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Apollo-Soyuz Test Project is the first international manned space flight to test out cooperated space rescue and docking
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United States launches Explorer I from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
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soviet Union launches Sputnik 1.
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Sputnik II launches, with ill-fated Laika the dog on board.
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Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to enter space and return safely
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With the launch of Freedom 7, Alan Shepard becomes the first American man in space. The suborbital flight, which was part of the Mercury Project, lasted 15 minutes, 28 seconds
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First test flight of the Saturn V rocket, which would carry dozens of spacecraft into space in the years to come
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Launch of Apollo 11
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Astronauts Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Neil Armstrong become the first men to walk on the moon
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Earth's first space probe to an outer planet, the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt, the first spacecraft to make direct observations and obtain close-up images of Jupiter, and the first man-made object to leave the solar system. Pioneer 10 sent its last communication back to Earth on January 22, 2003, while 7.6 billion miles from home.
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September 5, 1977--Launch of Voyager
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April 12, 1981--Aboard the space shuttle Columbia, Robert L. Crippen and John W. Young make the first mission in NASA's space shuttle program.
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February 3-11, 1994--Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev becomes the first Russian to fly aboard a U.S. space shuttle
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December 4, 1996--Launch of Mars Pathfinder
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September 30, 2004--SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately built craft to reach outer space
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August 4, 2007--Phoenix lander launches on its way to explore the northern pole of Mars.
