Space Exploration Lecture Notes Flashcards

Flashcards covering vocabulary and key concepts from lecture notes on space exploration.

Space Exploration

The investigation of physical conditions in space and on stars, planets, and other celestial bodies by means of spacecraft, satellites, and astronomical observatories.

Race to the Moon

A competition between the United States and Russia during the Cold War to be the first to land astronauts on the moon.

STEM

An acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, representing the academic disciplines that attract people to careers due to excitement from space exploration.

Re-entry

The moment when a spacecraft returns to Earth's atmosphere. Astronauts wear orange space suits during this process.

Apollo 1

A space mission in 1967 where all three astronauts were killed in a fire in the cockpit during pre-launch tests.

Apollo 13

A space mission in 1970 where an oxygen gas tank exploded, preventing the planned moon landing but all crew members returned safely.

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, started in 1958, with its main mission to ensure that an American astronaut was the first human to set foot on the Moon.

Yuri Gagarin

The first human to orbit Earth in 1961. He was Russian.

Neil Armstrong

The first human to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969, during the Apollo 11 mission.

Sputnik

The first satellite in space, launched by the Russians on October 4, 1957.