Published in 2018 by Britannica Educational Publishing a trademark of Encyclopædia Britannica Inc in association with The Rosen Publishing Group Inc 29 East 21st Street New York NY 10010 Copyright 2018 The Rosen Publishing Group Inc and Encyclopædia Britannica Inc Encyclopædia Britannica Britannica and the Thistle logo are registered trademarks of Encyclopædia Britannica Inc All rights reserved Distributed exclusively by Rosen Publishing To see additional Britannica Educational Publishing titles go to rosenpublishing com First Edition Britannica Educational Publishing J E Luebering Executive Director Core Editorial Andrea R Field Managing Editor Compton’s by Britannica Rosen Publishing Kathy Kuhtz Campbell Senior Editor Nelson Sá Art Director Brian Garvey Series Designer Greg Tucker Book Layout Cindy Reiman Photography Manager Karen Huang Photo Researcher Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names Harmon Daniel E author Title The early days of space exploration Daniel E Harmon Description New York Britannica Educational Publishing In association with Rosen Educational Services 2018 Series From Earth to the stars Audience Grades 5-8 Includes bibliographical references and index Identifiers LCCN 2016057938 ISBN 9781680486681 eBook Subjects Astronomy History Juvenile literature Outer space Exploration Juvenile literature Classification LCC QB46 H2188 2018 DDC 520 9 dc23 Photo credits Cover pp 1 35 Bettmann Getty Images cover and back cover background nienora Shutterstock com pp 5 10 18 Photos com Jupiterimages p 8 Science Source p 12 Ashmolean Museum University of Oxford UK Bridge man Images p 15 Jay M Pasachoff Science Faction Getty Images p 16 De Agostini Picture Library De Agostini Getty Images p 17 Science Society Picture Library Getty Images pp 23 37 38 Sovfoto Universal Images Group Getty Images p 25 Science Photo Library Getty Images p 27 SERSeanCrane Flickr flickr com photos 7196446 N06 407930513 CC BY-SA 2 0 p 28 Library of Congress Washington DC digital id ppmsca 02545 p 30 Marshall Space Flight Center NASA p 32 MSFC NASA p 33 Hulton Archive Archive Photos Getty Images p 40 NASA JPL interior pages graphic pp 7 14 22 29 36 Hallowedland Shutterstock com
Contents IntroductIon 4 CHAPTER1 What’s up there 7 CHAPTER2 a revolutIon In sky GazInG 14 CHAPTER3 Into the Modern era 22 CHAPTER4 reachInG upWard 29 CHAPTER5 survIval In space 36 Glossary 42 For Further readInG 44 Index 46
Pathways from Earth to the stars began to be charted thousands of years ago Stargazers in ancient civiliza tions were mesmerized by the night skies Early scien tists began recording notes of what they saw or thought they were seeing The science of astronomy the scholarly exam ination of objects and phenomena in outer space began in these ancient cultures The word itself comes from two Greek words meaning star astron and to name nemein Philosophers and writers penned musings of what it might be like to fly above Earth and visit the stars They envi sioned aerial warfare among the gods of their cultures Some of their myths were handed down through the centuries A classic tale is that of Daedalus and Icarus In Greek mythology Daedalus was an inventor and sculptor whose work led to dangerous entanglements with gods and human royalty He and his son Icarus were imprisoned by an angry king inside a complex labyrinth To escape Daedalus made them wings consisting of feathers bound by wax Daedalus flew to freedom but Icarus flew too high approaching the sun The heat melted his wings and he fell to his death This legend is one of many age-old stories referring to spaceflight Writings in different societies told of flying machines and voyages to other worlds No serious efforts were made to convert such fanta sies to reality The necessary materials and technology sim ply did not exist Humans had no way to propel themselves 4 IntroduCtIon
IntroduCtIon The first piloted gas balloon launched in 1783 did not come close to the edge of space but it was a milestone in the history of flight upward except to jump or climb So for many centuries their studies of the upper realms were limited to visual observa tions Using only the naked eye and primitive instruments of measurement early scientists studied the sun moon star constellations and first known planets They wrote down their findings They formed theories usually flawed about the motions and relationships of heavenly bodies 5
