1960s space race By esn98 Period: Jan 1, 1960 to Dec 31, 1966 1960s space race Apr 1, 1960 Tiros 1, the first successful weather satellite, is launched. Tiros 1, the first successful weather satellite, is launched. Aug 18, 1960 The US launches Discoverer XIV, its first camera equipped spy satellite. Nov 8, 1960 John F. Kennedy is elected the 35th President of the United States. Apr 12, 1961 (Soviet Union)Yuri Gagarin orbits the Earth once and becomes the first man in space. May 5, 1961 Alan B. Shepard becomes the first American in space. May 24, 1961 (SU)Gherman Titov spends a day in space aboard Vostok 2 May 25, 1961 President John F. Kennedy addresses Congress and challenges the nation to go to the Moon before the end of the decade. Jul 21, 1961 Gus Grissom is launched on a sub-orbital flight. His Liberty-Bell capsule is lost when it fills with water and sinks after splashdown. Aug 6, 1961 (SU) Gherman Titov spends a day in space aboard Vostok 2. Dec 7, 1961 NASA announces the Gemini Program. Feb 20, 1962 (US)John Glenn orbits the Earth three times. May 24, 1962 (US)Scott Carpenter repeats John Glenn's flight aboard "Aurora 7". Sep 12, 1962 President Kennedy gives a speech at Rice University reaffirming the importance of the Moon program. Sep 17, 1962 NASA selects its second group of astronauts. Oct 3, 1962 (US)Walter Schirra orbits the Earth six times. May 15, 1963 (US)L. Gordon Cooper spends 34 hours in space. He is the last American to fly in space alone. Jun 16, 1963 (SU)Cosmonaut Valentia Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space. Mar 18, 1964 (SU)Alexei Leonov spends 12 minutes outside of his Voskhod spacecraft performing the first spacewalk. Jul 31, 1964 (US)Ranger 7 transmits the first close range images of the Moon. Mar 14, 1965 (US)Astronaut Theodore Freeman dies in a plane crash. Mar 23, 1965 Gus Grissom and John Young fly the first manned Gemini spacecraft. Feb 3, 1966 (SU)Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon. Feb 28, 1966 (US)Astronauts Charles Bassett and Elliott See die when their plane crashes in bad weather. Jan 27, 1967 (US)Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee are killed when a fire ignites in their Apollo 1 capsule while performing a test on the launch pad. Apr 24, 1967 (SU)Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov is killed when the parachutes of his Soyuz 1 capsule fail to open properly following re-entry. Mar 27, 1968 (SU)Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, dies in a plane crash. Sep 15, 1968 (SU)Zond 5 is launched. It carried a biological payload (including two turtles) around the Moon and returned to Earth six days later. Jan 16, 1969 (SU)Soyuz 4 & 5 perform the first Soviet spacecraft docking. Jul 20, 1969 (US)Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon while crewmate Michael Collins orbits around the Moon alone.
