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the soviets have sent the first man (Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin) into space and the Americans need a man in space
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Mercury Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. (right, headed to launch) blasted off in his Freedom 7 capsule atop a Mercury-Redstone rocket (left). His 15-minute sub-orbital flight made him the first American in space.
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after Shepard's flight, President John F. Kennedy made his historic speech to Congress "a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth" before the end of the decade.
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Vostok 2 is launched by the U.S.S.R., carrying Cosmonaut Gherman Titov
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John Glenn became the first man to orbit the earth - 3 times. It was a five hour flight
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Mercury Aurora 7 is launched with M. Scott Carpenter.
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U.S. satellite Telstar 1 - the first telecommunications satellite - beams the first live transatlantic telecast.
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U.S. Mariner 2 was the first most successful planetary spacecraft, flies past Venus, and enters a solar orbit.