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the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, is launched by the U.S.S.R., and remains in orbit until January 4, 1958
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USSR launches Sputnik 2 which carried a small dog named Laika into orbit.
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the first U.S. satellite in orbit, lifts off at Cape Canaveral using a modified ABMA-JPL Jupiter-C rocket. It carries a scientific experiment of James A. Van Allen, and discovers the Earth's radiation belt.
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launched by a Jupiter-C rocket, and fails to reach orbit.
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is launched by the U.S.S.R
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fourth U.S.-IGY space probe was launched by a Juno II rocket, and achieved an earth-moon trajectory, passing within 37,000 miles of the moon. It then fell into a solar orbit, becoming the first U.S. sun orbiter.
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is launched, impacting on the moon on September 13 carrying a copy of the Soviet coat of arms, and becoming the first man-made object to hit the moon.
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is launched. It impacts the Moon on September 13, becoming the first man-made object to do so.
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the first successful weather satellite, is launched by the U.S.
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is launched by the U.S.S.R., carrying Cosmonaut Yuri A. Gargarin, the first man in space. He orbits the Earth once.
May 5, 1961 - Mercury Freedom 7 carries Alan B. Shepard,Jr., the first U.S. Astronaut into space, in a suborbital flight. -
carries Alan B. Shepard,Jr., the first U.S. Astronaut into space, in a suborbital flight.
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carries Soviet Cosmonaut Valentia Tereshkova, the first woman in space and orbits the Earth 48 times.
June, 1963 - Martin Schmidt interprets the behavior of 3C 273 - the first known quasar. -
relays the first close-range photographs of the Moon.
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The crew of Apollo 7 begin a 10 day mission to study the new spacecraft
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Apollo 17 was the last Apollo mission to land men on the Moon. It carried the only trained geologist to walk on the lunar surface, lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt
