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Russia puts cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin in space.
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First American, Alan Shepard, was launched in his Freedom 7 capsule on a Redstone rocket in a sub-orbital flight that lasted less than 20 minutes.
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Vostok 2 is launched by the Soviets, carrying Cosmonaut Gherman Titov.
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Mercury Friendship 7 lifts off with John H. Glenn, Jr., the first American in orbit.
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Mercury Aurora 7 is launched with M. Scott Carpenter, making three orbits.
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U.S. Mariner 2, the first successful planetary spacecraft, flies past Venus, and enters a solar orbit.