 | Ulysses | U.S.-Eupropean Cpace Agency to study previously unobserved north and south poles of the sun.. |
| 1991 Apr. 5 | Gamma RAy Observatory | A 17-ton telescope for observing the universe at very short wavelength. |
| Date Launched | Name | Accomplishments |
| 1960 Apr. 13 | TRANSIT 1B | First navigational satellite. |
| 1961 June 29 | TRANSIT 4A | First satellite to use nuclear power. |
| 1961 Nov. 15 | TRANSIT 4B | Tested method of using the earth's gravity to keep satellites in proper position. |
| 1978 Feb. 21 | Navstar | First satellite of a system designed to provide navigational positions on a continuous basis. |
 | This page was written by Richard Bowen in the astronomy class of BCC/Broward County in July 1998 |