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RUSSIAN: Launching of Sputnik
USSR Launches Sputnik 1. The launch surprised and shocked the whole world. It was the first anything that was man made that reached outer space. The USSR was succesful at being number 1, first. -
Period: to
The Space Race!
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Sputnik 3 is launched
Sputnik 3 is launched. This space craft was conically shaped, and had a length of 3. 57 meters long. The outer radiation belts of the earth were detected during this flight. April 6th 1960 was when this space craft ended orbit. -
AMERICAN: Pioneer 1
Pioneer 1 is launched to a height of 70,700 miles. This was the first spacecraft launched by NASA. Pioneer 1 was fabricated by Ramo-Wooldridge Corp. It had a mass of 84.39 pounds. -
RUSSIAN: First man in Space!
The first man in space was sent by the Russians, Yuri Gagarin. He made a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. He became a hero to many people, and was super famous. -
AMERICAN: Walter Schirra orbits the Earth six times.
Walter Schirra orbits the Earth six times! He was just the third American to orbit the Earth, and who went into space three times. Schirra died of a heart attack. -
1st woman in space
Cosmonaut Valentia Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space. -
RUSSIAN: Space "WALK"
Alexei Leonov spends 12 minutes outside of his Voskhod spacecraft performing the first spacewalk. -
AMERICAN: 1st space rendezvous
Walter Schirra and Thomas Stafford, in their Gemini 6 spacecraft, make the first space rendezvous with Gemini 7. -
RUSSIAN: Luna 9
Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon. It was part of the E-6 series, It transmitted photographs back to the space center. It weighed 99kg. -
Surveyor 1
SUrveyor 1 soft lands on the moon. It was part of the unmanned Surveyor program of NASA. The surveyor has a camera that collected data returned to Earthand new information of space was provided. -
AMERICAN: Gemini 12
Gemini 12, the last flight of the Gemini Program, launches with James Lovell and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin aboard. It was the 10th and final manned Gemini flight and the 26th spaceflight of all time. -
Astronaut Clifton Williams dies
Astronaut Clifton Williams is killed in a plane crash. He never actually made it to space. He was killed by a mechanical failure in a NASA T-38 jet trainer. He was piloting the jet to visit his parents in Mobile, Alabama. -
Russian: Yuri Gagarin Dies
Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, dies in a plane crash. Yuri was a hero for many people. He was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He orbited the Earth in the Vostok spacecraft . -
Walking on the moon!
Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon while crewmate Michael Collins orbits around the Moon alone -
AMERICA: Apollo 17th's Return
Apollo 17 was the sixth Apollo lunar landing, the first night launch of a U.S. human spaceflight and the final manned launch of a Saturn V booster. This Apollo mission broke several records set by other missions such as: the longest manned lunar landing flight; the longest total lunar surface extravehicular activities; the largest lunar sample return, and the longest time in lunar orbit.
