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Sputnik 1, the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, is launched by the U.S.S.R., and remains in orbit until January 4, 1958
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Explorer 2 is launched by a Jupiter-C rocket, and fails to reach orbit
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Sputnik 2, carrying the dog Laika for 7 days in orbit, is launched by the U.S.S.R., and remains in orbit until April 13, 1958.
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Luna 1, first man-made satellite to orbit the moon, is launched by the U.S.S.R.
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Luna 2 is launched, impacting on the moon on September 13 carrying a copy of the Soviet coat of arms, and becoming the first man-made object to hit the moon
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Tiros 1, the first successful weather satellite, is launched by the U.S.
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Discoverer XIV launches the first U.S. camera-equipped Corona spy satellite.
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Vostok 1 is launched by the U.S.S.R., carrying Cosmonaut Yuri A. Gargarin, the first man in space. He orbits the Earth once.
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Mercury Friendship 7 lifts off with John H. Glenn, Jr., the first American in orbit, and orbits the Earth three times.
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Telstar 1, U.S. satellite, beams the first live transatlantic telecast
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U.S. Mariner 2, the first successful planetary spacecraft, flies past Venus, and enters a solar orbit.
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Vostok 6 carries Soviet Cosmonaut Valentia Tereshkova, the first woman in space and orbits the Earth 48 times
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U.S. Ranger 7 relays the first close-range photographs of the Moon.
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The first space walk is made from Soviet Voskhod 2 by Cosmonaut Alexei A. Leonov. Duration is 12 minutes.
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Ranger 9 transmits high-quality images of the moon, many of which were shown live in the first television spectacular about the moon.
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U.S. Mariner 4 returns the first close-range images about Mars
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Soviet Venus 3 is launched, becoming the first craft to impact Venus on March 1, 1966
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Gemini 7 is launched carrying Frank Borman and James A. Lovell, Jr., making 206 orbits around Earth and proving a trip to the Moon possible.
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Soviet Luna 9 is the first spacecraft to soft-land on the moon.
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Soviet Venera 3 impacts on Venus, the first spacecraft to reach another planet. It fails to return data.
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Soviet Luna 10 is the first spacecraft to orbit the moon
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U.S. Lunar Orbiter 1 enters moon orbit, and takes the first picture of the Earth from the distance of the moon.
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Soviet Soyuz 1 is launched, carrying Vladimir M. Komarov. On April 24 it crashed, killing Komarov, the first spaceflight fatality
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Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr. make the first manned soft landing on the Moon, and the first moonwalk, using Apollo 11