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Soviets launch Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. It was a 58 cm in diameter aluminum sphere that had four 2.9 m long antennas. It sent radio signals for 3 weeks until its batteries died out, and it fell back into the atmosphere on January 4th the next year. This was very important in the Cold War because it was the spark that started the Space Race, with the United States and the Soviet Union competing against each other for the dominance of space technology. -
N.A.S.A. is created
N.A.S.A., which stands for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was created whenever Dwight Eisenhower realized how the United States were barely lagging behind other countries in terms of technological advances. N.A.S.A. is significant because it marked the beginning of space exploration for the US. -
Americans successfully launch and return Ham, a chimpanzee
3 and a half year old chimp Ham was propelled into space at Cape Canaveral, Florida. He was in flight for around 16 minutes and traveled as fast as 5,800 mph, and was 157 miles above the earth. Unlike the Soviet’s space dog Laika, Ham survived and landed in the Atlantic Ocean, where he was recovered by the USS Donner. Since this space mission had been successful while the Soviet’s mission with Laika was not, this showed how the US was more prepared to bring a man to space than the USSR was. -
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space
Vostok 1 was the very first human orbital space flight, holding Soviet pilot and astronaut Yuri Gagarin. It soared 203 miles above Earth, reaching a speed of around 17,000 mph, the fastest spacecraft created at the time. Vostok 1 landed in Kazakhstan after orbiting the Earth for 108 minutes. The significance of this event was that Yuri was the very first person to enter space, which was a huge accomplishment and it put the Soviets ahead in the space race. -
Mariner 4 becomes the first satellite to reach Mars
Mariner 4 was the fourth satellite in the Mariner series, made by NASA. It was launched on November 28th, 1964, and it was the first spacecraft to reach Mars on July 15th, 1965. It found geological evidence that there used to be flowing water on the planet’s surface, and took many photos of it. The satellite’s communications were terminated on December 21st, 1967. The significance of this is that N.A.S.A. got a lot of information from this mission. -
Americans land on the moon
Apollo 11 was the 8-day spaceflight that was the first to get people on the moon. It started on July 16th, whenever a Saturn V rocket took off with the crew, who were American astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins. Buzz and Neil were the ones to land on the moon in the Lunar Module Eagle. To this day, Apollo 11 is surrounded by conspiracy theories as to even if the mission took place. This mission is important because it marked the end of the Space Race, as the US won. -
Soviets launch the first space station
Salyut 1 was the world’s first space station in low earth orbit. It was a part of a series of space missions, in which it was the first. Its main purpose was to test the elements of the systems on a space station like the Salyut 1, and to conduct experiments. Salyut 1 was important because it was the first space station to orbit Earth, and it gave the Soviets a lot of helpful information for their other missions. -
The first join mission between the U.S. and U.S.S.R.
The Apollo-Soyuz mission was the first crewed international space mission, with the US and USSR working together to achieve this. An American Apollo spacecraft was docked with a Soviet Soyuz capsule, which held 3 American astronauts and 2 Soviet astronauts, who were performing different scientific experiments while on the spacecraft. This was the last Apollo mission to be conducted. This mission was important because it brought together the two major world powers in the midst of tension.