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1957 October: USSR launches first satellite Sputnik 1.
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The first dog in space was named Laika. Laika means Barker was a 3 year old stray wondering the streets. While Laika underwent training, engineers were rushing to get her spacecraft ready to fly. Planners decided to move up Laika’s flight, which had been set for sometime in 1958. LAika was launched on Sputnik the 2nd on November 3rd, 1957
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1958 October: American space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) created.
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1961 April: Gagarin becomes first man in space, completing a single, 108-minute orbit aboard Vostok 1. May: US President John Kennedy launches the Apollo programme which foresees a man on the moon by the end of the decade. American Alan Shepard carries out a 15-minute space flight aboard Mercury.
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John Glenn made history in 1962 by becoming the first American to orbit Earth.
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1963 June: First space flight by a woman, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.
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1986 January: Challenger explodes on liftoff, killing all seven astronauts.
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In 1998, John Glenn made history again. He returned to space at the age of 77. The oldest man to travel to space.
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2003 February: Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry killing seven astronaunts.
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Expedition 35 is under way as Commander Chris Hadfield and Flight Engineers Tom Marshburn and Roman Romanenko continue their stay aboard the International Space Station. The trio is scheduled to remain aboard until May 2013.
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The space program has pushed us to do more. Etc.
