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The world's first artificial satellite
History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event -
Sputnik 2
Sputnik 2, or Prosteyshiy Sputnik 2 was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, on 3 November 1957, and the first to carry a living animal, a Soviet space dog named Laika. Laika died on the fourth orbit due to overheating caused by an air conditioning malfunction. -
First Humanoid animal Ham (chimpanzee) in Space
Ham, also known as Ham the Chimp and Ham the Astrochimp, was a chimpanzee and the first non-human hominid launched into space. On January 31, 1961, Ham flew a suborbital flight on the Mercury-Redstone 2 mission, part of the U.S. space program's Project Mercury. -
The first Man in Space
On that day in 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (left, on the way to the launch pad) became the first human in space, making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. -
The First Woman in Space
On June 16, 1963, aboard Vostok 6, Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to travel into space. After 48 orbits and 71 hours, she returned to earth, having spent more time in space than all U.S. astronauts combined to that date. -
First-ever spacewalk
Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov carried out the first-ever spacewalk from the two-man Voskhod spacecraft. Leonov's suit expanded minutes after stepping into space due to the zero-pressure conditions. When he tried to get back into his spaceship, he could not fit through the hatch and had to release a valve to partially depressurise his suit -
Apollo 8
At about 55 hours and 40 minutes into the flight, and 13 hours before entering lunar orbit, the crew of Apollo 8 became the first humans to enter the gravitational sphere of influence of another celestial body. -
The First Man on the Moon
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin formed the American crew that landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, -
First precisely targeted piloted landing on the Moon
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 crew members Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their Apollo Lunar Module Eagle at approximately 20:17:40 UTC. Armstrong exited the spacecraft six hours 39 minutes after touchdown, followed 19 minutes later by Aldrin. -
Voyager Program stared
The twin spacecraft Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched by NASA in separate months in the summer of 1977 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. As originally designed, the Voyagers were to conduct closeup studies of Jupiter and Saturn, Saturn's rings, and the larger moons of the two planets.