SPACE MISSIONS : A DREAM COMING TRUE

• The first documented attempt in human history to use a rocket for spaceflight was made in the 16th century by a Chinese Ming dynasty official, a skilled stargazer named Wan Hu. Wan fashioned a crude vehicle out of a sturdy chair and two kites affixed with 47 of the largest gunpowder-filled rockets he could find, and had his servants light them as he sat on the chair. The resultant explosion presumably killed him. [2]
• The first person in space was Yuri Gagarin, who was launched into space on April 12, 1961 aboard Vostok 1. The first woman was Valentina Tereshkova, launched into space in June 1963 aboard Vostok 6.
• Alan Shepard became the first American in space in May 1961, while the first American woman in space was Sally Ride on June 18, 1983. The Soviet Union, through its Intercosmos program, allowed cosmonauts from other socialist countries to fly on its missions. An example of this is Vladimir Remek, a Czech, who became the first non-Soviet European in space in 1978 on a Russian Soyuz rocket. On July 23, 1980, Pham Tuan of Vietnam became the first Asian in space when he flew aboard Soyuz 37. Also in 1980, Cuban Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez became the first person of African descent to fly in space. (The first person born in Africa to fly in space was Patrick Baudry.) In April 1985, Taylor Wang became the first Chinese-born person in space; later that year, Rodolfo Neri became the first Mexican-born person in space. In 1991, Helen Sharman became the first Briton to fly in space. In 2002, Mark Shuttleworth became the first citizen of an African country to fly in space. On 15 October 2003, Yang Liwei became China's first astronaut on the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. The first mission to orbit the moon was Apollo 8 which included William Anders - who was born in Hong Kong, making him the first Asian-born astronaut in 1968.
• The youngest person to fly in space is Gherman Titov, who was roughly 26 years old when he flew Vostok 2 (he was also the first to suffer "space sickness"), and the oldest is John Glenn, who was 77 when he flew on STS-95. The longest stay in space was 438 days by Valeri Polyakov. As of 2005, the most spaceflights by an individual astronaut was seven, a record held by both Jerry L. Ross and Franklin Chang-Diaz. The furthest distance from Earth an astronaut has traveled was 401,056 km (during the Apollo 13 emergency).
  The first non-governmental astronaut was Byron K. Lichtenberg, an MIT researcher who flew on Space Shuttle mission STS-9 in 1983[citation needed]. In December 1990, Toyohiro Akiyama became the first commercial spacefarer as a reporter for Tokyo Broadcasting System, who paid for his flight. The first self-funded space tourist was Dennis Tito on 28 April 2001, while the first astronaut to fly on an entirely privately-funded mission was Mike Melvill, on SpaceShipOne flight 15P (which he piloted), though this flight was sub-orbital.
• In the United States, persons selected as astronaut candidates receive silver Astronaut wings. Once they have flown in space they receive gold Astronaut wings. The United States Air Force also presents Astronaut wings to its pilots who exceed 50 miles (80 km) in altitude.

FIRST SPACE FEMALE TOURIST IN EARTH TOUCHDOWN [September 29, 2006, ]

• The first female paying space tourist, Anousheh Ansari, has landed on the Kazakh steppe after a journey back from the International Space Station (ISS). Her Soyuz craft was launched to the ISS from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, 18 September. The Soyuz capsule also carried fellow US astronaut Jeff Williams and Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov. The 40-year-old Iranian-born US businesswoman with master’s degree in electrical engineering makes investments into space programs. Mr. Ansari is thought to have paid at least $20m for a holiday in space.

INDIA & SPACE

1. Space technology has allowed the nation of India to move into the world of high technology, a place previously occupied only by more-developed nations. India has been up there since July 18, 1980, when it became the eighth to demonstrate it could send a satellite to orbit above Earth. India launched the satellite Rohini 1 on an Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) rocket from the Sriharikota Island launch site. Indian cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma spent eight days in 1984 aboard the USSR's space station Salyut 7. In recent years, India has concentrated much of its space development work on complex applications satellites and more powerful rockets. The nation's two main interests are satellites for remote sensing and communications -- used for weather pictures, disaster warnings and feeds to 552 television and 164 radio stations on the ground.
2. 1963 - The first sounding rocket was launched Nov. 21 from TERLS.
3. 1965 -Space Science & Technology Centre (SSTC) was established in Thumba.
4. 1967 - Satellite Telecommunication Earth Station was erected at Ahmedabad.
5. 1969 - Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was created August 15 in the Department of Atomic Energy. Since then, ISRO has managed India's space research and the uses of space for peaceful puroposes.
6. 1972 - The government established the Space Commission and the Department of Space (DOS) in June. DOS conducts the nation's space activities for ISRO at four space centres across the country. DOS reports directly to the Prime Minister.
7. 1972 - ISRO placed under DOS on June 1.
8. 1975 - ISRO made a Government Organisation on April 1.
9. 1975 - Aryabhata, the first Indian space satellite, was launched for India on April 19.
10. 1979 - Bhaskara-I, an experimental satellite for earth observations, launched on June 7.
    1979 - The first experimental launch of an SLV-3 rocket on August 10 did not place its Rohini Technology Payload satellite in orbit.
11. 1980 - India successfully launched its own Rohini-1 satellite on July 18 on a Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) rocket from the Sriharikota Island launch site.
12. 1983 - The Rohini-3 communications satellite, launched in August, had by the end of 1985 extended nationwide television coverage from 20 percent to 70 percent of the population. Today it is about 90 percent.
13. 1984 - The first Indian cosmonaut became the 138th man in space when he spent eight days aboard the USSR's space station Salyut 7. Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma, a 35 year old Indian Air Force pilot, was launched to space along with two Soviet cosmonauts aboard Soyuz T-11 on April 2. While in space, Sharma conducted multispectral photography of the northern region of India in preparation for construction of hydroelectric power stations in the Himalayas. Sharma and his backup, Wing Commander Ravish Malhotra, had prepared in advance an elaborate series of zero-gravity Yoga exercises that Sharma carried out while aboard Salyut 7. Indian Space Research Organisation's manned space program has depended for the most part on the Soviet Union.
14. 1987 - The first developmental launch of a larger Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) rocket on March 24 did not place its SROSS-1 satellite in orbit. It could lift a 300-lb. satellite to an orbit 250 miles above Earth.
15. 1988 - The second developmental launch of an ASLV in July also failed. Later, the third and fourth attempts would be successful.
16. 1992 - The Indian-built INSAT-2 geostationary communications and meteorological satellite superseded an American-built INSAT-1.
17. 1993 - The even larger Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) debuted in September, but failed to attain orbit. Its individual elements were successful. PSLV can lift a one-ton satellite to a Sun-synchronous polar orbit.
18. 2001 -- The first launch of a still larger Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rocket was successful on April 18. GSLV can boost a 2.5-ton satellite. In addition to placing large communications and weather satellites in high stationary orbits, India plans to use GSLV rockets to send probes away from Earth to explore the planets. Missions to Mercury, Venus and Mars are under consideration.