Timeline of space exploration

By alixetdaphne
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    Space Race

    During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed to achieve superior spaceflight capability. The Space Race is a competition that lasted 20 years.

  • First artificial satellite

    First artificial satellite
    The Soviet Union launched Spoutnik 1, the first artificial satellite in orbit around the Earth.

  • First mammal in orbit, the dog Laika

    First mammal in orbit, the dog Laika
    The dog Laika becomes the first living being to go into space, sent by the USSR in the Spoutnik 2 spacecraft.

  • First photograph of Earth

    Our planet was filmed for the first time by a camera orbiting it which was sent by NASA. The photograph was in black and white.

  • First human space flight : Youri Gagarine

    First human space flight : Youri Gagarine
    Youri Gagarine is the first human who flew into space, as part of the Soviet space program, during the Vostok 1 mission.

  • First woman in space : Valentina Terechkova

    Valentina Terechkova is the first woman to go into space, alone aboard her spacecraft which is called Vostok 6.

  • First close-up photographs of another planet: Mars

    The very first photograph of the Red Planet has been colored by hand. It was sent by the probe Mariner 4, which launched by NASA.

  • First human on the Moon ->First sample return from the Moon

    First human on the Moon ->First sample return from the Moon
    The first human who walked on the Moon is Neil Amstrong, famous americain cosmonaut.

  • First American space station : Launch of Skylab

    First American space station : Launch of Skylab
    "Skylab" is short for "Sky Laboratory". It is the first American space station.

  • First successful photos and soil samples from the surface of Mars

    First successful photos and soil samples from the surface of Mars
    The Viking program, created by NASA, sent 2 space probes, Viking 1 and Viking 2, to Mars. They were composed of an orbiter that was used to photograph and a lander to study the planet.

  • First untethered spacewalk

    First untethered spacewalk
    It was American Bruce McCandless who performed the first untethered spacewalk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit.

  • The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster

    The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
    It's the first major Americain space loss. The Space Shuttle Challenger broke up just after the start of its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard.

  • First closely observations of comet

    First closely observations of comet
    The Halley's Comet was observed at 596 kilometers for the first time by an English astronomer Edmond Halley.

  • First orbital cosmic microwave observatory

    The mission of the first cosmic orbital microwave observatory is mission of the NASA which is called the COBE mission.

  • First photograph of the whole Solar system

    Called "The Family Portrait", the first image of our Solar system was taken by Voyager 1, a space probe which is lauched by NASA.