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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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the first successful planetary spacecraft, flies past Venus, and enters a solar orbit
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is the first spacecraft to soft-land on the moon.
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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
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American Mariner 9 (launched May 30, 1971) is the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, Mars. Over the next year, it maps 100 percent of the Martian surface.
