History of Space Flight (Engine of Progress)

Early Days[]

May 3, 1946: NASA is created out of NACA
October 14, 1947: The Goddard Space Shuttle takes its first test flight, its engines fire for 1 minute reaching roughly Mach 3.8.
April 2, 1948: Riding atop a modified Minuteman II ICBM, Chuck Yeager becomes the first man in space. The mission is scientifically meant as a test for the systems that would be implemented on the Goddard Shuttle before it is actually launched.
July 24, 1951: The first manned space station, Sky-Lab, is launched into orbit. It is intended to study Earth's climate and the Van Allen Belt.
1955: Freedom Star is completed

1955: John Glenn as the first man on the moon. He proclaims, "One short hop for a man, one colossal leap for mankind."
1960: Tranquility Base, Buzz Aldrin is its first commander.
1960: China launches their first astronaut into orbit.
1962: Freedom Star is expanded to handle a twenty man crew.
1963: American moon base opens at the Ocean of Storms.
1967: Theo Bell becomes the first man on Mars. The first words on the Red Planet are, "This is for all those who saw it before we got here."
1967: Lunar Mining becomes profitable

1968: President Reagan unveils the Orbital Weapon's Program, better known as "Buck Rogers." The goal is to create a military space program to deter the Soviets.
1971: Buck Rogers, the HCR-Peacekeeper, not a missile, but a turbojet/scramjet powered cruise missile, that can reach anywhere in the world within 90 minutes.
1972: China sends their first mission to Venus.

1975: Mars Base
1975: Theo Bell invents the EmDrive, an electro magnetic propulsion system that converts electricity into microwaves for propulsion.
1976: NASA discovers evidence of fossilized life on Mars, and liquid water, President King approves the expansion of Mariner Base.
1976: China begins construction of a Martian Base as well.
1978: China joins the first joint US/Chinese mission to Mars.
1980: Columbia Base on Mars reaches a population of 1000 people.
1980: NASA begins the Voyager Project, an effort to send a Manned mission to The outer planets by the end of the century.

1984: NASA launches the first manned mission to the Jovian Moons, Theo Bell is the mission's captain along side veteran astronaut John Young.
1984: China lands the first man on Venus, though due to the extreme heat and pressure of the planet, he only stays on the surface for ten minutes.
1985: Storm City on the moon reaches a population of 110,000 workers and technicians, 98% are now private citizens.
1988: Judith Resnik becomes the first woman on Europa, John Young the first man on Ganymede. The crew discovers water and multicellular life beneath the surface of both cryospheres, it is hailed as the greatest discovery in human history.
1990: Storm City applies for statehood.
1990: The human population of Mars reaches 23,000 people.
1995: John Young lands his shuttle on Titan, discovery of a methane sea, and simple single celled extremophiles bolsters the growing theory of a living galaxy.
2000: Storm city, now with half a million people, is granted statehood.
2004: Mars reaches a population of 200,000 people.
2008: The Voyager pushes past pluto and reaches interstellar space, the craft however, is forced to turn around due to limited food and water, and fear of prolonged exposer to galactic radiation. Voyager turns around for a non stop flight back to Earth; ETA ten years.
2008: Statehood is given to the State of New Shepard with Storm City becoming its capitol.