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Sputnik 1
The USSR successfully launches Sputnik 1, the worlds first satellite, and the first man-made object to be put in Earths orbit. -
Laika and Sputnik 2 make it to space
Laika became the first dog in space after the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 2, with her inside. She died just hours after takeoff. -
Explorer 1
The United States enter the space race through the successful launching of the Explorer 1, which became the first U.S, Satellite to reach orbit. -
NASA is created
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created in response to Soviet success in space. It replaced the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) as a civilian agency. -
Explorer 6
The U.S. launches the Explorer 6, the first weather satellite and took the first pictures of Earth from Space. -
Luna 2
The Soviet space program launched the Luna 2, which became the first space probe to hit the moon -
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The USSR takes the lead
The Soviet Union takes the lead in the space race through a series of three missions. On October fourth, 1959, the Luna 3 orbited, and took a picture of, the far side of the moon. On August nineteenth, 1960, the Sputnik 5 successfully returned two dogs (Belka and Strelka) and a range of plants alive to Earth. And January thirty-first, 1961, when they successfully sent and returned the first great ape, Ham, to Space. -
Final Project Mercury Test Flight
The U.S., desperate to catch up with the Soviet Union, completed its final test of the Mercury Project. The design was smaller and cone shaped, unlike the Vostok, and their final test of the Mercury Project was done with with chimpanzees to ensure safety of their human pilot. -
President Kennedy ensures success
President John F. Kennedy announces that the United States will put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. -
Vostok 1
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit Earth. The USSR had taken the lead in the space race. -
Mercury-Redstone 3 (Freedom 7)
Alan Shepard become the first American in space. He did not orbit Earth however, his flight lasted 15 minutes, and only went up 116 miles then came back down. -
John Glenn
John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit Earth. The United States was beginning to catch up. -
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Project Gemini
With President Kennedy's deadline looming over their heads, NASA made progress with 10 manned flights where astronauts used advanced techniques such as in-flight radar, docking, rendezvous and an artificial horizon. -
Apollo 1 tragedy
The United States suffers a major setback when three astronauts (Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee) were killed after their spacecraft caught fire during a launch simulation -
Apollo 8
US spacecraft Apollo 8 becomes the first human-crewed spacecraft to reach the Moon, orbit it, and successfully return to Earth. -
Apollo 11 Launch
On July 16, 1969, U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins set off on the Apollo 11 space mission, the first lunar landing attempt -
The United States puts a man to the Moon
Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moons surface when The Apollo 11 successfully landed him on the moon. Armstrong famously called the moment “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The United States had 'won' the space race.
