Space Exploration Timeline By @aly0001 1656 Cyrano de Bergerac wrote a book about space travel. 1948 A Rhesus Monkey was the first animal in space. 1957 Russians launch the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 1962 First astronaut to orbit the earth (John Glenn, USA), in Friendship 7. 1966 First Moon Landing (by soviet spacecraft Luna 9) 1967 Australia launched a satellite 1969 US Astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes first person to on the Moon 1976 First successful landing on Mars 2004 Twin Mars Exploration Rover mission Spirit and Opportunity land on Mars