Space Exploration by Parker Kling By pkling Oct 4, 1957 1st artificial satellite;Sputnik;USSR Nov 3, 1957 1st mammal in orbit; Laika (Dog); USSR Apr 25, 1959 Year the Mercury Program began;US Mar 17, 1961 1st US Astronaut in space;Alan Shepard;US Sep 14, 1961 1st man in space;Yuri Gargarin;USSR Mar 28, 1962 Year the Gemini Program began;US Dec 7, 1962 1st US astronaut to orbit the Earth;John Glenn Jr;US Mar 29, 1963 1st women in space;Valentia Tershkov;USSR Dec 26, 1963 Year the Apollo program began;US Jan 24, 1969 1st man on the moon;Neil Armstrong;US;Apollo 11 Sep 5, 1977 Voyager 1 launched;US(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Aug 28, 1981 1st Space Shuttle Mission;Columbia;US(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)