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Period: to
Important Events of Space Race
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USSR launches Sputnik 1.
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USSR launches Sputnik 2 which carried a small dog named Laika into orbit.
It carried a small dog named Laika into orbit. -
Explorer 1, the first American satellite to reach orbit, is launched.
It carried scientific equipment that lead to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt.
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Explorer 2 is launced but it fails to reach orbit.
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The Vanguard 1 satellite is launched. It continues to function for 3 years.
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Sputnik 3 is launched.
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Sep. 12 - President Kennedy gives a speech at Rice University reaffirming the importance of the Moon program.
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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is formed.
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Pioneer 1 is launched to a height of 70,700 miles.
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Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders begin the first manned journey from the Earth to the Moon.
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Luna 1 is launched by the USSR. It is the first man made object to orbit the Sun.
It is the first man made object to orbit the Sun. -
Pioneer 4 is launched on a Earth-Moon trajectory. Mar. 3 - Pioneer 4 is launched on a Earth-Moon trajectory. It passed within 37,000 miles of the Moon before falling into a solar orbit.
It passed within 37,000 miles of the Moon before falling into a solar orbit. -
The "Mercury Seven" astronauts are selected by NASA.
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Luna 2 is launched. It impacts the Moon on September 13.
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Luna 3 orbits the Moon and photographs 70% of its surface.
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Tiros 1, the first successful weather satellite, is launched.
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The US launches Discoverer XIV, its first camera equipped spy satellite.
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John F. Kennedy is elected the 35th President of the United States.
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Yuri Gagarin orbits the Earth once and becomes the first man in space.
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Alan B. Shepard becomes the first American in space.
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President John F. Kennedy addresses Congress and challenges the nation to go to the Moon before the end of the decade.
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Gus Grissom is launched on a sub-orbital flight.
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NASA announces the Gemini Program.
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John Glenn orbits the Earth three times.
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Scott Carpenter repeats John Glenn's flight aboard "Aurora 7".
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President Kennedy gives a speech at Rice University reaffirming the importance of the Moon program.
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Walter Schirra orbits the Earth six times.
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Mariner 2 flies past Venus and enters a solar orbit.
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L. Gordon Cooper spends 34 hours in space. He is the last American to fly in space alone.
He is the last American to fly in space alone. -
Cosmonaut Valentia Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space.
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Ranger 7 transmits the first close range images of the Moon.
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A third group of NASA astronauts is selected.
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President Kennedy is assassinated.
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Ranger 7 transmits the first close range images of the Moon.
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Astronaut Theodore Freeman dies in a plane crash
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Alexei Leonov performs the first spacewalk on the moon.
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Gus Grissom and John Young fly the first manned Gemini spacecraft.
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Ed White performs America's first spacewalk.
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Mariner 4 returns close ranger images of Mars.
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Venus 3 is launched.
It becomes the first man made object to impact Venus on March 1, 1966. -
Frank Borman and James Lovell begin a two week stay in Earth orbit aboard Gemini 7.
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Dec. 15 - Walter Schirra and Thomas Stafford, in their Gemini 6 spacecraft, make the first space rendezvous with Gemini 7.
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Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon.
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Astronauts Charles Bassett and Elliott See die when their plane crashes in bad weather.
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Apr. 3 - Luna 10 becomes the first satellite to orbit the Moon.
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Surveyor 1 soft-lands on the Moon.
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Lunar Orbiter 1 enters orbit around the Moon and takes the first picture of the Earth from that distance.
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Gemini 12, the last flight of the Gemini Program, launches with James Lovell and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin aboard.
launches with James Lovell and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin aboard.
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Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee are killed
when a fire ignites in their Apollo 1 capsule while performing a test on the launch pad.
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Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, dies in a plane crash.
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Jun. 6 - Astronaut Edward Givens is killed
In an automobile accident.
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Astronaut Clifton Williams is killed in a plane crash.
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Venera 4 transmits data about the atmosphere of Venus.
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Apr. 24 - Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov is killed
when the parachutes of his Soyuz 1 capsule fail to open properly following re-entry.
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Zond 5 is launched
It carried a biological payload (including two turtles) around the Moon and returned to Earth six days later.
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The crew of Apollo 7 begin a 10 day mission to study the new spacecraft.
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Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders begin the first manned journey from the Earth to the Moon.
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Soyuz 4 & 5 perform the first Soviet spacecraft docking
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Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin
They become the first men to walk on the Moon while crewmate Michael Collins orbits around the Moon alone.
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Pete Conrad and Alan Bean perform the first precision lunar landing, touching down just 600 feet from the Surveyor 3 probe that arrived two years earlier.
Touching down just 600 feet from the Surveyor 3 probe that arrived two years earlier.
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