-
Period: to
Space race
-
Soviets launch Sputnik I
The USSR launched their first the first satellite to ever go to space named Sputnik 1. Sputnik is a Russian word for "fellow traveler". This was a big achievement in the space race because it was the first ever achievement in it and they had beat the US to it. -
NASA created
NASA is a civilian agency that creates our space plans. Since then NASA has been the reason for most of our space exploration. -
Americans successfully launch and return Ham, a chimpanzee
Ham, a chimpanzee form Cameroon, was the first animal to go to and back from space. He was launched by the Americans and gave them a big jump in the space race. His flight last 16 and a half minutes and lived a long life after coming back. -
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space
The USSR was the first country to ever put a man in space which was in the top accomplishments of the space race, right by putting a man on the moon. He was in space for 1 hour and 48 mins. This was a majer loss for the US. -
Mariner 4 becomes the first satellite to reach Mars
The United States launched Mariner 4 in July 1965 and it was the first satellite to ever reach Mars. It flew just 6,000 feet above Mars and gave the world the first up close look at the planet. This was a big win for the US in the race since no one had ever seen Mars that close. -
Americans land on the moon
In 1969 America was the first ever country to go to the moon! This was probably the biggest win in the space race and ultimately set America over the top. This is a very difficult mission that had been failed multiple times before its sucsses. -
Soviets launch the first space station
The USSR was the first country to launch a national space station. This was obviously also a big accomplishment since they have evolved to so much as we have one today. The station was called Salyut and it set a then recorded breaking 24 day mission. -
The first joint mission between the U.S. and U.S.S.R.
This finally brought a end to the space race in a peaceful manner. Apollo 18, the final Apollo mission, and Soyuz 19 met and docked together in space. Both commanders of the ship met, talked, shook hands, exchanged gifts, and hosted joint noise conference.