Spaceship

Space Race Timeline

By sbpatrick

  • Launching of Sputnik I

    Launching of Sputnik I
    Although it was a single event, it marked the start of the Space Age. It also started the Space Race.

  • Sputnik 2

    Sputnik 2
    USSR launches Sputnik 2 which carried a small dog named Laika into orbit. The mission gave scientists data on the first living organism in outer space.

  • Vanguard 1

    Vanguard 1
    The Vanguard 1 satellite is launched. It continues to function for 3 years. Vanguard 1 was a small earth orbiting satellite designed to test the launch capabilities of a three stage launch vehicle and the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit.

  • Luna 2

    Luna 2
    Luna 2 is launched. It impacts the Moon on September 13, becoming the first man-made object to do so. USSR. Acted as an experiment for the reaction of gas in space. The results of tha Luna 2 told that there was no magnetic field or radiation belts on the moon.

  • Discoverer XIV

    Discoverer XIV
    The US launches Discoverer XIV, the US' first camera equipped spy satellite. First satellite to be ejectected from an orbiting space vehicle, and the first to be recovered in midair.

  • Mariner 2

    Mariner 2
    Mariner 2 flies past Venus and enters a solar orbit. Its the second spacecraft used for planetary exploration. It was the first to encounter another planet.

  • First woman in space

    First woman in space
    Cosmonaut Valentia Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space. USSR. Also the first civilian in space.

  • Ranger 7 images of the Moon

    Ranger 7 images of the Moon
    Ranger 7 transmits the first close range images of the Moon. Ranger 7 was designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit photographs upon the final minutes before its impact on the moon.

  • Venera 3

    Venera 3
    Venera 3 is launched. It becomes the first man made object to impact Venus on March 1, 1966. USSR. Its mission was to land on the surface of Venus. No data was returned.

  • Luna 9

    Luna 9
    Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon. USSR. Transmitted photographs of the Moon's surface. Proved that the moon's surface could support the weight of a lander.

  • Luna 10

    Luna 10
    Luna 10 becomes the first satellite to orbit the Moon. USSR. The primary objectives were to achieve the first lunar orbit, gain experience in orbital operations, presumably as a precursor to astronaut orbital missions, and study the lunar environment.

  • Zond 5

    Zond 5
    Zond 5 is launched. It carried a biological payload (including two turtles) around the Moon and returned to Earth six days later. A biological payload of turtles, wine flies, meal worms, plants, seeds, bacteria, and other living matter was included in the flight.

  • Spacecraft Docking

    Spacecraft Docking
    Soyuz 4 and 5 perform the first Soviet spacecraft docking. They formed as the worlds first space station with four crew members aboard.

  • First men to walk on the moon

    First men to walk on the moon
    Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon while crewmate Michael Collins orbits around the Moon alone.

  • Apollo 17's return from the moon

    Apollo 17's return from the moon
    Apollo 17 was the last Apollo mission to land men on the Moon. It carried the only trained geologist to walk on the lunar surface.
    There has yet to be another Apollo mission since then. The men returned the greatest amount of rock and soil samples. No man has ever visited the moon since the mission.