Space race

R-7 Semyorka

Aug 21, 1957

First intercontinental ballistic missile

URSS

Sputnik 1

Oct 4, 1957

First artificial satellite
URSS

Sputnik 2

Nov 3, 1957

First animal in orbit (Laika Dog)
URSS

Explorer 1

Jan 31, 1958

Detection of the Van Allen belts.
EE.UU

Score

Dec 18, 1958

First communications satellite.
EE.UU

Luna 1

Jan 4, 1959

First artificial solar satellite.
URSS

Vanguard 2

Feb 17, 1959

Meteorological satellite.
EE.UU

Discoverer 4

Jun 25, 1959

Spy satellite.
EE.UU

Explorer 6

Aug 7, 1959

Photograph of the Earth from space.
EE.UU

Luna 2

Sep 13, 1959

First probe to impact the moon.
URSS

Luna 3

Oct 7, 1959

First photo of the far side of the moon.
URSS

Sputnik 5

Aug 19, 1960

First animals to travel to space and come back alive (The dogs Belka and Strelka)
URSS

Vostok 1

Apr 12, 1961

First human in orbit.
URSS

Venera 1

May 19, 1961

First probe to fly over Venus.
URSS

Vostok 2

Aug 6, 1961

First person to sleep and stay more than 24 hours in space. (German Titov)
URSS

Telstar 1

Jul 10, 1962

First active communications satellite.
EE.UU

Vostok 3/4

Aug 12, 1962

First joint flight of 2 manned ships.
URSS

Alouette 1

Sep 29, 1962

Artificial satellite without Soviet or American intervention.
Canada

Syncom 2

Jul 26, 1963

Geosynchronous communications satellite.
EE.UU

Vosjod 1

Mar 18, 1965

First spacewalk.
URSS

Genimi 6A/Gemini 7

Dec 15, 1965

First rendezvous in orbit.
EE.UU

Luna 9

Feb 3, 1966

First probe to successfully land on the moon and send pictures to Earth from its surface.
URSS

Venera 3

Mar 1, 1966

First probe to reach another planet (Venus)
URSS

Gemini 8

Mar 16, 1966

Rendezvous in orbit and docking.
EE.UU

Luna 10

Apr 4, 1966

First probe to orbit a celestial body other than Earth (The Moon)
URSS

Cosmos 186/Cosmos 188

Oct 27, 1967

First automatic docking of 2 ships in space.
URSS

Apolo 8

Dec 24, 1968

Manned lunar orbit.
EE.UU

Soyuz 4/5

Jan 14, 1969

First exchange of crew in orbit (from Soyuz 5 to Soyuz 4)
URSS

Apolo 11

Jul 20, 1969

First manned landing on the moon.
EE.UU

Luna 16

Sep 20, 1970

First robotic probe to land on the moon and return with lunar soil samples.
URSS

Lounojod 1

Nov 17, 1970

First robotic vehicle sent to the moon and into space.
URSS

Venera 7

Dec 15, 1970

First spacecraft to send data to Earth from the surface of another planet (Venus)
URSS

Salyut 1

Apr 23, 1971

First space station.
URSS

Mariner 9

Nov 14, 1971

First satellite to orbit another planet (Mars)
EE.UU

Mars 2

Nov 27, 1971

First space probe to impact the planet Mars.
URSS

Mars 3

Dec 2, 1971

First space probe to photograph the surface of the planet Mars.
URSS

Anik A1

Nov 9, 1972

Geostationary communications satellite.
Canada

Skylab

May 14, 1973

First orbiting laboratory in the United States.
EE.UU

Salyut 3

Jun 25, 1974

First military space station.
URSS

Apolo-Soyuz

Jul 15, 1975

First joint USSR-USA mission
URSS-EE.UU

Venera 9

Oct 22, 1975

First space probe to photograph (in black and white) a planet (Venus)
URSS

Columbia

Apr 12, 1981

First space shuttle.
EE.UU-URSS

Venera 13

Oct 30, 1981

First space probe to photograph the planet Venus in color.
URSS

Saliut 7

Jul 25, 1984

First spacewalk by a woman.
URSS

Mir

Feb 19, 1986

First space station with a permanent crew.
URSS