-
The soviet Union launched th Sputnik 1 into Earths orbit, kicking off the "Space race: between the U.S and Soviet.
-
The Soviet launched the sputnik 2, which also sent the first living creature up into space, Laila the dog.
-
The first U.S satelitte was launched, the explorer 1. This began the explorer series.
-
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration formed, replacing NACA.
-
The "mercury seven" were hand- picked by NASA
-
The Soviet Space Program or (SSP) took another step foward with the launch of Luna 2, th fist space probe to hit the moon.
-
The Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin became te first person to orbit Earth, traveling in the Capsule- like Spacecraft Vostok 1.
-
President JFK made the bold public claim that the U.S. would land a man on the moon before the end of the decade.
-
John Glenn became the 1st American to orbit Earth, and by the end of that year, the foundations of NASA's Lunar Landing Program- dubbed project Apollo, were in place.
-
The Mariner 4- NASA had the 1st Mars flyby.
-
The cheif engineer of the Soviet Space program dies which sets back the Race To Space just a tad. His name was Sergey Korolyov.
-
The Apollo 1 astronauts were killed, when their training capsule caught on fire.
-
The launch of Apollo 8, the first manned space mission to orbit the moon from NASA's massive launch facility on Merrit island near Cape Canaveral, Florida
-
U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins set off on the Apollo 11 space mission, the first lunar landing attempt.
-
After landing successfully, Neil Armstrong became the 1st man to walk on the moons surface. He famously called the moment "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
-
With relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union beginning to thaw, the U.S.- Soviet Joint Mission occured with the Apollo- Soyez Project. The space race was effectively over.
