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THE SPACE RACE
The “space race” was a Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to develop aerospace capabilities, including artificial satellites, unmanned space probes, and human spaceflight. -
THE FIRST SPUTNIK
The Soviets sent Sputnik 1 into space, which at 83 kilograms and the approximate size of a basketball, became the first human-made satellite to orbit the Earth. -
LAIKA, THE NEW ASTRONAUT DOG
The USSR successfully launches Sputnik 2, carrying a dog named Laika into space. They become the first nation to successfully send a living organism into orbit. -
US ENTERS IN THE SPACE RACE
The US enter the Space Race by launching Explorer 1, the first US satellite to reach orbit. It carried experimental equipment that led to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt. -
NACA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is created in the US, replacing the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA). -
US LAUNCH SCORE
The US launch SCORE, the world's first communications satellite. It captured world attention by broadcasting a pre-recorded Christmas message from US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, becoming the first broadcast of a human voice from space. -
THE USSR LAUNCHES LUNA (l)
The USSR launches Luna 1, known as the first "cosmic rocket" as it accidentally escaped the orbit of the Moon due to the object having too much speed. Luna 1 becomes the first human-made object to leave the orbit of the Earth and orbit the sun instead. -
US LAUNCHES EXPLORER 6
On August 7, 1959, the Explorer 6 satellite launched atop a Thor-Able rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Its mission was to study Earth's electrical and magnetic fields in the upper atmosphere, but it also carried a device for scanning and photographing cloud cover. -
USSR LAUNCHES LUNA (ll)
The USSR launches Luna 2 and accomplishes its mission of creating the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon. -
USSR LAUNCHES LUNA (lll)
The USSR launches Luna 3 and succeeds in their mission of sending an object into orbit around the Moon and photographing the far side of the Moon and the third Soviet space probe to be sent to the neighborhood of the Moon. -
SPUTNIK 5
Aboard the Soviet Union's Sputnik 5, the first animals (two dogs, Belka and Strelka) and a range of plants are returned alive from space. -
US CHIMPANZEE TO THE MOON
Ham, a US chimpanzee, becomes the first hominid (or great ape) in space and the first to successfully survive the landing. Miss Sam, also a rhesus macaque, followed, on Little Joe 1B although her flight was only to 8 mi (13 km) in a test of emergency procedures. Chimpanzees Ham and Enos also flew in the Mercury program, with Ham becoming the first great ape or Hominidae in space. -
VOSTOK 1
The Soviet Union achieve a clear triumph in the Space Race. Aboard the Vostok 1, Yuri Gagarin makes a single orbit around the Earth and becomes the first man to reach space. He remained in space for one hour and forty-eight minutes before landing in Saratov Oblast, west Russia. -
MERCURY-REDSTONE 3
The US achieve the first pilot-controlled journey and first American in space with Alan Shepard aboard the Mercury-Redstone 3 (or Freedom 7) spacecraft. On this flight, Shepard did not orbit Earth. He flew 116 miles high. The flight lasted about 15 minutes. -
VALENTINA TERESHKOVA
Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first civilian and first woman in space. She spends almost three days in space, orbiting the Earth 48 times aboard her spacecraft, Vostok 6. -
ALEXEI LEONOV
Alexei Leonov leaves his spacecraft, the Voskhod 2, in a specialized spacesuit and conducts a twelve-minute spacewalk, the first of its kind. -
MARINER 4
The US satellite, Mariner 4, performs the first successful voyage to the planet Mars, returning the first close-up images of the Martian surface. -
SOYUZ 1
This year proves the most deadly of the Space Race for both the US and Soviet Union. In January, American astronauts Ed White, Gus Grissom, and Roger Chaffee die when a fire ignited in their Apollo 1 capsule on the launch pad. Only a few months later the Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov is also killed when the parachute on his Soyuz 1 capsule fails to open on his reentry into Earth's atmosphere. -
APOLLO 8
US spacecraft Apollo 8 becomes the first human-crewed spacecraft to reach the Moon, orbit it, and successfully return to Earth. -
NEIL ARMSTRONG
Neil Armstrong and later Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon while their crewmate Michael Collins continues to orbit the Moon aboard the Apollo 11. This secured a victory for America in the Space Race with a televised landing witnessed around the world by 723 million people. -
US APOLLO 13
The US Apollo 13 mission is known as the first explosion aboard a spacecraft where the crew survived. -
THE USSR FIRST SPACE STATION
The USSR launches the first space station. Parts of this spacecraft will become core segments of the International Space Station (ISS) almost thirty years later in November 2000. -
APOLLO 15 MISSION
David Scott, commander of the Apollo 15 mission, becomes the first person to drive on the Moon. He's also remembered for paying tribute to the Soviet Union and US astronauts who died in the advancement of space exploration. When walking on the Moon, Scott places a plaque with a list of the dead. Alongside this, he leaves a small aluminium sculpture of an astronaut in a spacesuit, created by Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck. -
END OF THE SPACE RACE
With tensions between the US and USSR softening, the first cooperative Apollo-Soyuz mission is launched. With two separate flights, the Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft dock in space and the two commanders Tom Stafford and Alexei Leonov exchange the first international handshake. This act can be seen to symbolically end the Space Race, paving the way for future joint missions, such as the International Space Station and the Shuttle-Mir programme.