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First animal in space by USA (Ham the chimp)
Ham flew a suborbital flight on the Mercury-Redstone 2 mission, part of the U.S. space program's Project Mercury -
First satellite in space by USSR
The Soviet Union launched the earth's first artificial satellite, Sputnik I -
First animal in space by USSR
The first animal to make it to space and around Earth was a dog named Laika, she was aboard Sputnik 2 -
First satellite in space by USA
Explorer 1 became the first successfully launched satellite by the United States -
Creation of NASA
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act -
First man in space by USSR
The first man in space by USSR was Yuri Gagarin. His vehicle, Vostok 1 circled Earth at a speed of 27,400 kilometers per hour with the flight lasting 108 minutes -
First man in space by USA
Alan Shepard piloted his Freedom 7 Mercury capsule for a 15-minute suborbital flight with no communication glitches -
JFK's speech and commitment to getting to the moon
JFK said “proposed that the US "should commit itself to achieve the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth” -
First man to orbit Earth by USA
John Glenn was a NASA astronaut who made history by becoming the first American to orbit Earth. He was one of the "Mercury 7" which was NASA's first astronaut class. -
One of the three of the important Gemini missions
Gemini 1 was an uncrewed orbital test of the Titan 2 launch vehicle, the Gemini spacecraft's structural integrity, and the launch vehicle-spacecraft compatibility. -
The second important Gemini mission
This was the second uncrewed Gemini test mission, consisting of a sub-orbital ballistic flight and reentry with the primary objectives being to demonstrate the adequacy of the spacecraft reentry module's heat protection during a maximum heating rate return, the structural integrity of the spacecraft, and the performance of spacecraft systems. -
First man to do an EVA by USSR
The first EVA was performed by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who spent 12 minutes and 9 seconds outside the Voskhod 2 spacecraft -
Gemini mission three
Gemini 3 was the first crewed Earth-orbiting spacecraft of the Gemini series. It was piloted by astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom and John Young. -
First man to do an EVA by USA
During the Gemini 4 mission, Ed White became the first American to conduct a spacewalk. On the third orbit, White opened the hatch and used the hand-held maneuvering oxygen-jet gun to push himself out of the capsule. -
One of the tragedies that led up to getting to the moon (Original Gemini 9 Crew)
See and Bassett died in a plane crash as they approached the runway at St. Louis' Lambert International Airport in marginal weather. Their T-38 Talon aircraft clipped the nearby McDonnell building where technicians were preparing the Gemini IX spacecraft for shipment to the launch site -
The second tragedy that led up to getting to the moon (Apollo 1 crew)
Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, died on Jan. 27, 1967, during a flash fire inside the Apollo 1 crew capsule during a launch test rehearsal. -
The launch of Apollo 9
Apollo 9 carried out a full test of the lunar landing mission in Earth orbit -
The launch of Apollo 7
Apollo 7 was the first test of the command and service module with a crew. The crew orbited the Earth 163 times and spent 10 days and 20 hours in space -
The launch of Apollo 8
The Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders became the first humans to leave Earth and journey to another world. -
Launch of Apollo 10
Apollo 10 was the dress rehearsal for humanity's first Moon landing. It successfully demonstrated all major objectives of the upcoming Apollo 11 mission except the landing and moonwalk itself -
The launch of Apollo 11
Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin into an initial Earth orbit of 114 by 116 miles