-
The Soviet Union on October 4, 1957 had successfully launched the first human-made satellite named Spunik 1 into space. -
After the being the first to send a satellite into space, the USSR also was the first to sent a dog into space on November 3rd, 1957 on Sputnik 2. -
4 months later after the USSR sent their first satellite into space, the USA had successfully launched the Explorer 1 into space, their first satellite. -
In 1958, Congress and president Eisenhower decided to create a civilian agency to explore space -
On January 31st, 1961, there was a chimpanzee that was sent into space. The chimpanzee was named Ham and flew a suborbital flight on the Mercury Redstone mission. -
On April 12th, 1961, the USSR sent Vostok 1 into space, on that spacecraft was Yuri Gagarin, being the first man to ever be sent to space. -
Alan Shepard was the first man from the USA, second in the world to enter space. Alan piloted the Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7. -
Kennedy made a statement in front of Congress on May 5th, 1961, that the US "should commit itself to achieving the goal before, this decade is out, of a man landing on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth." -
On February 27th, 1962, John Glenn orbited the Earth on the Mercury Atlas 6 Mission, aboard the spacecraft he named "Friendship 7". Becoming the first American to orbit Earth. -
Gemini I was the first mission in NASA's Gemini program. The main objective was to test the structural integrity of the new spacecraft and Titan III launch vehicle. -
On March 18th, 1965, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first man to perform the first extravehicular activity (EVA). -
Gemini III was the first crewed Earth orbiting spacecraft and it was piloted by 2 people, Virgil Grissom and John Young. -
On June 3rd, 1965, Ed White became the first american to perform a EVA -
On February 28th, 1966, Elliot See and Charles Bassett died prior to the Gemini IX mission in a plane crash. -
Gemini XII was NASA's 10th and last crewed Gemini mission. This mission helped bridge the Mercury and Apollo programs. This mission also included 3 EVAs. -
On January 27th, 1967, Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives due to a fire sweeping through the command module during a launch rehearsal test. -
On October 11th, 1968, Apollo was launched into space along with cosmonauts making it the first crewed spaceflight of the Apollo program. -
Apollo 8, launched on December 21st, 1968, became the first mission to take humans to the moon and back (They did not land on the moon). -
The Apollo 9 launch included the first crewed flight of all Apollo Lunar hardware, and also included the first crewed flight of the lunar module. -
The Apollo 10 was launched on May 18th, 1969, and it was the first flight of complete crewed Apollo spacecraft to function/operate around the moon. -
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that was launched on July 16th, of 1969, and which Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Aldrin became the first people to land on the moon, and walk the surface.