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Their spaceship, Apollo 11 worked perfectly, flying them 250,000 miles to the moon, and bringing them all the way back safely to earth.
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Having stunned the world with the first orbital space launch, Sputnik 1, less than a month before, the Soviet Union tries for a second coup by launching a dog named Laika on a one-way journey on a hastily completed follow-up mission, Sputnik 2.
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Launched less than two months after Vanguard 1A, the first American attempt to compete with Sputnik, blows up on the launchpad.
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Fearful that Soviet successes in space mean the U.S. is losing the Cold War, congressional leaders, including future President Lyndon B. Johnson, quickly write the National Aeronautics and Space Act.
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After several unsuccessful (and apparently fatal) attempts at manned flight, the Soviet Union launches cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin on a 108-minute flight.
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Determined to keep up with the Russians, the U.S. launches astronaut Alan Shepard on a 15-minute suborbital flight.
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As the U.S. is gearing up for its three-man Apollo moon missions, a fire breaks out in a routine ground test.
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With time running out on President John F. Kennedy's pledge to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, U.S. confidence is boosted by Apollo 7, the first Apollo mission to get astronauts off the ground.
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In a six-day flight culminating with a televised Christmas Eve reading from the Book of Genesis, Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, Jr., and William Anders become the first to leave the gravitational influence of the Earth.
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The lunar module of Apollo 11, nicknamed the Eagle, touches down on the moon, with 30 seconds' worth of fuel to spare