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ROGER B. CHAFFEE Died In Apollo 1
Chaffee was one of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963. In addition to participating in the overall training program, he was also tasked with working on flight control communications systems, instrumentation systems, and attitude and translation control systems in the Apollo Branch of the Astronaut office. On March 21, 1966, he was selected as one of the pilots for the AS-204 mission, the first 3-man Apollo flight. -
The First U.S. Satellite
The first successful U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, was lunched into the Earth orbit by the Army at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The 18-pound satellite had a cylindrical shape and was 80 inches long and six inches in diameter. -
Soviet Sends Rocket Sputnik To The Moon
In 1959, the Soviet space program took another step forward with the launch of Luna 2, the first space probe to hit the moon. -
The Soviet craft Sputnik 5 was launched
Carrying the dogs Strelka and Belka. They became the first living beings to survive a trip into space. -
First Human To Travel Into Space
Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel into space when he launched into orbit on the Vostok 3KA-3 spacecraft (Vostok 1). -
Astronaut Ed White
Ed White became the first American to walk in space. -
Neil Armstrong and "Buzz" Aldrin
- Neil Armstrong and "Buzz" Aldrin became the first men on the moon.
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Luna 16
The Soviet craft Luna 16 was launched and became the first automatic spacecraft to return soil samples of the moon. -
First African-American
Bluford, Guion Stewart was the first African American to go into space. -
Atlantis
Atlantis became the last American space shuttle to be launched into space.
