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Sputnik
Sputnik was the first spacecraft that made its' way into space. Everyone thinks that the U.S was the first one to launch a spacecraft into space, when in fact U.S was the first to land on the moon, while Russia was the first to launch into space. -
Space Age
The Sputtnik lauch marked the beginning of the Space Age. -
America's First "Export"
The United States launches its first satellite, the 30.8-pound Explorer 1. During this mission, Explorer 1 carries an experiment designed by James A.Van Allen, a physicist at the University of Iowa, which documents the existence of radiation zones encircling Earth within the planet’s magnetic field. -
Moon Landing
Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon. The first lunar landing mission, Apollo 11 lifts off on July 16 to begin the 3-day trip. At 4:18 p.m. on July 20, the lunar module—with astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin lands on the Moon’s surface while Michael Collins orbits overhead in the command module. After more than 21 hours on the lunar surface, they return to the command module with 20.87 kilograms of lunar samples, leaving behind scientific instruments. -
First Manned Spacecraft
The Vostak 1 was the first manned spacecraft to exceed 100KM which according to the Federation Areonatique Internationale is the minumum height needed to be classified as a spaceflight. It was ridden by Yuri Gagarin. -
Freedom 7
Freedom 7 also known as Mercury- Redstone 3 was the second spacecraft to launh into space. It was ridden by astronaut Alan Shepard. -
Salyut 1
The Soviet Union launches the world’s first space station, Salyut 1, in 1971. Two years later the United States sends its first space station, Skylab, into orbit, where it hosts three crews before being abandoned in 1974. Russia continues to focus on long-duration space missions, launching the first modules of the Mir space station in 1986. -
Voyager 2
Voyager 2 is part of the Voyager program with its identical sister craft Voyager 1, and is in extended mission, tasked with locating and studying the boundaries of the Solar System, including the Kuiper belt, the heliosphere and interstellar space. It is still the only spacecraft to have visited the two outer giant planets Uranus and Neptune. The probe is now moving at a velocity of 15.428 km/s relative to the Sun. -
Voyager 1
It was the first probe to provide detailed images of the two planets and their moons. Due to budget cuts, the mission was scaled back to be a flyby of Jupiter and Saturn and renamed the Mariner Jupiter-Saturn probes. As the program progressed, the name was later changed to Voyager, since the probe designs began to differ greatly from previous Mariner missions. -
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope goes into orbit on April 25, deployed by the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery. A cooperative effort by the European Space Agency and NASA, Hubble is a space-based observatory first dreamt of in the 1940s. Stabilized in all three axes and equipped with special grapple fixtures and 76 handholds, the space telescope is intended to be regularly serviced by shuttle crews over the span of its 15-year design life. -
International Space Station
The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and other fields. The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars.
