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Sputnik 1
Russians launch world's first successful artificial satellite and triggered the space race, a part of the larger cold war. -
First Dog in Space
The Sputnik 2 was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit and was also launched by the Soviets. First spacecraft to carry a living animal, a dog named Laika. She died after a few hours in the capsule due to overheating but provided the first information on how a living body reacts in space. -
Vangaurd TV3
The first attempt of the United States to launch a satellite into orbit around the Earth; it was a massive failure. Shortly after launch it exploded on live television becoming a laughing stock in newspapers and overseas. -
Explorer 1
First satellite of the United States. The mission followed the first two satellites the previous year; the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 and 2 and marked the US's involvement in the space race. It was the first craft to encounter and record the Van-Allen belt and its effects. -
First Man in Space
Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space. He flew for the USSR in the Vostok 1. The craft had automatic flight systems and was the first test to see how the human body reacts in space. -
First American in Space
Alan Shepard was the first american to reach space. He was also the first person to manually control an object in space when he flew the Freedom 7. -
Soviet Manual Control
Gherman Titov flew the Vostok 2 in the first soviet spacecraft with manual controls. Soon after, theVostok 3 and 4 set a new record of flying nearly identical orbits and reaching a small enough distance to have radio communication between them. -
American in Orbit
John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth nearly a year after the USSR accomplished the same feat with Yuri Gagarin orbiting in his first flight. -
Race Turns to the Moon
On this date, Kennedy gave his speech titled "We choose to go to the Moon" where he gained popular supprot for the program after he had previously disliked the space race. This was his first time publicly supporting the race. -
Woman in Space
Valentina Tereshkova flew with the soviets as the first woman in space for purely propoganda reasons. The flight she was involved with was the Vostok 5 and 6 which was a mirror flight of the Vostok 3 and 4. -
Kennedy Proposes Joint Program
In a speech at the United Nations general assembly, Kennedy proposed that the two countries work together to reach the moon. While the offer wasinitially refused by the soviet Premier, it was later found out that prior to Kennedy's assasination, he was going to accept in an attempt to help lower tensions in the Cold War. Kennedy's successor did not hold as much trust from the Premier as he did and so the proposal was dropped. -
Suit-less and 3 Person Crew
The Voskhod 1 was the first to have a larger than 1 man crew with three people on board and was also the first flight that allowed astronauts to be on-board while not wearing space-suits. -
First Spacewalk
A week before the US's Project Gemeni space flight, the USSR launched the Voskhod 2 with a 2 man crew on which the two men succeeded in taking part in the first spacewalk. This mission had many problems however during the spacewalk and in reentry. The spacewalk problems were in the way that space suits were designed and once outside of the ship the suit inflated too large for him to enter the airlock again. The later problems came from a misfiring rocket making them land far from the target. -
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Gemini Projects
Gemini 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, and 12 all went into space and acheived new feats, including changing and matching orbits, docking between spacecraft, and endurance records. -
Apollo Mission Fire
The three astronauts planned for the first Apollo mission all died in a fire on board the capsule during testing. -
Outer Space Treaty
The United Nations worked to make a treaty regarding weapons in space and it was signed and approved on this date. It made it against the law to use space to house weapons of mass destruction and that no country can clain ownership over a celestial body. -
First In-Flight Spaceflight Death
The pilot of the Soyuz 1, Vladimir Komarov, died when his craft malfunctioned and had to make an emergency landing in which the parachute did not open, making him the first person to die while on a space flight. -
The First Astronaut's Death
Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, died in a plane crash on this date. -
Apollo 11 Moon Landing
The first space flight to land humans on the moon was the Apollo 11 while Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the people on this flight that went down to the moon. Michael Collins was the other crew member and he stayed in Lunar orbit. -
Apollo–Soyuz Test Project
This project was the first joint US and Soviet space flight and was a symbol of a policy of easing political relations between them and ending the space race. It was also the last manned US space mission until the first Space Shuttle flight in April 1981