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The Soviet satellite, the first artificial satellite put into space, is launched this day, beginning the Space Race between the US and USSR for international supremacy in spaceflight amid government tensions.
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The second Soviet satellite in one year is launched into space, containing the first living organism: a dog named Laika. Laika later died during flight from overheating due to failure in part of the craft.
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The satellite's launch to space fails as the booster rocket lost thrust after four seconds and then crashed back to the ground and exploded on launch pad located in Cape Canaveral.
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Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to be launched into space and orbit the Earth, which he does once, in the spacecraft Vostok 1.
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The US's Alan Shepard becomes the second man up in space in the mission Freedom 7. He does not orbit the Earth though, coming back down in the Mercury spacecraft after flying 116 statute miles high.
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Astronaut John Glenn becomes the first man to orbit our lovely planet in the Friendship 7 space capsule. He goes around 3 times before heat shield failure was reported and came (safely) back down to Earth.
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John F. Kennedy addresses a large crowd at Rice Stadium to help inspire people to aid in their help to send men to the moon before the USSR.
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The Soviet spacecraft becomes the first man made object to successfully land on the moon, in the midst of the US's previous many failures and lunar impacts.
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Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin (both from the US) become the first people in history to land on the moon on their mission Apollo 11, while their crewmate Michael Collins orbited around the moon.
