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Launching of Sputnik 1
It was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union and was the first series on sattelite.The satellite, a steel sphere, weighed 184 pounds, was 23 inches in diameter. -
Failed Launch of of the Vanguard satellite
The U.S. made its first attempt to put a satellite into orbit. THe Vanguard lost its thrust and blew up. Sonny felt disappointed like other Americans and worried that his rockets would never get high in the sky. -
NASA is officially born10/01/1958
This program was handled by a new civilian agency and not by the military as most aerospace technology was handled by the military up until that point. NASA's mission was to: "To provide for research into problems of flight within and outside the Earth's atmosphere, and for other purposes." -
The "Mercury 7" astronauts selected by NASA
Mercury Seven was the group of seven Mercury astronauts selected by NASA on April 9, 1959. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1. This was the only astronaut group with members that flew on all classes of NASA manned orbital spacecraft of the 20th century: Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and ending with John Glenn's flight on the STS-95 Space Shuttle mission. -
Joe Kittinger skydives through the atmosphere
On August 16, 1960, he made the final jump from the Excelsior III at 102,800 feet. Towing a small drogue parachute for initial stabilization, he fell for four minutes and 36 seconds, reaching a maximum speed of 614 miles per hour before opening his parachute at 18,000 feet. Pressurization for his right glove malfunctioned during the ascent, and his right hand swelled up to twice its normal size. -
Yuri Gagarin, USSR, becomes the first man in space.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, Hero of the Soviet Union, was a Soviet cosmonaut. On 12 April 1961, he became the first human in outer space and the first to orbit the Earth. He received medals from around the world for his pioneering tour in space. -
First American enters space
Alan B. Shepard became the first American and second person to be launched into space. He also commanded the Apollo 14 mission . -
John Glenn
John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth and third American in space. On October 29, 1998, he became the oldest person to fly in space. -
First Woman in Space
Vostok 6, of the Soviet Union, was the first human space craft to carry a woman,Valentina Tereshkova, into space. It also was the first to have the first civilian in space. -
Luna 10, USSR, first spacecraft to orbit the Moon.
Luna 10 was a Luna program, robotic spacecraft mission, also called Lunik 10. The Luna 10 spacecraft was launched towards the Moon from an Earth orbiting platform on March 31, 1966. It was the first artificial satellite of the Moon (or another heavenly body, for that matter). -
Luna 10 orbits the moon
Luna 10 was launched to the moon on March 31, 1966 from the Soviet Union. It was planned that Luna 10 would orbit the moon. On April 4, 1966 Luna 10 had compleated the first orbit around the mooon. -
Apollo 1 mission
This was meant to launch in February 21st. So they were doing some test, When the three austranoits entered the capsule there seemed to be minor errors. Later in the testing the three men came on to speak saying there was fire. Of course they tried to get out but the door was jammed. They burned to death. Thuis mission was schedualed to be the first to land on the moon -
Apollo 11
This was the first mission to land on the moon and return to earth succesfully. The first man to land on the moon was Neil Armstrong follwed by Buzz Aldrin while Michael Collins orbits around the Moon alone. Also these american astronauts were the first to bring samples from the moon,The US wins the space race. -
Mariner 9
Mariner 9 helped out NASA on the exploration of Mars. America Launched it on May 30, 1971 and reached mars on November 13, 1971. This became the first space craft to orbit another planet. -
Apollo 17 Returns
This Apollo mission consisted of a Command Module (CM) and a Lunar Module (LM). The CM and LM would separate after lunar orbit insertion. One of the crew member would stay in the CM, which would orbit the Moon. And other two would take the LM down to the lunar surface. After exploring the surface, setting up experiments, taking pictures, getting rock samples,the astronauts would return to the CM to get back to Earth
