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Yuri Gargarin
A Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. This was one of the first competitions between the Soviets and the Americans. He was the reason for the Space Race to speed up and have the U.S. Know to step up their game. He was the first human to journey into outer space. Now this was the real beginning of the Soviets and Americans to start battling with each other. -
Valentina Nikolayeva Tereshkova
Finally! Woman POWER it was the first time for a women to go into Space. She was born in Russia and flew into Space. A really lucky woman to have been selected from more than 400 applicants. She was on the space mission to pilot Vostok 6 on June 16 1963. The best of all she is still alive today and 78 years of age. -
Kennedy Space Center
On this day the Kennedy Space Center is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Launch Operations Center. This is also a research center for those interested in Astronomy. At the time the Space Race was a big deal about being the best of the best. It is the space vehicle facility located near Cape Canerwal on Merrit Island in Florida United States. It is a major tourist destination for visitors in Florida. -
Mariner 4
The first spacecraft to go and take pictures of the planet Mars. It was designed to conduct closeup observations of Mars and to transfer it back to Earth. The cost of this rocket was 554 Million U.S. Dollars. The speed of this rocket was 11, 471 miles per hour. It was created by the United States and was the fourth spacecraft to go on and show pictures of Mars and the surface. -
First Men on the Moon
On this day it was the biggest victory for Americans, in the Space world this day is considered historic. The day Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin both got into Apollo 12 and went straight for the moon. They were the first men to walk on the moon and that is where "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Neil put the American flag on the moon and made history. Everyone over the age of 50 should remember this historic day. -
Apollo 13
After a third attempt to get on the moon Apollo 13 was it. After the successful landing of Apolloe 12 the Americans thought Apollo 13 would be the same but little did they know of the consequences. There was a lot to deal with when it came to the destruction of the rocket. James A Lovell, John L Swigert, and Fred W. Haise were the three on this mission. They had to survive days with just space food and limited resources until help came to them -
First U.S. Space Station
The United States launches Skylab, the first U.S. space station. It will be occupied by three crews and over the next few years will be an important arena for a number of scientific experiments. This was followed up by another mission to look on to see the humanity could live here or not -
First Skylab Crew
After the Space station was finally created a mission came aboard for the first Skylab crew. This was a construction job for them. They had to fix the damage of the space station. The crew had spent about 28 days in Space trying to repair all of the damage and parts that need to be fixed. -
First Images of Mars
The first pictures of the surface of Mars are sent back to Earth by Viking 1, the first U.S. spacecraft to successfully land on another planet. The pictures reveal a rocky, desolate landscape that shows no signs of life. They also revealed if their could ever be life in Mars. The main source to look for is Water. -
Discovery of Water Frost on Mars
Following the success of Viking 1, the Viking 2 spacecraft lands on Mars on the Plain of Utopia. It discovers and photographs water frost and sends back stunning images of the Martian surface. This was a great accomplishment for us because now we can move a step closer in knowing if there is actually life on Mars. This was in 1976 and now in 2015 we are still trying to figure out the same thing. -
First Space Shuttle Launch
The first manned mission of the Space Transportation System (STS-1), Columbia, is launched. This mission, as well as the next three, will be a test flight to try out the spacecraft's systems. The Space Shuttle was a great achievement because now we could be able to see everything. It was advancing us into winning the Space Race. -
Maiden Voyage of Discovery
The third orbiter of the American Space Shuttle fleet, Discovery, lifts off for its maiden voyage into space. During mission STS-41D, the six-member crew lunches three communications satellites and tests a new solar panel array. -
Voyager 2 goes to Neptune
The blue planet was finally shown in pictures. The Voyager went to Neptune and gave us a first come up of the blue planet and its moons. Now it was common for different kinds of spacecrafts go travel and take images of planets, their moons, and even stars. This all could now be shown through photographs making it easier for astronauts. -
Space Shuttle Challenger Tragedy
The space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after liftoff of mission STS-51L, resulting in the loss of the spacecraft and her seven-member crew. The accident seems especially tragic because of Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian to fly into space. She is part of the Teacher in Space program and was to hold a number of classes for school children while in orbit. The accident is caused by unusually cold temperatures and a faulty O-ring seal in one of the solid rocket boosters. -
Space Shuttle Returns to Flight
The space shuttle Discovery launches from the Kennedy space center on mission STS-26, marking the shuttle's return to flight two and a half years after the Challenger accident. NASA redesigned the solid rocket boosters to make them safer. They also made a number of changes to operational procedures to prevent the communications breakdown that contributed to the Challenger accident. -
Maiden Voyage of Endeavor
Now the space shuttle endeavor brought out to go in a voyage. This brought the number of orbiters to 4 in the American Space Shuttle. Also the main reason for them to go was to find broken rockets and save them from just living in Space and having no purpose. -
First Female Shuttle Pilot
The first female Eileen M. Collins to fly a Space Shuttle on mission STS-63. During the mission, the discovery maneuvered to within 37 feet of Russian space station Mir, in preparation for a future shuttle-Mir dockingCosmonaut Valeriy Polyakov returns to Earth after an impressive 438-day mission aboard Russian space station Mir, setting a new space endurance record. -
Galileo Arrives at Jupiter
The Galileo Aircraft arrived at Jupiter and was now going to do a full orbit of it. This was going to take about 2 years to be completed. There is a probev that was dropped into the Atmosphere. Now the Galileo would study the planet and the moons and gather information that they think is credible. -
Mars
After long trips to see if there could ever be life on Mars. The main question was now solved. We know had the ability to see if there could ever be life. There was a robot raver going into Mars and recording everything by taking pictures, videos, etc. It was kind of like Wall-E -
First ISS Module Launched
A Russian Proton rocket is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the steppes of the Asian nation of Kazakstan. This rocket carries the Russian-built Zarya Control Module, the first component what will be the new International Space Station (ISS). -
First Landing on a Asteroid
The NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendevous) spacecraft is succesfully landed on an Asteroid. The name of the asteroid was Eros. it gets pretty great images of the Asteroid. The funny thing is it was never designed to be on an asteroid it was just in orbit and this was an experiment. -
100th U.S. Space Walk
U.S. astronauts Thomas Jones and Robert Curbeam Jr. make history as they perform the 100th space walk in the United States space program. The space walk is part of the installation procedure for the new Destiny module of the International Space Station. -
Space Shuttle Disaster
The space shuttle Columbia was supposed to go back to the Kennedy Space Center. Instead it broke into peices while it's joruney back to land. It was the first space shuttle to fly and was the worst. There was a 7 member crew that was lost in the accident and is still not discovered. -
First Landing on an Alien Moon
After a long await the probe landed on one of Saturn's moons. It was successful in sending back images of the moon and their landing. In the photos it shows rocks and also images of dark shadows whichis considered to be liquid methane. -
First Impact With A Comet
The Deep Impact space probe fulfills its mission by running into a comet which is Tempel 1. The probe impacts the comet at a speed of 10.3 kilometers (6.3 miles) per second. This was a great achievement for astronauts and also in giving us hope that we can survive if a comet comes again.
