The first phases of the International Space Station project have already begun.

1981-Blast Off!

The second Space Shuttle, America’s Columbia (the first shuttle was called the Enterprise) takes its inaugural flight into Earth’s Orbit. The mission objectives are to evaluate the shuttle system and accomplish a safe ascent into orbit with a safe return and safe landing. The mission objectives are met and Columbia passes with flying colors. Columbia makes 37 orbits of Earth over the course of two days, six hours, 20 minutes and 53 seconds. In this time, Columbia travels 1,074,567 miles. The shuttle’s worthiness as a space vehicle is assured.

1981-AIDS Hits Home

The HIV virus was discovered as the cause of AIDS in 1985.

Originally called the "Slim Disease" in Africa, for sufferers were emaciated before dying, infections that an intact immune system would fight off were documented as early as 1977 in Zaire. The two most common of these infections were pneumonia (pnuemocystis carinii) and Kaposi’s sarcoma, a rare skin cancer. Outbreaks afflict gay men in New York and San Francisco where this still unknown disease is dubbed the gay cancer. The epidemic yields more questions than answers in 1981.

1981-Mechanical Heart Transplanted

Dr. Robert Jarvik designs the first permanent artificial heart, of which Barney Clark is the first recipient. Dr. William DeVries, along with the surgeons at the University of Utah Medical Center, implant the mechanical heart, but Clark dies 112 days later. Artificial hearts and ventricular assist devices are now used as temporary measures to allow heart muscle to recover function or until a heart donor can be found.

1981-Insulin Genetically Engineered

The Food & Drug Administration gives Genentech, Inc. approval to market genetically engineered human insulin. This marks the first genetically engineered drug, a form of human insulin produced by bacteria.

1984-"Genetic Fingerprinting"

Each person has a unique DNA fingerprint. Typical fingerprints are found only at the tips of the fingers and can be surgically removed. DNA fingerprints are the same for every cell, tissue and organ of a person. This is rapidly becoming the primary method for identifying people. Genetic scientists claim that everyone is 99.9 percent identical, but in a DNA code of three billion letters, even a tenth of a percent difference translates into three million spelling differences, making us all unique. In order for DNA to be "fingerprinted," a very small handful of sites of variation between people are examined. These provide unique sequences of DNA with which to identify individuals.

1985-HIV: The virus that causes AIDS

The virus that causes AIDS is identified by two independently working researchers at the same time. Robert Gallo, of the U.S. National Cancer Institute and Luc Montagnier, of France’s Pasteur Institute, break the genetic sequence of the virus. An International Commission declares that both researchers found the same virus and call it the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV.

Mid 1980s-Atomic Bonds

The Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) allows scientists to directly push atoms and molecules about and prod them into place. Nanotechnology, a proposed technology seeking to build electronic instruments at the molecular level, relies heavily on this instrument. The tip at the end of the AFM’s extremely sensitive cantilever probes the surface of atoms. A laser beam reflects off the cantilever to a spot on a position-sensitive photodetector. The cantilever bends along the varying topography or forces on the atom’s surface, causing the laser spot to move. Its displacement is read by the photodetector to make an image.

1987-Happy Pills

A major breakthrough in the medical treatment of depression is heralded by the marketing of Prozac as an antidepressant. Prozac increases the levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain. This increase improves depression. Prozac can treat the entire spectrum of depression from mild to most severe. In addition to this, Prozac can be used to treat obsessive-compulsive behavior. It is also useful in panic disorders and other types of anxiety and phobias. People taking Prozac report increases in their ability to concentrate and increases in their energy and mental acuity. In fact, they function at a much higher level, hence the dubbing of Prozac as the "better than well" pill.

1990-Mapping the Body

A major undertaking, called the Human Genome Project, is begun in 1990 to map human DNA. Such a map should give better insights into disease diagnosis and prediction as well as provide information about disease intervention. The project is coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institute of Health. It seeks to identify all the estimated 80,000-100,000 genes in human DNA and determine the sequences of the three billion chemical bases that make up human DNA. The Project plans to store this information in databases and develop tools for a data analysis. It will also address the ethical, legal and social issues that may arise from this project. Originally forecasted as a 15-year project, rapid technological advances accelerated the project to an expected completion date of 2003.

1990-Diplomacy In Space

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space-based observatory designed to benefit the international astronomy community. The European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) worked cooperatively to launch the Hubble into space.

The Earth’s atmosphere bends light, causing distortion in images that can be viewed by an Earth- bound telescope. A space-based observatory is free of such distortions. In 1940, Hubble dreamed of a space-based observatory. The original designs for the HST, which became operational in the 1990s, were drawn in the 1970s and 1980s.

Mid 1990s-The World Wide Web

Before the mid-1990s, use of wide-area computer networks was unheard of except by the military and some other government agencies. Before the Internet was the ARPANET, which was demonstrated at the International Computer Communication Conference (ICCC). The ICCC marked the first public display of this new network technology available to the public. Also around this time, Ray Tomlinson is working on another "hot" application- electronic mail. The ability to share information across networks leads Tim Berners-Lee to coin the term, "World Wide Web."

1990-A Small World, After All

Researchers into nanotechnology at Japan’s NEC discover a new form of Carbon which they call nanotubes. Nanotubes are long pipes of a rolled-up sheet of graphite which are electrically conducting and can be made into wires only a few nanometers in diameter. It is hoped that the further miniaturization of microchips will be possible making chips from these nanotubes, which have been likened to cooked spaghetti. Like cooked spaghetti, each nanotube will stick to a surface and maintain any shape it is placed in. Good electrical contact between the nanotube and metal electrodes is also possible following this adhesion. Nanotubes may form the new circuitry for nanotechnology, which is done at the molecular level.

1993-Doubling Up

Researchers at George Washington University successfully clone human embryos and nurture them in a petri dish for several days. Cloning is accomplished via nuclear transfer. In nuclear transfer, an embryo’s nucleus, or controlling genetic mechanism, is first removed. A nucleus from a cell of the human to be cloned is then transferred and fused into the embryo. The embryo then develops under the genetic supervision of the transferred nucleus, making a clone.

1994-Shoemaker Shines Jupiter

The comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collides with Jupiter from July 16 to July 22, marking the first observation of the collision of two bodies in the Solar System. Twenty-one discernable fragments impact the planet Jupiter, some estimated to have diameters of up to two kilometers. Each fragment explodes on impact, creating a fireball that rises above the cloud tops. Pressure waves are created in the atmosphere and "surface waves" at the cloud tops.

1994-Our Humble Origins

The time humans have been on Earth is pushed back with the finding of the fossilized remains of the oldest human ancestor to date. Dating of the find places it at 4.4 million years old. Scientists speculate that the find may demonstrate a common link between humans and chimpanzees.

1994-Microbes are from Mars

Evidence that strongly suggests primitive life may have existed on Mars more than 3.6 billion years ago is found in a Martian meteorite. The findings are controversial to the scientific community. A NASA research team of scientists at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Houston, TX and Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA investigate the meteorite and find several mineral features characteristic of biological activity. The meteorite may have also yielded microscopic fossils of primitive, bacteria-like organisms.

1997-Hello, Dolly

Dolly is named by Science magazine as the top scientific breakthrough of 1997. Researchers at the Roslin Institute successfully clone Dolly from another sheep. A nine-day-old sheep embryo is taken from a pregnant ewe at a stage when the embryo has cells that are not differentiated into any particular organ or tissue type. These cells, called Totipotent cells, can develop into any organ or tissue type under the proper conditions. The nucleus is removed, a nuclear transfer from the sheep they wish to clone is attached and by the process of electrofusion becomes the new nucleus. The embryo is then inserted into a sheep that carries it to term.

1997-Pathfinder Roams Mars

The Mars Pathfinder Sojourner Rover marks an innovation in remote sensing, or the gathering of data from a distance. The Pathfinder, designed to send pictures of Mars back to Earth, travels across the surface of Mars on 6 wheels at 0.4 inches per second. The Pathfinder is 2 feet long, 1.5 feet wide and 1 foot tall. To prevent it from tipping over, the Pathfinder is designed with a rocker-bogie system. The joints of this system bend to conform to the contour of the ground. This system, which is best for rocky terrain, allows the Pathfinder to tilt up to 60 degrees in order to climb over rocks. Three motion sensors detect any excessive tilt and stop the Pathfinder from moving.

1998-Viagra Makes Queens Into Kings

Pfizer, Inc. develops Viagra as a treatment for male impotency. The Food & Drug Administration approves the pill- which claims a success rate of 80 percent- for marketing. Viagra works with the body’s natural erection process by increasing the body’s ability to achieve and maintain an erection.

The International Space Station (ISS) marks the largest peacetime effort involving 16 nations. NASA leads the way with its chief contractor, the Boening Company, in producing a giant Earth-orbiting laboratory. On this Space Station, international crews will live and work in space, running experiments that will benefit from the ISS’s microgravity environment. A microgravity environment doesn’t really mean that there is little or no gravity. An object in orbit is falling all the time but never hits the ground; this is known as free-fall. Over the next five years, 45 launches will put nearly a million pounds of hardware into orbit 220 miles above the Earth’s surface. The first component, Zarya, (which means "sunrise") built by the Russians, will provide the initial propulsion and power for the ISS. It will later provide orbital control, communications and power for the U.S. component, Unity.

1999-Big Bang Revisited