Parts of this spacecraft will become core segments of the International Space Station (ISS) almost thirty years later in November 2000.ġ August 1971: David Scott, commander of the Apollo 15 mission, becomes the first person to drive on the Moon. This secured a victory for America in the Space Race with a televised landing witnessed around the world by 723 million people.ġ1 April 1970: The US Apollo 13 mission is known as the first explosion onboard a spacecraft where the crew survived.ġ9 April 1971: The USSR launches the first space station. Only a few months later the Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov is also killed when the parachute on his Soyuz 1 capsule fails to open on his reentry into Earth's atmosphere.Ģ1 December 1968: US spacecraft Apollo 8 becomes the first human-crewed spacecraft to reach the Moon, orbit it, and successfully return to Earth.Ģ0 July 1969: Neil Armstrong and later Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon while their crewmate Michael Collins continues to orbit the Moon aboard the Apollo 11. In January, American astronauts Ed White, Gus Grissom, and Roger Chaffee die when a fire ignited in their Apollo 1 capsule on the launch pad. She spends almost three days in space, orbiting the Earth 48 times aboard her spacecraft, Vostok 6.ġ8 March 1965: Alexei Leonov leaves his spacecraft, the Voskhod 2, in a specialized spacesuit and conducts a twelve-minute spacewalk, the first of its kind.ġ4 July 1965: The US satellite, Mariner 4, performs the first successful voyage to the planet Mars, returning the first close-up images of the Martian surface.ġ967: This year proves the most deadly of the Space Race for both the US and Soviet Union. The flight lasted about 15 minutes.ġ6 June 1963: Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first civilian and first woman in space. On this flight, Shepard did not orbit Earth.

: The US achieve the first pilot-controlled journey and first American in space with Alan Shepard aboard the Mercury-Redstone 3 (or Freedom 7) spacecraft.

He remained in space for one hour and forty-eight minutes before landing in Saratov Oblast, west Russia. Aboard the Vostok 1, Yuri Gagarin makes a single orbit around the Earth and becomes the first man to reach space. Luna 1 becomes the first human-made object to leave the orbit of the Earth and orbit the sun instead.Ģ August 1959: The US launches Explorer 6, the world's first weather satellite and obtains the first pictures of Earth from space.ġ2 September 1959: The USSR launches Luna 2 and accomplishes its mission of creating the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon.Ĥ October 1959: The USSR launches Luna 3 and succeeds in their mission of sending an object into orbit around the Moon and photographing the far side of the Moon.ġ9 August 1960: Aboard the Soviet Union's Sputnik 5, the first animals (two dogs, Belka and Strelka) and a range of plants are returned alive from space.ģ1 January 1961: Ham, a US chimpanzee, becomes the first hominid (or great ape) in space and the first to successfully survive the landing.ġ2 April 1961: The Soviet Union achieve a clear triumph in the Space Race. Eisenhower, becoming the first broadcast of a human voice from space.Ģ January 1959: The USSR launches Luna 1, known as the first 'cosmic rocket' as it accidentally escaped the orbit of the Moon due to the object having too much speed. It captured world attention by broadcasting a pre-recorded Christmas message from US President Dwight D. It carried experimental equipment that led to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt.ġ October 1958: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is created in the US, replacing the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA).ġ8 December 1958: The US launch SCORE, the world's first communications satellite. Sputnik, which means 'satellite' in Russian, was the Soviet entry in a scientific race to launch the first satellite ever.ģ1 January 1958: The US enter the Space Race by launching Explorer 1, the first US satellite to reach orbit.

Sputnik I exhibit in the Missile & Space Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

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