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open skys proposed
In July 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower proposed an "Open Skies" policy whereby either nation would be allowed to fly reconnaissance aircraft over the other. When the Soviet Union rejected the proposal, Eisenhower sought other ways to gather intelligence. On July 29, he announced that the United States would begin work on a scientific satellite. The Soviet Union immediately announced that it too would launch a satellite. this then started space race which was apart of the cold war -
Sputnik 1
In a top-secret report, Eisenhower's Science Advisory Committee urged him to consider launching non-military satellites, which, unlike planes, could travel over enemy terrain without risk of being shot down. later the soviet union were shocked of the United States Ambitions, so they created their own reconnaissance satellite Sputnik 1 which was the first satellite to orbit the earth. -
Explorer 1
Just a month after propelling the first satellite into space, the Soviet Union had made headlines again with Sputnik 2, which sent the first animal, a dog, into orbit. With two failed launch attempts in the United States, many Americans wrongly believed Eisenhower had failed to recognize the importance of space efforts. But on January 31, 1958, America began to catch up publicly to the Soviet Union. The U.S. satellite aptly named Explorer 1 gave the United States improved science and education. -
the begining of project Mercury
the begining of the first missions that the United States started to put men in space to counter the Soviet Union's missions in space. -
eye's set on the moon
By 1959, both countries had set their sights on a new symbolic goal—being first to the moon. The Soviets launched Luna 1 in January, and although the craft missed its target, it became the first to fly beyond Earth's orbit and the first to orbit the sun. In March, the United States launched Pioneer 4 toward the moon, but it too missed and fell into solar orbit. Finally, Luna 2 reached the moon's surface, and on October 4, exactly two years after Sputnik, Luna 3 performed a flyby an took pictures -
first man in space
On April 12, 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin flew into orbit with the Vostok 1 and became the first man in space. The Soviets had once again beaten the Americans by mere weeks. Yet Gagarin's flight, a driving impetus behind President John F. Kennedy's May announcement that American astronauts would reach the moon by the end of the decade, was not as flawless as the Soviets claimed. -
first american in space
On May 5, 1961, Shepard piloted the Freedom 7 mission and became the second person, and the first American, to travel into space. -
first american to orbit the earth
John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, aboard Friendship 7 on February 20, 1962, on the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission, circling the globe three times during a flight lasting 4 hours, 55 minutes, and 23 seconds. This made Glenn the third American in space and the fifth human being in space. -
the final mercury missions
the final mission was when Gordon Cooper flew around the earth twenty two times. this made him at that point the most longest time a person has been in space a total of thirty four hours. -
first man on the moon
To many, the space race ended when Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin set foot on the moon. This time, the Soviets were far behind. While the world marveled at the United States' Saturn 5 "moon rocket," which sent the astronauts' Apollo 11 craft into space, the Soviets had secretly been working on their own version, the N-1. Although the N-1 failed to launch, the rocket engineer who led the program, Vasily Mishin, kept private diaries listing items and operations needed for a manned missions -
Apollo-Soyuz
Marking a temporary thaw in the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union embarked on their first joint space venture in July 1975. Astronauts and cosmonauts docked the last Apollo spacecraft with the Soviet vessel Soyuz, and the crews visited each other's craft and shared meals.Apollo-Soyuz set the stage for later collaborative space efforts, including the International Space Station.
