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Launching of Sputnik I
It was the first man-made satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. The USSR wanted to do atmospheric studies of Earth. It orbited 96.2 minutes and it marked the beginning of the Cold War's Space Race. -
Period: to
Space Race
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Sputnik II
The USSR carried out the second Sputnik which launched the first animal. It was a small dog called Laika into orbit. Unfortunatlly, she died from stress and overheating in space. -
US: Explorer I
It was the first American satellite to reach orbit. It had scientific equipment that lead to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt. -
USSR: Luna
It was the first man-made spacecraft to reach the moon and it also orbited the Sun. -
USSR: Yuri Gagarin
The Communist Yuri Gagarin from Russia was the first human being to go up in space. He orbited Earth once for 108 minutes. -
US: Alan Shepard
Alan Shpard piloted the Freedom 7 in the mission at age 38 and became the second person ever to go in space and to orbit the Earth. He also was involved in the Apollo 14 and has received the Navy Distinquished Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross. -
Gemini Program
NASA launches the Gemini Program which involved 19 launches, two unmanned test missions, 7 target vihicles, and 10 crewed missions which each carried 2 autronauts to Earth's orbit. The goal was to test equipments and conditions for the future Apollo Program. -
US: Last man in space
L. Gordon Cooper spent 34 hours in space and was the last to fly alone. -
USSR: First woman in space
Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to be in space. She spent 2 days, 22 hours and 50 minutes on the Vostok 6 mission. -
USSR: First spacewalk
Alexei Leonov performed the spacewalk for 12 minutes outeside of his Voskod spacecraft. He almost died because he only had 45 minutes of oxygen and his suit was too thick to get into the spaceship. The only way solution was to let out some O2 in order to get in and fortunatlly, he survived and now, he is retired at 76. -
USSR: Luna 10
Luna 10 was a dress rehearsal for 11 Apollo. It was the fastest recorded manned ship at 24,791 mph. The purpose of this mission was to reach the vicinity of the moon and then go into orbit of the moon. -
US: Apollo 10
Apollo 10 was the test run for Apollo 11. It didn't necessarily reach the moon. It was the fastest recorded manned ship at 39,897 k/h according to the 2002 Guiness World Records. -
US: First men to the moon
Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin took their first steps on the moon while their crewmate, Michael Collins orbits around the moon alone. -
Apollo 13
This mission was a failure because they didn't make it to the moon, but all survived. The spaceship suffered from an explosion in its SM oxygen tanks. -
Apollo 17's return from the moon
This was the eleventh and last Apollo Program. The mission took 12 days, 13 hours, 51 minutes, and 59 seconds.
