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Yuri Gagarin orbits the earth.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (Russian: Ю́рий Алексе́евич Гага́рин[note 1]; IPA: [ˈjʉrʲɪj ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ ɡɐˈɡarʲɪn]; 9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Russian Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961. -
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik – the first satellite – into space.
History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. -
The United States sends satellite Explorer 1 into space.
The satellite was supposed to launch as the United States' contribution to science during International Geophysical Year (which ran from 1957-1958). Then history intervened. The Soviet Union rocketed Sputnik into space on Oct. 4, 1957. This was the first artificial satellite any nation sent out of the Earth.Sep 28, 2012 -
Alan Shepard makes a suborbital flight.
NASA astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space on May 5, 1961 aboard his Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7. Alan Shepard became the first American to reach space when he launched on a suborbital flight on May 5, 1961.May 4, 2011 -
John Glen orbits the earth.
On February 20, 1962, NASA astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in his Mercury capsule Friendship 7. In 4 hours and 56 minutes, John Glenn circled the globe three times, reaching speeds of more than 17,000 miles per hour. The successful mission concluded with a splashdown and recovery in the Atlantic Ocean, 800 miles southeast of Bermuda. -
The first Soviet space walk lasts 12 minutes.
Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov is a retired Soviet/Russian cosmonaut, Air Force Major general, a writer and an artist. On 18 March 1965, he became the first human to conduct extravehicular activity (EVA), exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for a 12-minute spacewalk. ... As of March 2017, Leonov is the last survivor of the five cosmonauts in the ... -
The first American space walk lasts 22 minutes.
During the Gemini 4 mission on June 3, 1965, Ed White became the first American to conduct a spacewalk. The spacewalk started at 3:45 p.m. EDT on the third orbit when White opened the hatch and used the hand-held manuevering oxygen-jet gun to push himself out of the capsule. -
The Luna 9 spacecraft lands on the moon.
On 3 February 1966 the Luna 9 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, or any planetary body other than Earth, and to transmit photographic data to Earth from the surface of another planetary body. -
The United States lands a spacecraft on the moon.
A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both manned and unmanned (robotic) missions. ... The United States' Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon, on 20 July 1969. -
Surveyor 1 is the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon.
Surveyor 1 was the first lunar soft-lander in the unmanned Surveyor program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, United States). ... of Surveyor 1 on the Ocean of Storms was the first by an American space probe on ... just four months after the first Moon landing by the Soviet Union's Luna 9 probe. -
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon.
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two humans on the Moon. Mission commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin, both American, landed the lunar module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:18 UTC.
