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Archive
from the October 01, 1997 edition Race For The Moon1957 Oct. 4: Soviet Union stuns world by putting world's first artificial satellite in orbit. Sputnik (SPOOT-nik; "co-traveler," in Russian) beeps for 21 days before its batteries wear out. It falls to Earth in January. Nov. 3: Soviets launch Sputnik 2, with dog Laika ("barker") aboard. Dec. 6: The United States rocket carrying Vanguard, first US satellite attempt, rises two feet off the launch pad before collapsing in flames. 1958 Jan. 31: Explorer I, America's third try, orbits successfully, staying aloft 12 years. In October, NASA is founded. 1959 Feb. 28: US launches its first spy satellite, Discoverer 1, part of top-secret Corona program. Discoverer 13 (Aug. 10, 1960) is first unqualified success. Sep. 12: USSR's Luna 2 is first to crash-land on moon. In October, Luna 3 takes first photos of moon's far side. 1960 April 1: TIROS 1, first of a series of successful US meteorological satellites, is launched. Aug. 12: US launches ECHO 1, a radio-reflective balloon 100 feet in diameter. It is first passive communications satellite. 1961 April 12: Yuri Gagarin is first human in space, orbiting Earth once on a two-hour flight. America's Alan Shepard follows with a 15-minute suborbital flight May 5. May 25: President Kennedy announces the national goal of landing a man on the moon by decade's end. 1962 Feb. 20: John Glenn is first American to orbit Earth in a five-hour, three-orbit flight. Six months earlier, a Soviet cosmonaut had spent 25 hours in space, 17 orbits. July 10: Telstar 1, first commercial communications satellite, transmits TV images between US and Europe. Aug. 26: Mariner 2, US probe to Venus, passes within 22,000 miles of the planet on Dec. 14. 1964 Oct. 12: Voskhod I (USSR), first three-man crew to orbit Earth. 1965 March 18: First walk in space (20 minutes) on Voskhod 2. June 1: US astronaut spends 22 minutes outside Gemini IV. December: Gemini V rendezvous with Gemini VI on docking test. 1966 More US space walks and docking practice; tests of Apollo lunar-landing craft begin. Soviet manned program is silent. 1967 Jan. 27: Three-man US Apollo crew dies in launch-pad fire during countdown test. 1968 March 2: Practice moon shot by Soviets; unmanned. December: Man-around-moon flight by Soviets is canceled. 1969 May 18: Apollo 10 crew tests Lunar Module in around-the-moon flight. July 16: Apollo 11 launched. Four days later, Neil Armstrong is first man to set foot on the moon.
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