Space exploration

On 4 October 1957, radio amateurs all over the world heard a simple “beep-beep” signal coming from space. It was the first artificial satellite ever made. Only 12 years later people were walking on the Moon, and today robots are travelling across Mars. Let’s follow this amazing journey.

The first steps into space

The first artificial satellite, the Soviet Sputnik 1, was a metal ball with a mass of only about 84 kg that circled the Earth in about 96 minutes. On 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, orbiting the Earth once in the Vostok 1 spacecraft; the flight lasted 108 minutes. In 1963 Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space, and in 1965 Alexei Leonov made the first spacewalk.

On 20 July 1969, the American Apollo 11 spacecraft landed on the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the lunar surface while Michael Collins waited in lunar orbit. Between 1969 and 1972, a total of 12 astronauts walked on the Moon.

That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

1. 1957
   Sputnik 1 — the first artificial satellite
2. 1961
   Yuri Gagarin — the first human in space
3. 1969
   Apollo 11 — the first people on the Moon
4. 1971
   Salyut 1 — the first space station
5. 1977
   Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are launched
6. 1990
   The Hubble Space Telescope is launched
7. 1998
   The first module of the ISS is launched
8. 2012
   The Curiosity rover lands on Mars
9. 2013
   Azerspace-1 — Azerbaijan’s first satellite
10. 2021
    Perseverance lands on Mars; the James Webb telescope is launched

Space stations and telescopes

The International Space Station (ISS) is a joint project of the USA, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada. Its first module was launched in 1998, and it has had a crew on board continuously since 2000. The ISS flies about 400 km up at about 28,000 km/h and circles the Earth in about 90 minutes.

The Earth’s atmosphere makes star images twinkle and blur and absorbs most ultraviolet, X-ray and infrared light. That is why telescopes are sent into space. The Hubble telescope, launched in 1990, has a mirror 2.4 m across. The James Webb telescope, launched on 25 December 2021, has a 6.5-metre mirror made of 18 gold-coated segments; it observes in infrared light and works about 1.5 million km from the Earth.

Mars rovers and distant journeys

• 1997 — Sojourner, the first rover to drive on Mars.
• 2004 — Spirit and Opportunity found evidence that water once existed on Mars.
• 2012 — the Curiosity rover, a mobile laboratory, landed in Gale Crater.
• 2021 — Perseverance landed on Mars; its small helicopter Ingenuity made the first powered flight on another planet.
• Voyager 1 entered interstellar space in 2012 and is today the most distant human-made object.

Azerbaijan in space

Azerbaijan’s first telecommunications satellite, Azerspace-1, was launched on 7 February 2013 by an Ariane 5 rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. It sits in geostationary orbit at 46° East and provides TV, radio and communication services to Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The satellite is operated by the company Azercosmos; in 2018 a second telecommunications satellite, Azerspace-2, was also launched.