7 The Space Age

The Space Age written by Pam Holden

space dog The Space Age started with the first satellite. It was only as big as a basketball, but the Sputnik satellite flew right around the Earth. The second satellite took a dog for a space ride!

The first person to fly into space was an astronaut from Russia. He flew around the earth once, which took one and a half hours. Then he landed safely back on Earth. Yuri Gagarin, 1961

Neil Armstrong Edwin Aldrin Three United States astronauts were the first people to fly to the moon. They took four days to get there. Two of the men landed on the moon and walked around. Apollo, 1969 They put up a flag and took some photographs. After two and a half hours, they left the moon. They brought back some moon dust and rocks. There have been five more landings on the moon.

A space shuttle is a spaceship that can fly into space more than once. It is sent into space by two big rockets. When it comes back, it lands like a plane. space shuttle Discovery

There is a huge telescope, called Hubble, flying around the Earth. It takes pictures of the stars and planets to send back. Hubble space telescope There are many satellites flying around Earth. They send back photos and weather reports. Our television and telephone services use satellites every day.