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The Soviet Union succesfully launched Sputnik I, the wordl's first artificial satellite. it weighed only 183.9 pounds and took 98 minutes to orbit the Earth
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The USSR sends Sputnik II, along with dog passenger Laika. She died withink hours after lunch most probably due to overheating.
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Explorer 1, the first American satellite to reach orbit, is launched. It carried scientific equipment that lead to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt.
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America launches Discoverer XIV. This was the first camera equipped spy satellite.
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Yuri Gagarin orbits the Earth once and becomes the first man in space.
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The Freedom 7 spacecraft takes off and Alan B. Sheppard becomes the first American into outer space.
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Astronaut Gus Grissom is launched in a sub-orbital flight and is almost killed upon landing. Water fills his Liberty-Bell capsule and it sinks.
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The Ranger 7 spacecraft transmits the first close range photos of the moon.
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Alexei Leonov spends 12 minutes outside of his Voskhod spacecraft performing the first spacewalk.
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Luna 10 was the first satellite to reach the vicinity of the Moon and then go into orbit around it.
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Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee are killed when a fire is started in their Apollo 1 capsule
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Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov is killed when the parachutes of his Soyuz 1 capsule fail to open properly following re-entry.
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The Venera 4 spacecraft transmits data after entering Venus' atmosphere.
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Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon. Armstrong famously says the phrase 'One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.'
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The eleventh and final manned mission in the American Apollo space program. It was also the final manned launch of a Saturn V booster.
