The Space Race

Sputnik 1 ~USSR~

Oct 4, 1957

Was the first ever spacecrft sent into orbit by the USSR and essentially started the 'space race' between the USSR and the USA.

Sputnik 2 ~USSR~

Nov 3, 1957

It was the second spacecraft laucnhed into space and carried the first living animal ever to enter orbit, a dog named Laika. It was launched by the USSR.

Project SCORE ~USA~

Dec 8, 1958

It was the first ever communication satelite launched by the USA.

Vostok 1 ~USSR~

Apr 12, 1961

It was the first spacecraft to ever send a human being into space, Yuri Gagarin from the USSR.

Mercury-Redstone 3 (or Freedom 7) ~USA~

May 5, 1961

First US astronaut in space, Alan Shepard.

Mercury-Atlas 6 ~USA~

Feb 20, 1962

The first USA astronaut to orbit the Earth, John Glenn.

Vostok 6 (launch) ~USSR~

Jun 16, 1963

The first female astronaut in space, Valentina Tereshkova.

Vostok 6 (Landing) ~USSR~

Jun 19, 1963

The first female astronaut in space, Valentina Tereshkova.

Syncom 2 ~USSR~

Jul 26, 1963

Was the first geosynchronous satelilite to orbit the Earth.

Voskhod 2 ~USSR~

Mar 18, 1965

Alexey Leonov was the first man to ever leave the spacecraft while in space, completing a 12 minute "Spacewalk".

Soyuz 1 ~USSR~

Apr 24, 1967

Cosmanaut Valdimir Komarov dies during landing, he is the first perosn to die during a space flight. Upon landing parachutes failed to opened and the capsule catapulted to the ground at 140km/h hnd bursting into flames.

Apollo 8 (launch) ~USA~

Apr 21, 1968

The first people to orbit the moon, first humans to travel beyond low Earth orbit, the first to see Earth as a whole planet and the first to directly see the far side of the Moon.

Apollo 8 (moon orbit) ~USA~

Apr 24, 1968

Apollo 8 took 3 days to reach the moon and the orbited around it over 10 times in 20 hours.

Apollo 8 (landing) ~USA~

Apr 27, 1968

Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders splash down in the Northern Pacific Ocean successfully completing their mission.

Apollo 11 (launch) ~USA~

Jul 16, 1969

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Micheal Collins are the first people to land on the moon.

Apollo 11 (Moon Landing) ~USA~

Jul 20, 1969

The Apollo 11 Lunar Module (Eagle) lands on the moon, the first moon landing ever.

Apollo 11 (Man on the moon) ~USA~

Jul 21, 1969

Neil Armstrong becomes the first man on the lunar surface. "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." This event furfilled President John F. Kennedy's dream to have a man on the moon before the end of the 1960's and ended the Space Race between the USSR and USA.

Apollo 11 (landing) ~USA~

Jul 24, 1969

Apollo 11 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean successfuly and safely.