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Sputnik 1
Russia launched the first satellite into space; Sputnik 1, and the space age had properly begun.
Sputnik was the first satellite in orbit around the earth. Today there are over 500 working satellites in space. Sputnik means "Satellite" in Russian. -
Laika
The Russian space dog Laika became the first animal to orbit the earth.
Laika travelled in a spacecraft known as Sputnik 2. Laika means "Barker" in Russian, and her mission helped scientists understand whether people could survive in space. -
space problem Luna 2
Both American and Russian scientists were in a race to get a spacecraft to the Moon. The Russians made it first.
Space-probe Luna 2 crash-landed into the moon at a speed that would kill an astronaut if one had been travelling in it. It was ten more years until a human visited the moon's surface. -
Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. Gagarin's spacecraft, Vostok 1, completed one orbit of the earth, and landed about two hours after launch.Gagarin had to bail out and land using his parachute, because the Vostok 1 was designed to crash land. -
Valentina
The first woman in space was Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.After her 1963 mission, Valentina became an important member of the Russian Government, and has been awarded many honours and prizes for her achievements. A crater on the far side of the Moon is named after her. -
Surveyor 1
In 1963 US President John F. Kennedy promised the world that the US would land men on the moon before 1970. Before risking people's lives, NASA sent a robot spaceship, to make sure they could land safely. It was called Surveyor 1, and it made the second soft landing on the Moon on 30th May 1966, a few months after Russian probe Luna 9 landed successful -
Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong, and then Buzz Aldrin took "one small step" and became the first men on the moon. The first words said on the moon were "the Eagle has landed". Their spaceship, Apollo 11 worked perfectly, flying them 250,000 miles to the moon, and bringing them all the way back safely to earth. Buzz was a childhood nickname - his real name was Edwin -
Apollo 13
Two days into its journey to the moon, on 13th April 1970, Apollo 13 suffered an explosion caused by a wiring fault. Using only whatever was on board, NASA scientists and the astronauts on board improvised repairs to bring the crippled spaceship home.The mission was a successful failure. -
fourth, fifth and sixth Apollo
From 1971 American astronauts on the fourth, fifth and sixth Apollo missions enjoyed use of a moon car to explore the moon. Known as the Lunar Rover, it was electric powered, and had a top speed of 8mph.It was designed and developed in only 17 months, by Boeing, the aeroplane company famous for making the Jumbo Jet. -
space shuttle
Until 12th April 1981 all spacecraft were designed to be used only once. The Space Shuttle, was designed to be reused for up to 100 visits to space, in an attempt to make space travel less expensive.With five hugely powerful rocket motors, it can fly at more than 17,000 miles per hour. Six have been built
