Events
October 4, 1957:The Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik-1, the world's first artificial satellite.Januray 31, 1958: The US enter the Space Race by launching Explorer 1, the first US satellite to reach orbit.August 7, 1959: The US launches Explorer 6, the world's first weather satellite and obtains the first pictures of Earth from space.September 12, 1959: The USSR launches Luna 2.August 19, 1960: Aboard the Soviet Union's Sputnik 5, the first animals and a range of plants are returned alive from space.May 5, 1961: The US achieves the first pilot-controlled journey and the first American in space with Alan Shepard aboard the Mercury-Redstone 3 spacecraft.April 12, 1961: Yuri Gagarin makes a single orbit around the Earth and becomes the first man to reach space.February 20, 1962: John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth, and by the end of that year, the foundations of NASA's lunar landing program–dubbed Project Apollo–were in place.March 18, 1965: the Soviet spacecraft Voshkod-2 launched from its base in Baikonur, in modern day Kazakhstan and russian astronaut Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov becomes the first man to walk in spaceBetween June 16 and June 19, 1963, Valentina Tereshkova, on Vostok 6, became the first woman in space.February 3, 1958: First try to launch Sputnik III failsFebruary 5, 1958: A second Vanguard try failsMarch 17, 1958: Vanguard 1 successfully orbits, establishes the pear-shapedness of EarthDecember 6, 1957: Vanguard TV-3 explodes on launch padJanuary 31, 1961: Ham, a US chimpanzee, becomes the first hominid (or great ape) in space and the first to successfully survive the landing.October 4, 1959: The USSR launches Luna 3.14 July 1965: The US satellite, Mariner 4, performs the first successful voyage to the planet Mars, returning the first close-up images of the Martian surface.March 1, 1966: the Venera 3 Soviet space probe crash-landed on Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.January 29, 1964: NASA sent a record 19 tons into orbit during a test flight of its largest launch vehicle, the Saturn SA-5.14 July 1965: The US satellite, Mariner 4, performs the first successful voyage to the planet Mars, returning the first close-up images of the Martian surfaceMarch 23, 1965: astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young flew three low Earth orbits in their spacecraftSeptember 29, 1967: the U.S. Post Office issued its first attached pair of stamps to have a continuous design.February 3, 1966: the Luna 9 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to achieve a survivable landing on a celestial body.
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