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Launching of Sputnik I
The first "thing" in space. Built and launched by the USSR. The Start of the Space Race. -
Period: to
Space Race
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Sputnik II,
SSR launches Sputnik 2 which carried a small dog named Laika into orbit. The Dog sadly dies while in space because they had no way to get her back. -
Explorer I, first American Satellite
Explorer 1, the first American satellite to reach orbit, is launched. It carried scientific equipment that lead to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt. -
Pioneer 4
Pioneer 4 is launched on a Earth-Moon trajectory. It passed within 37,000 miles of the Moon before falling into a solar orbit. It was the first U.S. probe to escape from the Earth's gravity. -
First Man ( Russian) in space
Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space. He was sent by the Russians on the Vostok 1 space craft. He became the soviet hero and this advanced the Russians in the space race. He went on a national tour, he even came to the USA. -
First American in Space
After the russians sent a man in outer spaace, the United States sent Alan Shepard. He was on board a tiny mercury capsule by the name of Freedom 7. -
first woman (Russian) in space
Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. She was choosen to fly the spacecraft out of 400 other applicants. On this mission, lasting almost three days in space, she performed various tests on herself to collect data on the female body's reaction to spaceflight. -
First Spacewalk
Alexey Leonov was the first man out in actual space. He was outside the spacecraft for 12 minutes and 9 seconds. Leonov's space suit bcame infalted when he was trying to get back into the spacecraft. He was able to let some air out and barley make it back. He almost died -
America's First Spacewalk
Performed by Ed White. Jim McDivitt remained in the Gemini capsule while he took a walk in space. White was in space for 23 mintues and was over Hawaii and the Gulf of Mexico. -
Apollo 1
Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee are killed when a fire ignites in their Apollo 1 capsule while performing a test on the launch pad. There were many problems with this test : They were in a pure oxygen enviroment, they had nylon suits, and the door opened inward. These are only a few of the problems though. -
Soyuz I
Soyuz 1 was a manned spacecraft holding Vladimir Komarov. It was the first of the Soyuz series. On its return back to Earth, technical problems caused a crash and the death of Vladimir. It was the first fatal space flight. It wouldn't be the only though. -
Apollo 8
Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon. It was a three man crew containing Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders. On Christmas Eve the crew read the first 10 verses of Genisis while broadcasting the view on television. They were later sued by a crazy athesist. -
First men to walk on the moon
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon while crewmate Michael Collins orbits around the Moon alone. Bet he was lonely. This was and is one of America's biggest achievements during the space race. -
Apollo 12
Pete Conrad and Alan Bean perform the first precision lunar landing, touching down just 600 feet from the Surveyor 3 probe that arrived two years earlier. Apollo 12 was the sixth manned flight in the American Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. -
Apollo 17's return from the moon
Apollo 17 was the eleventh and final manned mission in the American Apollo space program. A crew was made up of of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 remains the most recent manned Moon landing.
