-
The Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik, into space.
-
The Soviet craft Sputnik 5 was launched, carrying the dogs Strelka and Belka. They became the first living beings to survive a trip into space.
-
The Russian spacecraft Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to land on the moon.
-
Apollo 13 was launched as the third lunar landing attempt, but failed after rupture of its module oxygen tank.
-
The U.S. launched its first space station, Skylab. Designed for long duration mission, Skylab program objectives were twofold: They wanted to prove that humans could live and work in space for extended periods, and to expand our knowledge of solar astronomy well beyond Earth-based observations.
-
Astronaut Bruce McCandless became the first man to take an untethered space walk.
-
Kathryn Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space. With the completion of her third mission, Sullivan logged over 532 hours in space.
-
Eileen Collins became the first female Shuttle pilot.In July 2005 she commanded the much-anticipated launch of the first space shuttle since the disastrous Columbia voyage in 2003, during which all seven astronauts were killed on board.
-
John Glenn became the oldest man in space by serving as a payload specialist on STS-95 aboard the space shuttle Discovery. He was 77 years old at the time.
-
The Space Shuttle Columbia broke up on re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew members on board.
-
President Bush proposed a new space program that would send humans back to the moon by 2015 and establish a base to Mars and beyond.
