USSR launches Sputnik 2 which carried a small dog named Laika into orbit
Explorer 1, the first American satellite to reach orbit, is launched. It carried scientific equipment that lead to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt.
Explorer 2 is launced but it fails to reach orbit.
The Vanguard 1 satellite is launched. It continues to function for 3 years.
Sputnik 3 is launched.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is formed, it replaces the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA)
Pioneer 1 is launched to a height of 70,700 miles.
Luna 1 is launched by the USSR. It is the first man made object to orbit the Sun.
Pioneer 4 is launched on a Earth-Moon trajectory. It passed within 37,000 miles of the Moon before falling into a solar orbit.
The "Mercury Seven" astronauts are selected by NASA.
Luna 2 is launched. It impacts the Moon on September 13, becoming the first man-made object to do so.
Luna 3 orbits the Moon and photographs 70% of its surface.
John F. Kennedy is elected the 35th President of the United States.
Alan B. Shepard becomes the first American in space.
President John F. Kennedy addresses Congress and challenges the nation to go to the Moon before the end of the decade.
John Glenn orbits the Earth three times
Walter Schirra orbits the Earth six times.
President Kennedy is assassinated.
Ranger 7 transmits the first close range images of the Moon
Mariner 4 returns close ranger images of Mars.
Venus 3 is launched. It becomes the first man made object to impact Venus on March 1, 1966
Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon for the Russians
Luna 10 becomes the first satellite to orbit the Moon.
Zond 5 is launched. It carried a biological payload (including two turtles) around the Moon and returned to Earth six days later.
Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon while crewmate Michael Collins orbits around the Moon alone.
The United States launches Mariner 9, which becomes the first spacecraft to survey Mars from orbit.
Scientists designate Cignus X-1 as the first probable black hole.
American Mariner 10 is launched, on the first dual-planet mission. Over the next year, it returned photographs of Venus and Mercury.
Pictures of the Martian surface are taken by Viking 1, the first U.S. attempt to soft land a spacecraft on another planet.
Pioneer 11 reaches Saturn, flying to within 13,000 miles and taking the first close-up photographs.
The space shuttle Challenger lifts off for its first mission (STS-6) and has the first American space walk in nine years. Crew: Paul Weitz, Karol Bobko, Donald Peterson, and Story Musgrave.
The fourth space shuttle Atlantis takes off on its first mission (STS-51J). Crew: Karol J. Bobko, Ronald J. Grabe, Robert A. Stewart, David C. Hilmers, and William A. Pailes.
Astronomers find that our galaxy is smaller than they thought and the Sun is 23,000 light-years from it's center.
Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off on its 21st space flight, setting a new shuttle in-space endurance record of almost 18 days. This flight carries Story Musgrave, at that time the oldest man to fly in space at 61 years of age.
launch of the double probe Cassini/Huygens, aimed at Saturn. This is probably the most ambitious and complex unmanned planetary project ever attempted, costing more than $2.5 billion and involving 17 nations and hundreds of scientists from the U.S. and Eu
Galileo completes another flyby of Jupiter's moon Io, passing only 181 km from Io's south polar region.
L. Gordon Cooper spends 34 hours in space. He is the last American to fly in space alone.