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  1958- U.S. launches an artificial satellite(Explorer 1)
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  1961- First American in space (Alan Shepard)
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  1962- First American orbits Earth (John Glenn, Jr) Mariner 2 flies past venus
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  1965- Mariner 4 space probe flies past mars
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  1969- Apollo 11 first manned moon landing (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins)