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The Soviet Union launches the first artificial satellite. Called Sputnik, a combination of words meaning "fellow-traveler of Earth.
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The Soviet Union launches a female dog into space on Sputnik II. Her name is Laika, which means "barker" in Russian.
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Riding on the Soviet Vostok 1, Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space.
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John Glenn circles Earth three times in 4 hours and 56 minutes. In 1998, at age seventy-seven, John Glenn becomes the oldest person to fly in space, as part of the STS-95 space shuttle crew.
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The Soviets launch Valentina Tereshkova on Vostok 6. She spends three days alone in space. Her spacecraft comes within three miles of Valeri Bykovsky in Vostok 5.
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Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov takes the first space walk, a ten-minute tethered excursion outside Voshkod 2.
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During a test on the launchpad, a fire kills Apollo 1 astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee.
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During the flight of Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon. Buzz Aldrin is the second.
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An oxygen tank explodes aboard Apollo 13. With help from Mission Control, the crew — Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and John Swigert — return to Earth safely four days later.
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The Soviets launch Salyut 1, the first orbiting space station. Salyut 1's original crew die during re-entry on June 30, 1971. Georgi Bobroeolski, Vladislav Volkov, and Victor Patsayev had spent a record 23 days in space.
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The first American space station, Skylab, is damaged during the launch. Eleven days later, first of the three crews arrive for a 28 day stay.
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Viking 1 transmits the first pictures from the surface of Mars. Viking 2 arrived in September 1976.
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Sally Ride is the first American woman in space. She is part of the crew of the seventh space shuttle flight, STS-7.
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Space shuttle, Challenger, explodes killing all seven crew members. Including the first teacher in space.
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Musa Manarov and Vladimir Titov complete 366 days on the Russian space station. The record is broken on March 22nd, 1995.
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The crew of space shuttle mission STS-31 deploy the Hubble Space Telescope. Soon thereafter, the Hubble's primary mirror is found to be damaged.
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Shannon Lucid sets a record in space for both a woman and an American. Her total time in space is 223 days.
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The robot Sojourner explores the surface of Mars. The six-wheeled, remote-controlled, solar-powered rover sends images of the planet’s surface and the soil.
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A billionaire named Dennis Tito, became the first paying passenger to enter outer space. Mr. Tito, age 60, payed 20 million dollars to fufill his dream of entering outer space.
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Cassini-Huygens became the first spacecraft to go into orbit around Saturn. After, the spacecraft flew within 800 miles of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.