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October 4- The Soviet Union launched the first satellite, into space, Sputnik 1.This was important because it launched The Race to Space.
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April 12- Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space.
This was important because it help push us a step further into going to the moon! -
May 5- Astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space.This was important because it help push us a step further into going to the moon!
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February 20- astronaut John Glenn became the first American in orbit.
This was important because we got to experience being a part of our solar system by going into orbit. -
June 16- Valentina Nikolayeva Tereshkova became the first woman in space.
This was important becuase it was huge step for females in the space program. -
March 18- While tethered to his spacecraft, cosmonaut Alexi Leonov became the first man to walk in space.
These men walking in space was very important because this was a huge push into going to the moon! -
June 3- Astronaut Ed White became the first American to walk in space.
These men walking in space was very important because this was a huge push into going to the moon! -
February 3- The Russian spacecraft Luna became the first spacecraft to land on the moon.
When this spacecrafts landed on the moon we were able to get a view of what we were up against to go to the moon. -
June 2- Surveyor 1 became the first American spacecraft to land on the moon.
When this spacecrafts landed on the moon we were able to get a view of what we were up against to go to the moon. -
September 15- The soviet spacecraft Zond 5 was launched and later became the first spacecraft to orbit the moon and return to Earth.
This was very important because this was one of the final steps before going to the moon. -
December 21- Apollo 8 was launched, and later her crewmembers became the first men to orbit the moon.
This was very important because this was one of the final steps before going to the moon. -
July 20- Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men on the moon! They arrived on the Apollo 11.
“One small step for man one giant leap for mankind.” Neil Armstrong.
This was important because we were the first Country to land on the moon! Neil and “Buzz’ were the first humans (that we know of) to land on the moon -
April 11- Apollo 13 was launched.
This was another big step for the U.S.A. -
December 15- The Soviet Venerea 7 became the first probe to land on Venus.
This was important because we were able to see images from Venus now. -
July 30- The moon rover was driven on the moon for the first time.
This was amazing because we got to see live footage of the moon. -
December 11- Eugene Cernan and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt became the last men to walk on the moon.
This was important because no one has walked on the moon since 1972 -
May 14- The U.S. launched its first space station, Skylab.
This was important because we were able to have a working space station in Space! -
August 26- Voyager 2 reached Saturn and began transmitting images.
This was important because now we have live images from Saturn. -
June 19- Sally Ride became the first American woman in space on Challengers second mission.
This was important because it was a huge step in space for women. -
February 3- Astronaut Bruce McCandless became the first man to take an untethered space walk.
This was important because up until then now one has been untethered while walking in space. -
January 24- Voyager 2 began transmitting images from Uranus.
This was important because we were able to get live images from Uranus. -
August- Voyager 2 began transmitting images from Neptune.
This was important because we were able to see live images from Neptune. -
August 24- The Space Shuttle Discovery deployed the Hubble space telescope.
With the Hubble space telescope we were able to see deeper into space then we thought we ever would. -
September 12- Mae Jemison became the first African-American woman in space.
This was a huge step in space for women and African-Americans. -
February 2- Eileen Collins became the first female Shuttle pilot.
With this it made impact in women rights even in space! -
February 14- The U.S. Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft began transmitting images of the asteroid EROS.
With this we got to see an asteroid up close. -
February 12- NEAR landed on the surface of EROS.
April 28- American Dennis Tito became the first tourist in space after paying Russian space program $20,000,000.
This was important because we landed on the surface of an asteroid -
September 21- NASA’s Galileo mission ended a 14-year exploration of the solar systems largest planet and its moons with the spacecraft crashing by design into Jupiter at 108,000 miles per hour.
This was an end to a great run for most of our discoveries in space. -
January 14- President Bush proposed a new space program that would send humans back to the moon by 2015 and establish a base to Mars and beyond.
This made the space program have something to look forward to thanks to all their great work! -
January 15- NASA spacecraft Stardust returned safely to Earth in a desert near Salt Lake City with the first dust sample ever collected from a comet.
This was important because we got to see the dust from a comet for the first time. -
August 4- NASA launched its Phoenix Mars Lander.
This gave us hope that we would get to live images of Mars. -
October 11- President Barack Obama signed legislation focusing NASA’s efforts on exploring Mars and the asteroids.
This gave more hope and money to the program for looking at Mars and asteriods.
