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Sputnik II
Sputnik II was launched, carrying a much heavier payload, including a dog named Laika. The pressurized cabin on Sputnik 2 allowed enough room for her to lie down or stand and was padded. An air regeneration system provided oxygen; food and water were dispensed in a gelatinized form. Laika was fitted with a harness, a bag to collect waste, and electrodes to monitor vital signs. The early telemetry indicated Laika was agitated but eating her food. -
Sputnik I
The Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race. -
Sputnik 3
The Sputnik 3 Russian earth magnetosphere satellite. As a result, the Van Allen radiation belts were discovered by the United States rather than Russia. The ISZ was a miniature physics laboratory, but was launched with a known faulty recorder, limiting data to that received when the spacecraft was over Soviet tracking stations -
NASA was created
Established as a direct result of the Sputnik crisis. NASA launched the Exporer I about a year later due to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and other government agencies. -
Luna 1
First man-made satellite to orbit the moon, is launched by the U.S.S.R. first spacecraft to reach the Moon, and the first
of a series of Soviet automatic interplanetary stations suc-
cessfully launched in the direction of the Moon. The spacecraft
was sphere-shaped. Five antennae extended from one hemi-
sphere. Instrument ports also protruded from the surface of the
sphere. -
U.S. launches Explorer I
United States successfully launched Explorer I. This satellite carried a small scientific payload that eventually discovered the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth, named after principal investigator James Van Allen. The Explorer program continued as a successful ongoing series of lightweight, scientifically useful spacecraft. -
Yuri Gargarian: the first man to go up in space
He became the first human to orbit Earth.The flight lasted 108 minutes. At the highest point, Yuri Gagarin was about 327 kilometers above Earth. Although the controls were locked, a key had been placed in a sealed envelope in case an emergency situation made it necessary for Yuri Gagarin to take control. As was planned, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin ejected after reentry into Earth's atmosphere and landed by parachute. -
Apollo 11
The primary objective of Apollo 11 was to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961: perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth. Additional flight objectives included scientific exploration by the lunar module, or LM, crew; deployment of a television camera to transmit signals to Earth; and deployment of a solar wind composition experiment, seismic experiment package and a Laser Ranging Retroreflector. During the exploration, the two astronauts were to gat -
Neil Armstrong the first to land on the moon
Ten more people walked on the moon after them, the last ones being Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan.As Mr. Armstrong stepped from the ladder of the lunar module, millions watched and listened as he uttered the immortal words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." -
Dr. Sally Ride
Dr. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space on the shuttle Challenger. Challenger as part of the crew of mission STS-7. Since her history-making flight, 39 female NASA astronauts have followed her into space, including shuttle commanders and an International Space Station commander. Ride, who hoped to become a professional tennis player before deciding she wasn't good enough, became a physicist instead and joined NASA in 1978 as part of the first astronaut class to accept women.
