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Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was a 58 cm diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennae to broadcast radio pulses. -
cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
On that day in 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (left, on the way to the launch pad) became the first human in space, making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. -
Astronaut Alan Shepard, Jr.
Astronaut Alan Shepard, Jr., America s first man in space, poses in the Mercury space craft in 1961. Fifty three years ago on May 5, 1961, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard blasted off in a Freedom 7 capsule atop a Mercury-Redstone rocket to become the first American in space. -
apollo 11
The primary objective of Apollo 11 was to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961: perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth. -
first man to orbit the earth
On February 20, 1962, NASA launched one of the most important flights in American history. The mission? Send a man to orbit Earth, observe his reactions and return him home safely. The pilot of this historic flight, John Glenn, became a national hero and a symbol of American ambition. -
first space walk
A cosmonaut remembers the exhilaration-and terror-of his first space mission. In March 1965, at the age of 30, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made the first spacewalk in history, beating out American rival Ed White on Gemini 4 by almost three months. -
apollo 1 mission
started a cabin fire on the launch pad at Cape Kennedy during a preflight test for Apollo 1 -
apollo 8 mission
Apollo 8 took three days to travel to the Moon. It orbited ten times over the course of 20 hours.and succsesfully landed -
apollo 13
Apollo 13 was supposed to land in the Fra Mauro area. An explosion on board forced Apollo 13 to circle the moon without landing. The Fra Mauro site was reassigned to Apollo 14. -
apollo 17
Scientific objectives of the Apollo 17 mission included, geological surveying and sampling of materials and surface features in a preselected area of the Taurus-Littrow region; deploying and activating surface experiments; and conducting in-flight experiments and photographic tasks during lunar orbit and transearth coast. -
mariner 10
Mariner 10 was an American robotic space probe launched by NASA on November 3, 1973, to fly by the planets Mercury and Venus. Mariner 10 was launched approximately two years after Mariner 9 and was the last spacecraft in the Mariner program. -
voyager 2
Voyager 2 is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977 to study the outer planets. Part of the Voyager program, it was launched 16 days before its twin, Voyager 1, on a trajectory that took -
first shuttle launched
The first launch of the Space Shuttle occurred on 12 April 1981, exactly 20 years after the first manned space flight, when the orbiter Columbia, with two crew members, astronauts John W. Young, commander, and Robert L. Crippen, pilot, lifted off from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, at the Kennedy Space Center. -
first american woman in space
In 1983, astronaut and astrophysicist Sally Ride became the first American woman in space aboard the space shuttle Challenger. Ride died on July 23, 2012 at the age of 61, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. -
challenger disaster
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when the NASA Space Shuttle orbiter Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members, -
galileo
Galileo was an unmanned spacecraft that studied the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as several other Solar System bodies. Named after the astronomer Galileo Galilei, it consisted of an orbiter and entry probe. -
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990, and remains in operation. With a 2.4-meter mirror, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra.
It was May 1990 and the $1.5bn Hubble had been in orbit for a month. -
international space station
The International Space Station (ISS) Construction of the International Space Station began on 20 November 1998 when the American-funded, Russian-built Zarya module was launched into orbit around Earth. Sixteen countries are involved in the project. -
first tourist in space.
American businessman Dennis Tito, the world's first orbital space tourist, is seen training for his historic 2001 flight to the International Space Station. Tito launched in April 2001 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft thanks to a $20 million deal brokered by the Virginia-based firm Space Adventures. -
colombia disaster
The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana as it reentered Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew members. -
space ship one
A major turning point for private spaceflight occurred on June 21, 2004, when SpaceShipOne, the first non-governmental manned spacecraft, flew 62.5 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth's surface to reach the boundary of space. After two more 2004 flights — one on Sept. 29 and another on Oct. 4 — the piloted vehicle won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for repeated flights in a privately developed reusable spacecraft. -
new horizons launched
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida aboard a fast-moving Atlas V rocket. as it headed for a distant rendezvous with the mysterious planet Pluto almost a decade from now. The third time was the charm for New Horizons. Two consecutive launch attempts earlier in that week were foiled by high winds at the launch site and a power outage at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., which operates the spacecraft whil -
Zhai Zhigang
Chinese Astronauts Complete First Spacewalk. Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang waves from outside his Shenzhou 7 spacecraft September 27, 2008. He became his country's first spacewalker. -
last space launch
NASA: Last Space Shuttle Mission Will Launch July 8. Space shuttle Atlantis stands on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it is set to liftoff on STS-135, the final shuttle mission. This story was updated at 4:51 p.m. EDT. -
mars curiosity rover
Curiosity is a car-sized robotic rover exploring Gale Crater on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission. -
new horizon passes pluto
the New Horizons spacecraft began its approach phase to Pluto. On July 14, 2015, at 11:49
