Space Race timeline
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Soviet Union Launches Sputnik 1 Satellite
Sputnik 1 was the world's first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite. It was launched into a low altitude elliptical orbit by the Soviet Union on 4... Read more
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Soviet Union Launches Sputnik 2
The Soviet Union went on to launch a series of additional Sputnik satellites. Sputnik 2, for example, carried a dog into space, named Laika.... Read more
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Luna 2 Becomes First Spacecraft to Reach Moon
After an aborted launch on 9 September, the Ye-1A probe successfully lifted off and reached escape velocity three days later. Officially named the... Read more
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NASA's Apollo Program
The Apollo Program was a human spaceflight program undertaken by NASA during the years 1961–1975 with the goal of conducting manned moon landing... Read more
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First Human in Space
Vostok 1 (Russian: Восток-1, East 1 or Orient 1) was the first spaceflight in the Vostok program and the first human spaceflight in history. The... Read more
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President Kennedy First Announces Goal of Landing a Man on the Moon
President Kennedy was also eager for the United States to lead the way in exploring space. The Soviet Union was ahead of the United States in its... Read more
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First American to Orbit Earth
On February 20, 1962, John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to orbit Earth. An Atlas launch vehicle propelled a Mercury spacecraft into... Read more
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John F. Kennedy Delivers "Moon" Speech at Rice University
We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Read more
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President Johnson Announces Renaming of Station Number 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range and the NASA Launch Operations Center as JFK Space Center
I have today determined that Station Number 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range and the NASA Launch Operations Center in Florida shall hereafter be... Read more
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Apollo 2 Mission
Apollo 2 is the informal name of the launch of AS-203. The main purpose of the AS-203 flight was to investigate the effects of weightlessness on... Read more
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Apollo 3 Mission
AS-202 (or SA-202) was a sub-orbital test flight of the Saturn IB and Command and Service Module. It is sometimes informally called Apollo... Read more
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Apollo 1 Catches Fire, Three Astronauts Die
Apollo 1 is the official name that was later given to the never-flown Apollo/Saturn 204 (AS-204) mission. Its command module (CM-012) was destroyed... Read more
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Apollo 4 Mission
Apollo 4 was the first flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle, carrying no crew. It was also the first flight of the S-IC and S-II stages of the... Read more
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Apollo 5 Mission
Apollo 5 was the first unmanned flight of the Apollo Lunar Module, which would later carry astronauts to the lunar surface. It lifted off on... Read more
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Apollo 6 Mission
Apollo 6, launched on April 4, 1968, was the Apollo program's second and last unmanned test flight of its Saturn V launch vehicle. While the... Read more
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Apollo 7 Mission
Apollo 7 (October 11-22, 1968) was the first manned mission in the Apollo program to be launched. It was an eleven-day Earth-orbital mission, the... Read more
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Apollo 11 Mission
The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. It was the fifth human spaceflight of Project Apollo and the third human... Read more
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Apollo 12 Mission
Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me. Read more
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Apollo 13 Mission
Apollo 13 was the third manned mission by NASA intended to land on the moon, but a mid-mission technical malfunction forced the lunar landing to be... Read more