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Russia launches the first sucessful rocket into space, Sputnik!
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Explorer 1 was the first American satellite to reach oribit, it was launched on this date. It carried scientific equipment that allowed us to the discover the Van Allen radiation belt.
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United states launches the Vanguard satellite 1. It continues to function until 1961, for three years.
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'The Mercury Seven' are chosen. They are also referred to as the Original Seven or Astronaut Group 1. The group consisted of Walter M. "Wally" Schirra Jr., Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, John H. Glenn Jr., M. Scott Carpenter; back row: Alan B. Shepard Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom and L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.
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The United States launched its first camera equipped spy satellite, Discoverer XIV.
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John F Kennedy Challenges America to send a man to the moon before the end of the decade.
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NASA selected a new group of astronauts nicknamed "the new nine".
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The President of America is assasinated.
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Astronaut Theodore Freeman dies in a plane crash.
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Ed White performs America's first spacewalk in space.
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The mariner 4, the fourth in a series of spacecrafts, returned close range pictures of mars to earth.
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Charles Basset and Elliot See died when their plane crashed due to bad weather. Rain, snow and fog were all an issue during the flight.
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American Spacecraft; 'Surveyor 1' softly lands on the moon. This is the second spacecraft to land after Russias' 'Luna 9.'
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Astronaut Edward GIvens dies in tragic automobile accident.
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Astronaut Clifton Wiliams dies in plane crash.
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The crew of apollo 7 begun a 10 day mission to study the new spacecraft.
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Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders begin the first manned journey from the Earth to the Moon.
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Soyuz 4 & 5 completed the first Soviet spacecraft landing.
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Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon.
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Pete Conrad and Alan Bean perform the first precision lunar landing, touching down near the surveyor 3
