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Period: to
Space Race
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Launch of Sputnik I
The world's first artificial satellite orbitted the Earth for around 98 minutes. -
First Animal In Space
Sputnik 2 carried a small dog named Laika into orbit, sadly the poor dog died in space from over heating and they were not able to bring it back. -
Explorer 1
Explorer 1, the first American satellite to reach orbit, is launched. It carried scientific equipment that lead to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt. -
Pioneer 1
Pioneer 1 is launched to a height of 70,700 miles. -
Luna 1 is launched by the USSR.
Luna 1 is launched by the USSR. It is the first man made object to orbit the Sun. -
First Man In Space
Yuri Gagarin orbits the Earth once and becomes the first man in space. -
Gus Grissom Sinks
Gus Grissom is launched on a sub-orbital flight. His Liberty-Bell capsule is lost when it fills with water and sinks after splashdown. -
John Glenn's Super Cool Orbiting Skills
John Glenn orbits the Earth three times. -
Past Venus
Mariner 2 flies past Venus and enters a solar orbit -
Super Cool Images Of the Moon
Ranger 7 transmits the first close range images of the Moon. -
First Spacewalk
Alexei Leonov spends 12 minutes outside of his Voskhod spacecraft performing the first spacewalk. -
People Dying in Apollo 1
Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee are killed when a fire ignites in their Apollo 1 capsule while performing a test on the launch pad -
From Earth to the Moon
Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders begin the first manned journey from the Earth to the Moon. On Christmas Eve they take turns reading Genesis in a broadcast heard around the world -
First to Walk on The Big Cheese
Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon while crewmate Michael Collins orbits around the Moon alone. -
Successful Landing.. WOOT WOOT
Pete Conrad and Alan Bean perform the first precision lunar landing, touching down just 600 feet from the Surveyor 3 probe that arrived two years earlier
