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The USSR launches Sputnik 1
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USSR launches Sputnik 2 into orbit that carried a small dog named Laika
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First American satellite to reach orbit
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Launched but fails to reach orbit
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Launched
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NASA is formed, replacing NACA
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Launched to 70,700 miles
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Launched by USSR, first man made object to orbit the sun
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launched by USA on a Earth-Moon trajectory. It passed within 37,000 miles of the Moon before falling into a solar orbit.
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astronauts are selected by NASA
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Yuri Gagarin orbits the Earth once and becomes the first man in space.
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Alan B. Shepard becomes the first American in space
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John Glenn orbits the Earth three times.
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L. Gordon Cooper spends 34 hours in space. He is the last American to fly in space alone.
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transmits the first close range images 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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the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon
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Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee are killed when a fire ignites in their Apollo 1 capsule while performing a test on the launch pad.
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Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders begin the first manned journey from the Earth to the Moon. On Christmas Eve they take turns reading Genesis in a broadcast heard around the world.
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Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon while crewmate Michael Collins orbits around the Moon alone
