Space Race

Sputnik 1

Oct 4, 1957

USSR launches Sputnik 1. First man made satellite.

Sputnik 2

Nov 3, 1957

USSR launches Sputnik 2, which carried a small dog named Laika into orbit.

Explorer 1

Jan 31, 1958

First American satellite to reach orbit.

NASA

Oct 1, 1958

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is formed.

Luna 1

Jan 2, 1959

First man made object to orbit the sun. Launched by the USSR.

Kennedy

May 25, 1961

John F. kennedy addresses congress and challenges the nation to go to the moon. Before the end of the decade.

Vostok 2

Aug 6, 1961

Gherman Titov spends a day in space aboard the Vostok 2.

Mariner 2

Dec 14, 1962

Mariner 2 flies past venus and enters a solar orbit.

First Space Walk

Mar 18, 1965

Alexei Leonov spends 12 minutes outside of his Voskhod spacecraft performing the first spacewalk.

Mariner 4

Jul 14, 1965

U.S. Mariner 4 returns the first close-range images about Mars.

Gemini 7

Dec 4, 1965

Gemini 7 is launched carrying Frank Borman and James A. Lovell, Jr., making 206 orbits around Earth and proving a trip to the Moon possible.

Soviet Luna 9

Feb 3, 1966

Soviet Luna 9 is the first spacecraft to soft-land on the moon.

Soviet Luna 10

Mar 31, 1966

Soviet Luna 10 is the first spacecraft to orbit the moon.

Apollo 8

Dec 24, 1968

Became first manned space craft to leave Earth orbit, reach the Earth's Moon, orbit it and return safely to Earth.

Apollo 11

Jul 20, 1969

Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first humans, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on the Moon.

Salyut 1

Apr 23, 1971

Was the first space station of any kind, launched by the Soviet Union.

Mariner 9

Nov 14, 1971

is a NASA space orbiter that helped in the exploration of Mars and was part of the Mariner program.

Apollo–Soyuz Test Project

Jul 15, 1975

was the first joint U.S.–Soviet space flight, and the last flight of an Apollo spacecraft. Its primary purpose was as a symbol of the policy of détente that the two superpowers were pursuing at the time,