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First woman in space
Valentina Tereskhova became the first woman in space. She orbited the planet 48 times. -
United States Successfully launches V2 rocket
irst known human artifact to enter outer space. -
First orbital flight
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957.. -
First dog in space
Laika was a Soviet space dog that became the first animal to orbit the Earth – as well as the first animal to die in orbit. -
First American orbital satellite
Explorer 1 was the first Earth satellite of the United States, launched as part of its participation in the International Geophysical Year. -
Creation of NASA
Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing NASA. When it began operations on October 1, 1958, NASA absorbed the 46-year-old NACA intact. -
First man in space
April 12 was a huge day in space history . On that day in 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. -
First man to walk on the moon
In 1969, Armstrong was commander of Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission, and gained the distinction of being the first man to land a craft on the Moon and the first man to step on its surface. -
The launching of the Hubble Space Telescope
Although not the first space telescope, Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well known as both a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy. The HST was built by the United States space agency NASA, with contributions from the European Space Agency, and is operated by the Space Telescope Science Institute -
Longest time in space
Valeri Polyakov, launched 8 January 1994 in for 437 days,during which he orbited the Earth about 7,075 times and traveled 300,765,000 km, returning 22 March 1995.