-
Sputnik
The first artificial satellite to orbit Earth. The first artificial satellite was Sputnik 1, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, and initiating the Soviet Sputnik program, with Sergei Korolev as chief designer -
Laika
Laika was a Soviet space dog who became one of the first animals in space, and the first animal to orbit the Earth -
NASA Founded
-
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin
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. -
Shepard
From this prestigious group of highly trained fliers, Shepard was selected to man the first space flight, with Glenn acting as his backup. Astronaut Alan B. Shepard is rescued by a U.S. Marine helicopter at the end of his sub-orbital Mercury-Redstone 3 -
John Glenn
On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission and became the first American to orbit the Earth and the fifth person in space. -
Valentina Tereshkova
After 48 orbits and 71 hours, she returned to earth, having spent more time in space than all U.S. astronauts combined to that date. -
Alexey Leonov
From the Voskhod 2 spacecraft, for 12 minutes outside the spacecraft. -
Apollo 11
Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins were the astronauts on Apollo 11. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon. They landed on the moon in the Lunar Module. -
Skylab Founded
-
Skylab Crashed to Earth
On July 11, 1979, the world watched as Skylab, America’s first manned space station, hurtled toward Earth. -
Sally Ride
Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space when the space shuttle Challenger launched on mission STS-7. -
Challenger Disaster
On January 28, 1986, the American shuttle orbiter Challenger broke up 73 seconds after liftoff, bringing a devastating end to the spacecraft’s 10th mission. -
Shoemaker
Was designed to study the near Earth asteroid 433 Eros, one of the largest of the near Earth asteroids, from close orbit over a period of one year. -
International Space Station
-
Columbia Disaster
On Feb. 1, 2003, space shuttle Columbia broke up as it returned to Earth, killing the seven astronauts on board. NASA suspended space shuttle flights for more than two years as it investigated the disaster. -
Spirit
It was one of two rovers of NASA's ongoing Mars Exploration Rover Mission. -
Opportunity
Launched on July 7, 2003 as part of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover program. -
Cassini–Huygens
Cassini–Huygens is an unmanned spacecraft sent to the planet Saturn -
Last Space Shuttle launch
Atlantis rolled to a stop at its home port, NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. -
Curiosity
Curiosity is a car-sized robotic rover exploring Gale Crater on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission. -
First Shuttle Launch
A new era in space flight began on April 12, 1981, when Space Shuttle Columbia, or STS-1, soared into orbit from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
