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Soviet launch vehicle rocket engines Ares I-X test rocket; Constellation program Launch of the AC-6 Atlas-Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Aug. 11, 1965, which placed a dynamic model of the Surveyor spacecraft into a simulated lunar transfer orbit. Pegasus XL rocket Gemini 12 spacecraft lifting off from the John F. Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla., Nov. 11, 1966. propellant rockets rocket motor Discovery liftoff, 1985 Arian 5G launch vehicle space shuttle main engine flow
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Apollo 15 liftoff
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Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.
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An ancient egyptian hieroglyphic painted carving showing the falcon headed god Horus seated on a throne and holding a golden fly whisk. Before him are the Pharoah Seti and the goddess Isis. Interior wall of the temple to Osiris at Abydos, Egypt.
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Salem Witch Trials. Photogravure after the painting by Walter McEwen titled - The Witches - circa 1890s.
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Lake Mead (the impounded Colorado River) at the Hoover Dam. The light-coloured band of rock above the shoreline shows the decrease in water level in the first few years of the 21st century.
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Estimated battle casualties, Normandy invasion, World War II. WWII, D-Day
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What Sonic Detectives Listen for When Rockets Launch • May 25, 2025, 11:28 PM ET (New York Times)

Photos and Videos

Soviet launch vehicle rocket engines
Ares I-X test rocket; Constellation program
Launch of the AC-6 Atlas-Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Aug. 11, 1965, which placed a dynamic model of the Surveyor spacecraft into a simulated lunar transfer orbit.
Pegasus XL rocket
Gemini 12 spacecraft lifting off from the John F. Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla., Nov. 11, 1966.
propellant rockets
rocket motor
Discovery liftoff, 1985
Arian 5G launch vehicle
space shuttle main engine flow
How rockets work: Newton's third law of motion explained
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Topics
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Key People

Theodore von Kármán
Theodore von Kármán
American engineer
Jack Parsons
Jack Parsons
American rocket scientist and chemist
Wernher von Braun
Wernher von Braun
German-born American engineer
Robert Goddard
Robert Goddard
American professor and inventor
Hermann Oberth
German scientist
Pickering, William Hayward; Johnson, Lyndon
William Hayward Pickering
American engineer and physicist
Yuri Gagarin and Sergei Korolev
Sergei Korolev
Soviet scientist
Samuel Kurtz Hoffman
American engineer
Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Russian scientist
Glushko, Valentin Petrovich
Valentin Petrovich Glushko
Soviet scientist

Related Quizzes and Features

Quiz
Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.
All About Astronomy
Encyclopaedia Britannica thistle graphic to be used with a Mendel/Consumer quiz in place of a photograph.
36 Questions from Britannica’s Most Popular Science Quizzes
List
The Space Shuttle Columbia soars from Launch Pad 39A on July 1 1997 to begin the 16-day STS-94 Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1) mission.
12 Questions About the History of Space Exploration Answered