Science Explore Explore Let’s PUBLISHING ROURKE AMANDA DOERING TOURVILLE www rourkepublishing com 1 EXPLORING THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Chapter 1 SPACE EXPLORATION have gazed at the night sky for thousands of years Ancient peoples used the positions of the stars and People People planets in the sky to tell the passing of time Ancient Greeks grouped the stars into constellations In 1610 Galileo Galilei constructed a telescope to see far into the night sky With his telescope Galileo discovered more about the universe than anyone had before Space exploration has come a long way since Galileo’s discoveries Many spacecraft have been launched into the solar system to photograph and gather information People have even walked on the Moon All of the stars that can be seen in the night sky are part of the Milky Way 4
DID YOU KNOW In 1968 U S astronauts orbited the Moon for the first time on the Apollo 8 mission On July 20 1969 Neil Armstrong became the first person to step foot on the Moon on the Apollo 11 mission He was followed by crewmate Buzz Aldrin Scientists who go into space are called astronauts Scientists who study space from Earth are called astronomers Astronauts and astronomers work together to gather information about our universe Astronomers use many types of math and a science called physics Physics is the study of how the world works Physicists observe and identify laws of motion and gravity Gravity is what keeps us on Earth It pulls us down Galileo Galilei lived from 1564 to 1642 5
