-
The Soviet Union launches the first artificial satellite, named Sputnik.
-
-
The first successful American shuttle to rival the Soviet Union is launched and reaches an incredible height of 1,560 miles above the earth.
-
Congressional leaders of the U.S. write the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating NASA ( National Aeronautics and Space Administraiton).
-
The Soviet Union launches Yuri A. Gargarin into space for a 108 minute orbit at about 200 miles above Earth, making him an international hero.
-
Astronaut John H. Glenn is launched into a five hour flight, orbiting the earth three times. He almost died in landing, but made a safe splash-down in the Atlantic.
-
Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov exits his capsule for a 12-minute spacewalk.
-
In Apollo 11, nicknamed the Eagle, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrien, Jr., touch down on the moon, and Armstrong states, "One small stepfor man, one giant leap for mankind."
-
A rover, capable of carrying two astronauts plus supplies, is launched to the moon on the Apollo 15.
-
The U.S.'s Viking 1 lands on Mars, taking photos of the surface.
-
NASA launches the Columbia, the first space shuttle.
-
The first space shuttle, Columbia, carries a crew of four people into space. The crew deploys two commercial sattelites and returns after five days.
-
Sally K. Ride is launched into space on the Challenger, the first American woman in space.
-
Live on television, the Challenger explodes in front of the eyes of many later traumatized American citizens. Unfourtunetly, the schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, along with the six other astronauts, are killed along with the explosion.
-
The Hubble Space Telescope is emptied from the cargo hold of Discovery, designed for examing spce without interfierences from Earth's atmosphere, later to be repaired and upgraded.
-
The first pathfinder probe, also known as a Mars rover, is launched to study the surface of Mars. it is controlled by a command center on Earth, and was named Sojourner.
-
The space shuttle Columbia collapses on reentry to earth, killing its seven-man crew and canceling further space shuttle missions.