Timeline of the Space Race

Short description: Overview about the timeline of the Space Race

This is a timeline of achievements in Soviet and United States spaceflight, spanning the Cold War era of nationalistic competition known as the Space Race.

This list is limited to first achievements by the USSR and USA which were important during the Space Race in terms of public perception and/or technical innovation. This excludes first uses of specific on-board equipment and new scientific discoveries, or achievements by other countries.

## Contents

* 1 Beginning
* 2 1957–1959
* 3 1960–1969
* 4 1970–1979
* 5 1980–1989
* 6 See also
* 7 Notes
* 8 References
* 9 External links

## Beginning

Date  | Country  | Achievement  | Mission / Vehicle

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|
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1955 July 29  |  | The United States announces their intention to launch an artificial satellite[1] during the International Geophysical Year (1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958).  | /
1955 August 30  |  | In the Soviet Union, the commission approved launching a 1.5 ton satellite using the R-7 ICBM.[1] | /

## 1957–1959

First artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 (replica)

First photograph of far side of the Moon, Luna 3

Date  | Country  | Achievement  | Mission / Vehicle

|
|
|

1957 August 21  |  | First intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM); fully operational September 1957  | R-7 Semyorka
1957 October 4  |  | First artificial satellite
First man-made signals from orbit | Sputnik 1
1957 November 3  |  | First mammal (the dog Laika) in orbit around Earth.  | Sputnik 2
1958 March 17  |  | First solar-powered satellite  | Vanguard 1
1959 January 2  |  | First lunar spacecraft (fly-by)
First rocket engine restart in Earth orbit
First spacecraft to leave Earth's orbit
First spacecraft on an escape trajectory from Earth
| Luna 1
1959 January 4  |  | First spacecraft in heliocentric orbit | Luna 1
1959 February 28  |  | First satellite in a polar orbit | Discoverer 1
1959 August 7  |  | First photograph of Earth from orbit  | Explorer 6
1959 September 14  |  | First hard landing on another celestial body (the Moon)  | Luna 2
1959 October 7  |  | First three-axis stabilised spacecraft
First photos of far side of the Moon, covering 70% of the surface invisible from Earth
First automated on board development of photographic film and conversion to radio signals
First gravity assist ('sling shot'), returning the spacecraft to Earth to retrieve the photos  | Luna 3

## 1960–1969

First human in space, Yuri Gagarin

First humans on the Moon, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong (behind camera)

Date  | Country  | Achievement  | Mission / Vehicle

|
|
|

1960 August 11  |  | First satellite recovered intact from orbit  | Discoverer 13
1960 August 18  |  | First spy photography from space
First aerial recovery of an object (the film) returning from Earth orbit  | Discoverer 14
1960 August 19  |  | First animals and plants returned alive from space (the dogs Belka and Strelka)
First capsule recovered from orbit  | Korabl-Sputnik 2 (aka Sputnik 5)
1961 January 31  |  | First great ape or Hominidae in space, Ham, a chimpanzee  | Mercury-Redstone 2
1961 February 12  |  | First launch from Earth orbit of upper stage into a heliocentric orbit
First mid-course corrections
First spin-stabilisation | Venera 1
1961 April 12  |  | First human spaceflight mission (Yuri Gagarin)[2]
First orbital flight of a manned vehicle  | Vostok 1
1961 May 5  |  | First pilot-controlled space flight (Alan Shepard)  | Freedom 7
1961 May 19  |  | First planetary flyby (Venus), although contact was lost  | Venera 1
1961 August 6  |  | First crewed mission lasting a full day (Gherman Titov).  | Vostok 2
1962 August 12  |  | First dual crewed spaceflight (Andriyan Nikolayev and Pavel Popovich)
First spacecraft-to-spacecraft radio contact
First simultaneous flight of crewed spacecraft  | Vostok 3 / Vostok 4
1962 December 14  |  | First successful planetary flyby mission (Venus).  | Mariner 2
1963 June 16  |  | First woman in space (Valentina Tereshkova)
First civilian in space  | Vostok 6
1963 June 19  |  | First Mars flyby, although contact was lost  | Mars 1
1963 July 19  |  | First reusable piloted spacecraft and the first spaceplane (suborbital)  | X-15 Flight 90
1963 July 26  |  | First geosynchronous satellite | Syncom 2
1964 August 19  |  | First geostationary satellite | Syncom 3
1965 March 18  |  | First extra-vehicular activity ("space walk")  | Voskhod 2
1965 March 23  |  | First piloted spacecraft orbit change  | Gemini 3
1965 July 14  |  | First successful Mars flyby mission  | Mariner 4
1966 February 3  |  | First soft landing on another celestial body (the Moon)
First photos from another celestial body  | Luna 9
1966 March 1  |  | First hard landing on another planet (Venus)  | Venera 3
1966 March 16  |  | First spacecraft docking | Gemini 8 / ATV
1966 April 3  |  | First artificial satellite to orbit another celestial body (the Moon)  | Luna 10
1966 September 12  |  | First direct-ascent (first orbit) rendezvous  | Gemini 11 / ATV
1967 October 18  |  | First in situ analysis of the atmosphere of another planet (Venus)  | Venera 4
1967 October 30  |  | First docking of two remote-controlled spacecraft  | Cosmos 186 / Cosmos 188
1968 September 14–21  |  | First return to Earth after circling the Moon
First life forms to circle the Moon (returned safely)  | Zond 5
1968 December 21  |  | First return to Earth after orbiting the Moon
First human spaceflight mission to enter the gravitational influence of another celestial body  | Apollo 8
1969 January  |  | First parachute to be deployed on another planet (Venus)  | Venera 5
1969 January 16  |  | First crew exchange in space

First docking of two manned spacecraft

| Soyuz 4 /

Soyuz 5

1969 July 20  |  | First humans on the Moon
First space launch from another celestial body
First sample return from the Moon  | Apollo 11
1969 November 19  |  | First precisely targeted piloted landing on the Moon (Surveyor 3 site)  | Apollo 12

## 1970–1979

First lunar rover, Lunokhod 1

First spacecraft on an escape trajectory away from the Sun, Pioneer 10

First view and clear photograph taken of and from the surface of Venus, Venera 9

Date  | Country  | Achievement  | Mission / Vehicle

|
|
|

1970 September 24  |  | First robotic automatic sample return from another celestial body (the Moon)  | Luna 16
1970 November 23  |  | First lunar rover (remote-controlled) and first rover on another celestial body (the Moon)  | Lunokhod 1
1970 December 15  |  | First soft landing on another planet (Venus)
First signals from another planet  | Venera 7
1971 April 19  |  | First human-crewed space station launched  | Salyut 1
1971 June 29  |  | First human-crewed orbital observatory (Orion 1)  | Soyuz 11 / Salyut 1
1971 July 31  |  | First human-driven lunar rover, the Lunar Roving Vehicle | Apollo 15
1971 November 14  |  | First spacecraft to orbit another planet (Mars)  | Mariner 9
1971 November 27  |  | First hard landing on Mars  | Mars 2
1971 December 2  |  | First soft Mars landing
First signals from Mars surface  | Mars 3
1972 March 3  |  | First spacecraft sent on escape trajectory away from the Sun  | Pioneer 10
1972 July 15  |  | First mission to enter the asteroid belt and leave inner Solar System  | Pioneer 10
1973 December 3  |  | First Jupiter flyby  | Pioneer 10
1974 March 29  |  | First Mercury flyby  | Mariner 10
1975 July 15  |
| First multinational human-crewed mission[lower-alpha 1] | Soyuz 19
Apollo–Soyuz Test Project
1975 October 20  |  | First spacecraft to orbit another planet (Venus) (the orbiter)
First view and clear photograph from and of the surface of another planet (the lander)  | Venera 9
1979 September 1  |  | First Saturn flyby  | Pioneer 11

## 1980–1989

First Space Shuttle

Date  | Country  | Achievement  | Mission / Vehicle

|
|
|

1981 April 12  |  | First spaceplane in orbit, the Space Shuttle (test flight)  | STS-1
1984 February 7  |  | First untethered spacewalk, Bruce McCandless II  | STS-41-B
1985 June 11  |  | First aerostat balloon in the atmosphere of Venus  | Vega 1 probe
1986 January 24  |  | First Uranus flyby  | Voyager 2
1986 February 19  |  | First module of the first modular space station launched, marking the start of the orbital assembly  | Mir Core Module
1989 August 25  |  | First Neptune flyby  | Voyager 2
1990 February 11  |  | First consistently inhabited long-term research space station  | Mir

On 1991 December 31, the United Nations accepted the dissolution of the USSR, which meant the end of the space race.

## See also

* List of communications satellite firsts
* List of space exploration milestones, 1957–1969
* Timeline of space exploration
* Timeline of first orbital launches by country
* Timeline of space travel by nationality

## Notes

1. ↑ After the first multinational crewed mission in July 1975, the competition continued to exist, but transitioned in intensity from a state of intense competition to one of cooperation by the dissolution of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War on 26 December 1991.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Korolev and Freedom of Space: 14 February 1955 – 4 October 1957". NASA. http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/monograph10/korspace.html.
2. ↑ "Yuri Gagarin: Who was the first person in space?". BBC Newsround. April 12, 2021. https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/56718196.

* Bilstein, Roger E. (1996). Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles. Washington: Scientific and Technical Information Branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. ISBN 978-0-16-048909-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=RUIjAAAAMAAJ.
* Brugess, Colin; Kate Doolan; Bert Vis (2003). Fallen Astronauts: Heroes Who Died Reaching for the Moon. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-6212-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=iJ8WwRBNgk0C.
* Dallek, Robert (2003). An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-17238-7. https://archive.org/details/unfinishedlifejo00dall_0.
* Freni, Pamela (2002). Space for Women: A History of Women With the Right Stuff. Santa Ana, California: Seven Locks Press. ISBN 978-1-931643-12-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=uFTbAAAAMAAJ.
* Gainor, Chris (2001). Arrows to the Moon: Avro's Engineers and the Space Race. Burlington, Ontario: Apogee Books. ISBN 978-1-896522-83-8. https://archive.org/details/arrowstomoonavro0000gain.
* Gatland, Kenneth (1976). Manned Spacecraft, Second Revision. New York, NY, USA: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. pp. 100–101. ISBN 978-0-02-542820-1.
* Hall, Rex; David J. Shayler (2003). Soyuz: A Universal Spacecraft. New York: Springer–Praxis Books. ISBN 978-1-85233-657-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=dbGchpi1HP8C.
* Harford, James J. (1997). Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon (1 ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-14853-1.
* Harvey, Brian (2001). Russia in Space: The Failed Frontier?. New York: Springer–Praxis Books. ISBN 978-1-85233-203-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=DrgvjPsfwhsC.
* Seamans, Robert C., Jr. (1967-04-05). "Findings, Determinations And Recommendations". Report of Apollo 204 Review Board. NASA History Office. http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/Apollo204/find.html. Retrieved 2007-10-07.
* Siddiqi, Asif A. (2003a). Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-2627-5.
* Siddiqi, Asif A. (2003b). The Soviet Space Race with Apollo. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-2628-2.
* Thompson, Neal (2004). Light This Candle : The Life & Times of Alan Shepard—America's First Spaceman. New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 978-0-609-61001-5. https://archive.org/details/lightthiscandlel00thom.
* Wolfe, Tom (2001). The Right Stuff. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-613-91667-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=OZ_jQVH3oMwC.
* Yeager, Chuck; Leo Janos (1985). Yeager: An Autobiography. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-05093-6.

## External links

* Timeline of the Space Race/Moon Race
* Chronology: Moon Race at russianspaceweb.com

* v
* t
* e

Spaceflight lists and timelines

* Timeline of spaceflight

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