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The reds join the Allies
After tensions and doubts, Germany and it's allies invaded the USSR, this started what will be known as the Great Patriotic War. From that moment onwards, the Soviet Union joined the Allies -
Breakthrough to victory
During the key years of the second Wolrd War the D-Day was one of the most significant victories for the Allies in Europe, it was a first step towards the defeat of the Axis Powers -
Nazi Germany falls
The Third Reich surrenders unconditionally to the Western Allies and two days later to the Soviets who took Berlin -
World division
Germany lost the war, it was decided by the four grand victorious countries to divide the country among themselves, with the USA, France and Britain taking possesion of the west, and the USSR taking East Germany; founding two Republics in one nation.
This division also splitted the world in half, starting the Cold War -
The biggest Proxy War starts
The conflict known as the Vietnam War had its very complex origins in the Indochina wars of the 1940s and 1950s, eventually leading to one of the most massive and pointless slaughters of the 20th century with the US and Soviet intervention's, each power supporting South and North Vietnam respectively -
Sputnik-1
In the first decade of this "Cold War" the Soviets took the lead in the first curve; launching Sputnik-1 into orbit, the first artificial satellite in history. It's hoped purpose was to measure the temperature of the outer layer of the atmosphere. However, it's true intention was to shock their American competitors, which was accomplished -
A counter reaction: Explorer-1
The launch of the first US satellite basically served to fill with pride the damaged ego of the American people, who saw how Russia launched Sputnik-1 a year prior After launch, Explorer I was able to remain in orbit for almost 115 minutes and transmited until May 1958 when its battery died -
Two steps ahead?!
The US decided to create it's very own space exploration division: NASA, standing for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, all in a rushed move by president Eisnhhower to be two steps ahead of the "Red giant in the east" -
Life comes home!
Sputnik-5 returns home with the dogs Bela and Sterlka and various plants, being the first life forms to go into space and return alive -
The first man to go up
Aboard the Vostok 1, Yuri Gagarin made a single orbit around the Earth as the first man to reach space. He remained there for an hour and forty-eight minutes before landing in west Russia. A clear triumph for the Soviets in the ever-changing race -
Cuban Missile Crisis
During this year, the Soviet Union began to secretly install missiles in Cuba, in order to be able to easily launch attacks on US cities. This confrontation brought the two superpowers to the brink of war before an agreement was reached to withdraw the missiles from Cuba as long as the Unites States did the same in Turkey -
Moonwalk
American astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon after reaching it aboard the Apollo 11. This secured the greatest victory for the Americans in the space race, since the televised landing and subsequent moon-walk was witnessed around the world by 723 million people -
Soviet station in orbit
After the Apollo 11 and subsequent USA missions, the USSR becomes motivated to launch history's first space station: Salyut-1. Parts of the OG spacecraft will become core segments of the International Space Station almost thirty years in the future -
Close to coming to terms
One of the most unique events in the entire space race came in the Apollo 15 mission, not only was it the first time someone drove on the Moon, but a small homage was paid by the US austronaut David Scott when leaving a small plaque that had the names of all the austonauts that had died in space missions, this inculded both Americans and Soviets -
Paris Peace Accords
These peace accrods had the intention to finally establish the end of the Vietnam War with the formal surrender of the American Forces, as well as the independence of South Vietnam and the stabilization of the whole Asian continent in the coming years -
United at last
With tensions between the USA and USSR reducing more and more by the mid-70s, the first cooperative American/Soveit mission named the Apollo-Soyuz was finally launched. With the two separate flights docking in space and their two respective commanders exchanging the first international and orbital handshake -
Up to never come down
The Columbia space ferry went up into the atomsphere succesfully, few would know it would desintegrate in it's re-entry to Earth years later -
First woman spacewalk
The Soviets had another major win in the fianl curve of the race, the "Cosmonaut" Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to spacewalk, closely followed by the US response, NASA's astronaut Kathy Sullivan -
Permanent residence?
It orbitated Earth from 1986 to 2001, created and origianlly operated by the Soviet Union. Mir was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit for several years, from 1986 to 1996, it would come to survive the Cold War and pass to the Russian federation -
End of a war and a race
With the fall of the Berlin Wall it was clear the days of the Soveit Union were counted, it continued to formally exist for two more years before it's disolussion in '91. This finally ended both the Cold War and the Space Race, even though it is thought that it's true resolution came in the Apollo-Soyuz, the disolussion of one out of two major players brought it two a definitive end