Johannes Kepler paved the way for modern spaceflight

Johannes Kepler was born in Weil der Stadt, Württemberg, Germany, on December 27, 1571. His parents were poor and he was often unwell. But it quickly became clear at school that young Johannes was bright. He was awarded a scholarship to the University of Tübingen, where he first studied the ideas of astronomer Copernicus. Centuries later, Kepler had stars and spacecraft named after him.

Kepler went on to become a mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, playing a key role in Europe's 17th century scientific revolution. Renowned for his laws of planetary motion, Kepler's discoveries laid the groundwork for future science and technological progress, such as Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravitation.

Kepler was born into a world afflicted by conflict, illness and witch-hunting hysteria. In August 1620, his own mother, Katharina Guldenmann, was arrested and imprisoned, and accused of practicing witchcraft. Kepler is said to have mounted a fierce defense with lawyers at his side and was ultimately successful, resulting in his mother's release in October 1621.

Kepler developed three laws of planetary motion, arguably his greatest legacy. The laws revolutionized scientific thinking around outer space and humans' place within it. His work was crucial to the laws of gravitation, developed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1684-85. However, Kepler himself never specifically numbered these laws or purposely distinguished them from his other work.

In 2009, the International Year of Astronomy and the 400th anniversary of one of Kepler's most influential works, Astronomia Nova, the European Space Agency named an Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) after the astronomer. It was to honor his scientific achievements that helped pave the way for modern spaceflight. The ATV transported cargo to the International Space Station in February 2011.

At the age of 59, after contracting a fever, Kepler died on November 15, 1630, in Regensburg, Bavaria, in modern day Germany. His grave was later destroyed during the Thirty Years' War. But his science lives on in the search for new celestial bodies like exoplanet Kepler-1649c (pictured here). Gallery edited by: Zulfikar Abbany