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Soviet Union Launches Sputnik 1 Satellite
Sputnik 1 was the world's first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite.
It was launched into a low altitude elliptical orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957, and was the first in a series of satellites collectively known as the Sputnik program. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1's success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space Race within the Cold War. Youtube - Launch of Sputnik 1 -
Formation of NASA
"An Act to provide for research into the problems of flight within and outside the Earth's atmosphere, and for other purposes." With this simple preamble, the Congress and the President of the United States created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on October 1, 1958. The Birth of NASA -
Luna 2 Becomes First Spacecraft to Reach Moon
After an aborted launch on 9 September, the Ye-1A probe successfully lifted off and reached escape velocity three days later.
Officially named the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket, the spacecraft released its one kilogram of natrium on 12 September at a distance of 156,000 kilometers from Earth in a cloud that expanded out to 650 kilometers in diameter and was clearly visible from the ground. 1959: Luna 2 (USSR) -
First Human in Space
Vostok 1 (Russian: Восток-1, East 1 or Orient 1) was the first spaceflight in the Vostok program and the first human spaceflight in history.
The Vostok 3KA spacecraft was launched on April 12, 1961. The flight took Yuri Gagarin, a cosmonaut from the Soviet Union, into space. Yuri Gagarin: First Man in Space -
Nasa Apollo Program
The Apollo Program was a human spaceflight program undertaken by NASA during the years 1961–1975 with the goal of conducting manned moon landing missions.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced a goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. THE HISTORY OF: The Apollo Space Program -
Valentina Tereshkova Becomes First Woman in Space
She is the first woman to have flown in space, having been selected from more than four hundred applicants and five finalists to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. VALENTINA TERESKOVAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYq2fM8Pqnk -
Apollo 1 Catches Fire, Three Astronauts Die
Apollo 1 is the official name that was later given to the never-flown Apollo/Saturn 204 (AS-204) mission.
Its command module was destroyed by fire during a test and training exercise on January 27, 1967 at Pad 34 (Launch Complex 34, Cape Canaveral, then known as Cape Kennedy) atop a Saturn IB rocket. Apollo 1 Fire 1967 -
Apollo 11 Mission - land on the Moon
The mission fulfilled President John F. Kennedy's goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960s, which he expressed during a speech given before a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961. -
Man Walks on Moon
The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon, while Collins orbited above. Neil Armstrong - First Moon Landing 1969 -
NASA Launches Mars Probe Viking 1
The first launch of the Space Shuttle occurred on 12 April 1981, exactly 20 years after the first manned space flight, when the orbiter Columbia, with two crew members, astronauts John W. Young, commander, and Robert L. Crippen, pilot, lifted off from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, at the Kennedy Space Center. Viking 1 & 2
