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10 important dates in space history

  • Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin Franklin

    attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollution.
  • 1854 — Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden

  • The term ecology is coined

    in German as Oekologie by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel
  • The term acid rain is coined

    by Robert Angus Smith in the book Air and Rain
  • The term smog is coined

    by Henry Antoine Des Voeux in a London meeting to express concern over air pollution
  • US Congress created the National Park Service

  • first artificial Earth satellite

    first artificial Earth satellite
    Sputnik 1 U.S.S.R.
  • first animal in space

    first animal in space
    dog Laika aboard Sputnik 2 U.S.S.R.
  • first pictures of the far side of the Moon

    first pictures of the far side of the Moon
    Luna 3 by the U.S.S.R.
  • first human to orbit Earth

    first human to orbit Earth
    Yury Gagarin on Vostok 1 U.S.S.R.
  • Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring

  • first data returned from another planet (Venus)

    first data returned from another planet (Venus)
    Mariner 2 U.S.
  • first woman in space

    first woman in space
    Valentina Tereshkova on Vostok 6 U.S.S.R.
  • first space walk

    first space walk
    Aleksey Leonov on Voskhod 2 U.S.S.R.
  • first death during a space mission

    first death during a space mission
    Vladimir Komarov on Soyuz 1 U.S.S.R.
  • The Apollo 8 picture of Earthrise

  • first human to walk on the Moon

    first human to walk on the Moon
    Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11 U.S.
  • First Earth Day

    Millions of people gather in the United States for the first Earth Day. US Environmental Protection Agency established
  • Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer entered into force

  • The Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December.

    Countries that ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide
  • U.S. rejects the Kyoto Protocol

  • first spacecraft to fly by Pluto

    first spacecraft to fly by Pluto
    New Horizons U.S.
  • U.S. announces it will cease participation in the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation

  • U.S. announces it will rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation