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It was the first (US designed) rocket that reached the edge of space. The first pictures of the Earth were taken from an altitude of 105 km by the V-2.
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First dog, named Laika, was sent to space by the USSR.
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First artificial satellite developed by the USSR.
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First photograph of Earth taken from the orbit (USA).
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First manned flight carrying Yuri Gagarin (USSR).
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First orbital solar observatory (USA).
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First woman in space Valentina Tereshkova of the USSR.
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First artificial satellite to be sent successfully around the Moon (USSR).
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First manned orbital mission of Moon (USA).
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First human on the Moon and first space launch from a celestial body, 1 year from man reaching the moon's orbit (USA).
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First automatic sample return from the Moon (USSR).
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First space station (USSR).
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First human made object that had been sent on escape trajectory away from the Sun (USA).
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First photograph of Venus from Space (USA).
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First Venus soil samples and sound recording of another world (USSR).
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First untethered spacewalk, Bruce McCandless II (USA).
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First photograph of the whole Solar System (USA).
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First Record longest duration spaceflight (437.7 days) set by Valeri Polyakov (Russia).
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First orbiting and landing on an asteroid (433 Eros) – by the USA.
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First sample return beyond lunar orbit (solar wind)- by the USA.
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First interplanetary escape without undercarriage cutoff. (Japan)
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First sample return from comet (81P/Wild) – by the USA.
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First space telescope designated to search for Earth-like exoplanets – by the USA.
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First orbit of Mercury – by the USA.
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First manmade probe in interstellar space – by the USA.
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First man-made probe to make a planned and soft landing on a comet (European Space Agency).
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First commercial rocket to ferry astronauts to orbit. (SpaceX)
