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University of Houston

A Brief History of Human Spaceflight

University of Houston via Coursera

Overview

This course provides a view of the history of spaceflight, from early writings telling of human's fascination of space through the early Russian and American space stations. Developed as an interesting and entertaining slice of space history that is accessible to anyone with an interest in human spaceflight

Syllabus

  • Introduction
    • A welcome video and course syllabus
  • Unit 1 - Apollo 11 Moon Landing
    • Learn about the Apollo 11 moon landing with interesting interviews with the astronauts who made history
  • Unit 2 - Humankind’s Musings on Space Travel
    • Learn about how previous generations thought about the possibility of space travel
  • Unit 3 - Early Rocketry
    • Learn about how rockets were developed from the ancient Chinese through today's powerful rockets
  • Unit 4 - Early Soviet Space Program
    • Learn about steps the Soviet Union took to launch the first man in space
  • Unit 5 - Mercury Program
    • Learn about the United State's first efforts to put a human in space
  • Unit 6 - Gemini Program
    • Learn about how NASA refined their human space flight program in preparation for a moon landing
  • Unit 7 - Apollo Program
    • Learn about the last technical innovations required to land a human on the moon
  • Unit 8 - Early Space Stations
    • Learn about how the early steps taken to send humans in space for extended missions
  • Unit 9 - Soviet - US Collaboration in Space
    • Learn how the Soviet Union and US began to learn to collaborate in space
  • Unit 10 - Soviet and Russian Mir Space Station
    • Learn about activities on the Russian Mir space station and the extensive activities with the Americans
  • Unit 11 - Spaceflight Disasters
    • Learn about the various disasters that occur during the period of human spaceflight

Taught by

Dr. Chuck Layne

Reviews

4.0 rating, based on 1 Class Central review

4.4 rating at Coursera based on 427 ratings

Start your review of A Brief History of Human Spaceflight

  • I've been waiting for a course like this for quite a while, since I've always wanted to know about the history of spaceflight missions. I believe the perfect continuation would be a course on robotic spacecraft missions as well. The part 2 of this c…

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