| Revision as of 00:04, 19 March 2004 editDissident (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users3,727 editsm chronological order← Previous edit | Revision as of 19:52, 30 April 2004 edit undoQ17 (talk | contribs)61 editsNo edit summaryNext edit → | ||
| Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
| *first human in space - ], ] (], USSR) | *first human in space - ], ] (], USSR) | ||
| *first ]al flight - ] (as above) | *first ]al flight - ] (as above) | ||
| *first spacecraft to successfully fly by ] - ] (], USA) | |||
| *first dual flight (], USSR) | *first dual flight (], USSR) | ||
| *first woman in space - ] (], USSR) | *first woman in space - ] (], USSR) | ||
| *first flight with more than one crew member - ] (], USSR) | *first flight with more than one crew member - ] (], USSR) | ||
| *first spacecraft to successfully fly by ] - ] (], USA) | |||
| *first ] - ] on ] (], USSR) | *first ] - ] on ] (], USSR) | ||
| *first space rendezvous - ]/] (], USA) | *first space rendezvous - ]/] (], USA) | ||
| Line 14: | Line 16: | ||
| *first human orbital flight of moon - ] (], USA) | *first human orbital flight of moon - ] (], USA) | ||
| *first human landing on moon - ] (], USA) | *first human landing on moon - ] (], USA) | ||
| *first spacecraft on ] - ] (], USSR) | |||
| *first ] - ] (], USSR) | *first ] - ] (], USSR) | ||
| *first spacecraft on ] - ] (], USSR) | |||
| The Soviets beat the Americans in most firsts, but did not manage to beat them to the moon. ] and especially ] technology advanced greatly during this period. In the sense that it was contested during the ], the space race is usually considered to have been ended by the joint ] in ]. | The Soviets beat the Americans in most firsts, but did not manage to beat them to the moon. ] and especially ] technology advanced greatly during this period. In the sense that it was contested during the ], the space race is usually considered to have been ended by the joint ] in ]. | ||
Revision as of 19:52, 30 April 2004
The Space Race was an unofficial competition between the United States and the USSR in space exploration and technology, and especially to the race between the two nations to land a human being on the moon in the second half of the 1960s. Many also consider this a race to develop military technology to win the nuclear weapons arms race during the Cold War. Significant events in the Space Race include:
- first artificial satellite - Sputnik 1 (1957, USSR)
- first animal in orbit - Laika - Sputnik 2 (1957, USSR)
- first spacecraft on moon - Luna 2 (1959, USSR)
- first human in space - Yuri Gagarin, Vostok 1 (1961, USSR)
- first orbital flight - Vostok 1 (as above)
- first spacecraft to successfully fly by Venus - Mariner 2 (1962, USA)
- first dual flight (1962, USSR)
- first woman in space - Valentina Tereshkova (1963, USSR)
- first flight with more than one crew member - Voskhod 1 (1964, USSR)
- first spacecraft to successfully fly by Mars - Mariner 4 (1965, USA)
- first spacewalk - Aleksei Leonov on Voskhod 2 (1965, USSR)
- first space rendezvous - Gemini 6/Gemini 7 (1965, USA)
- first space docking - Gemini 8 (1966, USA)
- first human orbital flight of moon - Apollo 8 (1968, USA)
- first human landing on moon - Apollo 11 (1969, USA)
- first spacecraft on Venus - Venera 7 (1971, USSR)
- first space station - Salyut 1 (1971, USSR)
- first spacecraft on Mars - Mars 3 (1971, USSR)
The Soviets beat the Americans in most firsts, but did not manage to beat them to the moon. Technology and especially aerospace technology advanced greatly during this period. In the sense that it was contested during the 1960s, the space race is usually considered to have been ended by the joint Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975.
In 2003, with the successful crewed space flight by China, there has been speculation of a new space race with the United States considering creating a permanent base on the Moon and/or a crewed mission to Mars