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The space race started when The USSR launched the very first satellite into space. -
The USSR sends its very first cosmonaut in the form of a dog named Laika -
The US catches up, sending its own satellite into Earth Orbit, Explorer 1 -
President Eisenhower signs the National Aeronautics and Space Act into law, creating NASA to keep up with the Russian advances in space technology -
The United States sends Ham the Chimpanzee into space, able to perform tasks for rewards this smart little guy braved the journey into the unknown for all of chimp-kind -
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first Man to ever reach space, giving the USSR yet another lead on the US in the space race -
President Kennedy promises a Man on the Moon, famously setting the tone for how serious the US was about the space race -
The United States sends John Glenn into Orbit, staying not too far behind the Soviets -
Soviet Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov leaves his spacecraft and breaking new ground in what can be done in space -
Astronaut Ed White became the first American to perform a spacewalk, leaving his spaceship to float about in open space -
The USA's Gemini 4 took to the sky, and orbited for 4 days (98 hours in total) -
Gemini VII carried its two astronauts, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, on a 14 day mission, a very long time for back then -
The original Crew for the Gemini IX mission were tragically killed in a plane accident where their plane clipped a building and crashed, killing Elliot See Jr and Charles Bassett -
Gemini VII carried two astronauts into Orbit, David Scott and Neil Armstrong, the second being the very same who took the first step on the moon -
On this date one of the most saddening events in NASA history occurred, in which three astronauts, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were all killed in a fire which broke out in their capsule -
Apollo VII was the first crewed Apollo mission, carrying astronauts Walter Schirra Jr, Walter Cunningham, and Donn Eisele -
The Apollo VIII mission became the first mission to send a crewed spacecraft beyond the Earth's gravitational influence -
This 10 day mission was a low Earth-orbit test of the Apollo spacecraft, all the astronauts (James Mcdivitt, Russel Schweikart, and David Scott) landed safely in the ocean -
The Apollo X mission launched the first crewed spacecraft to operate around the moon, sending Thomas Stafford, Eugene Cernan, and John Young 9 miles from the surface of the moon -
The most famous NASA mission of all time. The Apollo XI mission took astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to the surface of the moon