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Launching of Sputnik 1.
By the Soviet Union and began the "Space War" with the U.S.
Launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR. First Satellite that was put in earths orbit. Gives research of the atmosphere and completes an orbit in 96.2 minutes. It travels 18,000 miles per hour. Launch of a single event. -
Period: to
Space Race
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Explorer 1
The first American satellite to reach orbit. Its launched after Sputnik's 1 and 2 in 1957. It carried scientific equipment that lead to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt. Remained in orbit until 1970. In the explorer series it has been followed by more than 90 scientific spacecrafts. -
Explorer 2
Launched but failed to reach orbit. Was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station LC-26A in Florida on March 5, 1958. Was a mission to repeat Explorer. The failure: malfunction in the Jupiter-C launch vehicle caused the fourth stage to not ignite. -
Mercury Seven
A group of seven astronauts. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1. Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and ending with John Glenn's flight on the STS-95 Space Shuttle mission. The astronauts participated in Project Mercury's design and planning. -
John F. Kennedy
Often referred to by his initials JFK. 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. -
Yuri Gagarin
Orbits the earth once and becomes the first man in space . A Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. Vostok 1 marked his only spaceflight, but he served as backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission. He became deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was later named after him. Gagarin died in 1968 when a MiG 15 training jet he was piloting crashed. -
Alan Shepard
Mercury Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. Choosen for first American manned mission into space. He flew in a tiny mercury capsule that was named Freedom 7. Made a 15-minute sub-orbital flight. -
Gherman titov
A Soviet cosmonaut. Became the second human to orbit the Earth aboard Vostok 2, preceded by Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1.
After graduating as an air force pilot, he was selected for cosmonaut training in 1960. Titov was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, as were all the Soviet cosmonauts. -
Alexey Leonov
Spent 12 minutes outside of his Voskhod spacecraft performing the first spacewalk. A retired Soviet/Russian cosmonaut and Air Force Major General. Leonov was one of the twenty Soviet Air Force pilots selected to be part of the first cosmonaut group in 1960. His walk in space was originally to have taken place on the Vostok 11 mission, but this was cancelled, and the historic event happened on the Voskhod 2 flight instead. -
Edward white
An engineer, United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut. He became the first American to "walk" in space. He was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for his Gemini 4 spaceflight. White died along with fellow astronauts Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch test for the first manned Apollo mission at Cape Kennedy -
Luna 9
The first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon. An unmanned space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna program. The automatic lunar station that achieved the survivable landing weighed 99 kg. The flight apparatus separated from the payload shortly before Luna 9 landed. -
Luna 10
The Luna 10 spacecraft was launched towards the Moon from an Earth orbiting platform on March 31, 1966. The first satellite to orbit the Moon. -
Clifton Williams
Astronaut that was killed in a plane crash. A NASA astronaut, a Naval Aviator, and a Major in the United States Marine Corps. The failure caused the flight controls to stop responding, and although he activated the ejection seat, it did not save him. He was the fourth astronaut from NASA's Astronaut Group 3 to have died. -
Venera 4
Probes of the series became the first man-made devices to enter the atmosphere of another planet. The entire series could be considered highly successful. The surface conditions on Venus are extreme, which meant that the probes only survived on the surface for a duration of 23 minutes, up to about two hours . -
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
Were they first to walk on the moon. Buzz Aldrin was the second human being to set foot on the Moon, following mission commander Neil Armstrong. This event was televised to Earth and seen by millions! -
Apollo 17- return from the moon
The eleventh and final manned mission in the American Apollo space program. Apollo 17 remains the most recent manned Moon landing and the most recent manned flight beyond low Earth orbit. Apollo 17 was the sixth Apollo lunar landing.
