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Timeline
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German V2
In 1942 the German V2 was the first rocket to reach 100km from the Earth’s surface (the boundary of space). The rocket was designed by Wernher Von Braun, who later worked with NASA as the creator of the rockets that went to the moon. -
Fly
In 1947, the first animals were launched into space. Fruit flies were used to study the effects of space travel on animals, and were chosen because they are similar to humans. The flies travelled with a supply of corn to eat on the flight. -
Albert II
Albert II, was the first monkey in space. He was a Rhesus monkey, a type of monkey that originally comes from Asia. Albert went into space on 14th June, 1949 in a specially adapted American V2 rocket, that flew to a height of 83 miles from earth. -
Sputnik
On 4th October 1957, Russia launched the first satellite into space. Sputnik was the first satellite in orbit around the earth. Today there are over 500 working satellites in space. Sputnik means "Satellite" in Russian. -
Laika
In November 1957, the Russian space dog Laika became the first animal to orbit the earth. Laika travelled in a spacecraft known as Sputnik 2. Laika means "Barker" in Russian, and her mission helped scientists understand whether people could survive in space. -
Space-probe Luna 2
By 1959 Both American and Russian scientists were in a race to get a spacecraft to the Moon; the Russians made it first.
Space-probe Luna 2 crash-landed into the moon at a speed that would kill an astronaut if one had been travelling in it! It was ten more years until a human visited the moon's surface. -
Yuri Gagain
On 12th April 1961, Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. Gagarin's spacecraft, Vostok 1, completed one orbit of the earth, and landed about two hours after launch. Gagarin had to bail out and land using his parachute, because the Vostok 1 was designed to crash land! -
Valentina Tereshkova
The first woman in space was Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. After her 1963 mission, Valentina became an important member of the Russian Government, and has been awarded many honours and prizes for her achievements. A crater on the far side of the Moon is named after her! -
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
On 20th July 1969, Neil Armstrong, and then Buzz Aldrin took "one small step" and became the first men on the moon. The first words said on the moon were "the Eagle has landed". Their spaceship, Apollo 11 worked perfectly, flying them 250,000 miles to the moon, and bringing them to earth. -
Apollo 13
Two days into its journey to the moon, on 13th April 1970, Apollo 13 suffered an explosion caused by a wiring fault. Using only whatever was on board, NASA scientists and the astronauts on board improvised repairs to bring the crippled spaceship home. The mission was a failure.
