Space Exploration By lea37 Oct 4, 1957 USSR launches sputnik 1 Jan 31, 1958 Explorer 1 the first american satellite to reach orbit was launched Oct 1, 1958 NASA was formed This helped Space Exploration because they had a safer way of transporting them into orbit Aug 18, 1960 US launches discover XIV Its first camera spy satellite Feb 20, 1962 John Glenn orbits the earth three times this was important to space exploration because they launched a human into orbit the moon three times, They could start sending more people Aug 14, 1966 Lunar Orbiter 1 enters orbit around the moon and takes earth pictures