Tag: Space

• Podcast

3rd November 1957: Laika the dog becomes the first animal to enter orbit around the Earth

• 3rd November 2025
• Tagged as: Animal, Cold War, Russia, Science, Space, Space Race, Technology, Travel, USSR

Laika was never intended to return to Earth as the technology to re-enter the atmosphere had not yet been developed.

• Podcast

28th October 1971: Prospero, the only British satellite launched with a British rocket

• 28th October 2025
• Tagged as: Britain, Rocket, Satellite, Science, Space, Space Race, Technology

The Prospero satellite was launched, making it the first and only British satellite to be launched using a British rocket.

• Podcast

25th August 1835: The Great Moon Hoax begins to appear in The New York Sun newspaper as a series of articles

• 25th August 2025
• Tagged as: Culture, Hoax, Journalism, Moon, New York, New York City, Newspaper, Space

The articles that formed the “Great Moon Hoax” stated that famed astronomer John Herschel had observed animals resembling bison, goats, and even humanoid bat-like creatures on the Moon alongside forests, oceans, pyramids, and temples.

• Podcast

20th August 1975: NASA launches Viking 1, the first spacecraft to land on Mars and transmit images of the surface back to Earth

• 20th August 2025
• Tagged as: America, Exploration, Kennedy Space Center, Mars, Science, Space, Space Exploration, Technology, United States, USA, Viking

Viking 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 20 August 1975 and took nearly 11 months to reach Mars.

• Podcast

11th July 1962: The world’s first satellite television broadcast took place using the recently-launched Telstar satellite

• 11th July 2025
• Tagged as: Cold War, Culture, France, Satellite, Science, Space, Space Race, Spacecraft, Technology, Television, USA

Telstar’s first broadcast involved  relaying an image of a flag outside its base station at Andover Earth Station to the Pleumeur-Bodou earth station in France.

• Podcast

16th June 1963: Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to travel into space on board Vostock 6

• 16th June 2025
• Tagged as: Feminism, Science, Soviet Union, Space, Space Exploration, Space Race, Space Travel, Spacecraft, Technology, USSR, Vostock 6, Women

Over the course of nearly three days, Valentina Tereshkova orbited the Earth 48 times on board Vostock 6, maintaining radio contact with Bykovsky using the call sign “Chaika,” meaning “Seagull” in Russian.

• Podcast

14th February 1990: Voyager 1 creates the ‘Pale Blue Dot’ image of Earth

• 14th February 2025
• Tagged as: Electronics, Exploration, NASA, Science, Space, Technology

Pale Blue Dot, the most distant photograph ever taken of Earth, was created by the Voyager 1 space probe.

• Podcast

27th January 1967: The Outer Space Treaty that is the basis for all space laws opened for signatures

• 27th January 2025
• Tagged as: Britain, Moon, Science, Space, Technology, United Kingdom, United Nations, USSR

The Outer Space Treaty, which provides the basic framework on international space law, was opened for signatures in the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom.

• Podcast

3rd December 1973: NASA’s Pioneer 10 becomes the first space probe to send close-up images of the planet Jupiter

• 3rd December 2024
• Tagged as: Exploration, Jupiter, NASA, Pioneer 10, Space, Space Exploration

Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft designed to explore beyond the inner planets and, after a 21-month journey, was approaching Jupiter when it began transmitting data and images as it passed within 132,000 kilometres (82,000 miles) of the planet’s cloud tops.

• Podcast

18th October 1963: Félicette becomes the first cat in space when she is launched as part of a French mission

• 18th October 2024
• Tagged as: Cat, Experiment, Feline, France, Science, Space, Space Travel, Technology, Travel

Félicette survived the flight after being secured inside a specially designed capsule on top of a Véronique AG1 rocket, which reached an altitude of about 157 kilometers.