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Sputnik in Context
A Societ R-7 intercontinental missile launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth's orbit. Sputnik's launch came as a surprise. -
A New Urgency
The U.S. launched its own satellite. President Dwight Eisenhower signed a public order creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).Eisenhower also created two national security-oriented space programs. -
Luna 2
The Soviet space program took another step forward with the launch of Luna 2, the first space probe to hit the moon. After 33.5 hours of flight, Luna 2 was indicated that it had landed on the moon. -
U. S. Effort to Send a Man into Space
For the U.S. effort to send a man into space, dubbed Project Mercury, NASA engineers designed a smaller, cone-shaped capsule, they tested the craft with chimpanzees, and held a final test flight in March 1961 before the Soviets were able to pull ahead with Gagarin's launch. On May 5, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space (though not in orbit). -
First American to Orbit Earth
Later that May, President John F. Kennedy made the bold, public claim that the U.S. would land a man on the moon before the end of the decade. In February 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth. -
To The Moon
The launch of Apollo 8, the first manned space mission to orbit the moon. -
Apollo 11
U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Michael Collins set off on the Apollo 11 space mission, the first lunar landing attempt. After landing successfully on July 20, Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon's surface; he famously called the moment "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." -
Joint U.S. Soviet Mission
In 1975, the joint Apollo-Soyuz mission sent three U.S. astronauts into space aboard an Apollo spacecraft that docked in orbit with a Soviet-made Soyuz vehicle. When the commanders of the two crafts officially greeted each other, their "handshake in space" served to symbolize the gradual improvement of U.S.-Soviet relations in the late Cold War-era. -
Viking 1
Pictures of the Martian surface were taken by Viking 1, the first
U.S. attempt to soft land a spacecraft on another planet. -
Viking 2
Viking 2 landed on Mars on the Plain of Utopia where it
discovered water frost.
