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Sputnik 1
Sputnik was the first artificial satellite to be launched into Earth's orbit. It gave the former Soviet Union the distinction of putting the first human made object into space. -
Laika the Space Dog
Laika was a stray dog they took for it to be the first animal to be launched into orbit. The dog died the same day it was launched. They say, "...it was a guaranteed suicide mission", Sputnik was never set to be retrievable. Laika had died from stress and overheating due to the trip itself and some insulation tearing off the craft. That caused it to reach at least 40 degrees Celsius. -
Explorer 1
Explorer 1 was the first American satellite to be launched into space. Explorer 1 weighed in at about 30.8 pounds (14 kg). It followed in Earth's orbit in a looping pattern. It came as close as 220 miles (354 km) to the Earth. Also throughout the orbit, it went as far as 1,563 miles (2,515 km) away from the Earth. The last transmission made by Explorer 1 was on May 23, 1958. It was in orbit for about 4 months. -
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin was the first Soviet cosmonaut to be launched into space. He had been one of the 19 people selected into the Soviet Union's space program. The government of Krushchev had awarded Gagarin with the Order of Lenin and named him a Hero of the Soviet Union. Due to Gagarin being the first man to orbit the Earth, the US wasn't able to top that until John Glenn orbited Earth 3 times in Friendship 7 in February of 1962. -
Alan Shepard
Alan Shepard was born on November 18, 1923, he worked on a ship in the Navy and had gone to school to become a test pilot after the war. Shepard became the first American to be launched into space on May 5, 1961. He took a one person rocket called the Mercury. In the rocket, he wasn't sent to orbit Earth, just launched 116 miles high and back. Shepard was the commander on Apollo 14 that went to the moon on February 15, 1971. -
John Glenn
John Glenn was a former astronaut and U.S senator. He was born on July 18th, 1921. His first flight was on Friendship 7 in February 20, 1962, he also flew on the space shuttle orbiter Discovery for 9 days, that launched on October 28, 1991. He was the oldest man in space at age 77. -
Gemini Program- Spacewalk
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Apollo 1
Apollo 1 was unsuccessful. Due to a fire breaking out in the commander module and swept through. The fire ending up killing Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee. Apollo 1 was originally supposed to launch on February 21, 1967. It all happened during a preflight test for the Apollo 1. -
Apollo 8
Apollo 8 was launched on December 21, 1968 in Cape Kennedy. Frank Borman, James Lovell Jr. and William Anders were the astronauts aboard Apollo 8. The flight went in a 114 by 118 mile orbit around earth. Apollo 8 landed on December 27, 1968. -
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 was the rocket to go to the moon to get the men there. It landed on the moon around 4:18 pm later that same day. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were the astronauts on Apollo 11. The astronauts were taking samples of the ground and examining how everything was/look while they were there. -
Lunokhod 1
It was the first successful rover to land on the moon. It was remote controlled from the Soviet Union and it traveled at about 10 kilometers (6 miles) in 10 months. The rover had 8 wheels on it. It ran off of solar power during the day, at night it was parked. While parked at night, it had to rely on thermal energy that came from polonium-210 radioisotope heater, to survive the -120 degrees Celsius at night.