Page 274 - Inventions - A Visual Encyclopedia (DK - Smithsonian)

Manned spaceflight

Putting humans into space and bringing them back alive
is the ultimate spaceflight challenge. Crewed spacecraft WOW!

are heavier and more complex than most satellites, since
The crews of
they must carry equipment to keep astronauts alive Gemini 6A and

for the duration of their missions, and protect them Gemini 7 steered their
spacecraft to within
during the potentially hazardous return to Earth. 12 in (30 cm) of each
SPACE other in orbit.

Rocket used to put
spacecraft in orbit
Spherical Thrusters for
crew capsule maneuvering
and returning
to Earth
Protective panels
made from
heat-resistant ◀ GEMINI 7
metal alloy
Flown by Frank
Borman and
VOSTOK 1 Jim Lovell, this
spacecraft spent
The first crewed spacecraft, Vostok 1, was tested 14 days in orbit.
with several unmanned launches before its first
manned flight. Backward-firing “retrorockets”
were used to return Vostok to Earth after a
single orbit, and a heat shield protected the Exit hatch
capsule from burning up as it re-entered (removed
the atmosphere at high speed. Inside the after flight)
capsule was Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

GEMINI
The first manned spacecraft were single-
person vehicles, and mostly followed
short, preset flight plans. NASA’s
Gemini spacecraft of the mid-1960s
was a major advance on both
fronts: it could carry two
astronauts for missions of up to
two weeks, and it could adjust its
orbit with a system of thrusters—small
rockets capable of pushing the spacecraft Ejector seats for
in various directions. use in emergencies
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