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Dustin's Space Race

By dustinm1122

  • First satellite in space by USSR

    First satellite in space by USSR
    History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path.

  • First animal in space by USSR

    First animal in space by USSR
    On 3 November 1957, the second-ever orbiting spacecraft carried the first animal into orbit, the dog Laika, launched aboard the Soviet Sputnik 2 spacecraft (nicknamed 'Muttnik' in the West). Laika died during the flight, as was intended because the technology to return from orbit had not yet been developed.

  • First satellite in space by USA

    First satellite in space by USA
    The first successful U.S. satellite, Explorer I, was launched into Earth orbit by the Army on Jan. 31, 1958, at Cape Canaveral, Florida, four months after Russia orbited Sputnik. The 18-pound satellite had a cylindrical shape and was 80 inches long and six inches in diameter.

  • Creation of NASA

    Creation of NASA
    On July 29, 1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing NASA.

  • First animal in space by USA

    First animal in space by USA
    Ham, also known as Ham the Chimp and Ham the Astrochimp, was a chimpanzee and the first hominid launched into space, on January 31, 1961, as part of the U.S. space program's Project Mercury.

  • First man in space by USSR

    First man in space by USSR
    Yuri Gagarin was the first person to fly in space. His flight, on April 12, 1961, lasted 108 minutes as he circled the Earth for a little more than one orbit in the Soviet Union's Vostok spacecraft. Following the flight, Gagarin became a cultural hero in the Soviet Union.

  • First man to orbit Earth by USSR

    First man to orbit Earth by USSR
    On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space.

  • First man in space by USA

    First man in space by USA
    Alan Shepard became the first American in space when the Freedom 7 spacecraft blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 5, 1961, aboard a Mercury-Redstone rocket.

  • JFK's commitment to getting to the moon

    JFK's commitment to getting to the moon
    On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress the dramatic and ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade.

  • First man to orbit Earth by USA

    First man to orbit Earth by USA
    On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission, becoming the first American to orbit the Earth, and the fifth person and third American in space.

  • First man to do an EVA by USSR

    First man to do an EVA by USSR
    The first EVA was performed on March 18, 1965, by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who spent 12 minutes and 9 seconds outside the Voskhod 2 spacecraft.

  • First man to do an EVA by USA

    First man to do an EVA by USA
    This close-up photo shows Ed White during his Gemini IV spacewalk. eva. as he became the first American astronaut to walk in space on June 3, 1965.