Space Race

The Space Race, an informal competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975. It involved the parallel efforts by each of those countries to explore outer space with artificial satellites, to send humans into space, and to land people on the moon.

More Soviet successes: Living creatures in space

Animals in space

Technically, fruit flies launched by the U.S. on captured German V-2 rockets in 1946 became the first animals intentionally sent into space for scientific study. The first mammal sent into orbit, the dog Laika, travelled in the USSR's Sputnik 2 in 1957. While in any event the technology did not exist at the time to recover Laika after her flight, she died of stress and overheating soon after reaching space. In 1960 Russian space dogs Belka and Strelka orbited the earth and successfully returned. The American space program imported chimpanzees from Africa, and sent at least two into space before launching their first human orbiter. Scientists then used these animals and their dozens of descendants for biomedical research until public outcry led to their "release" to semi-wild conditions in the late 1990s. Soviet-launched turtles on Zond 5 became the first animals to fly around the Moon (September 1968).

Related Topics:
Fruit flies - V-2 rocket - 1946 - Animals intentionally sent into space - Laika - Sputnik 2 - Belka and Strelka - Chimpanzee - At least two - 1990s - Zond 5

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Humans in space

Yuri Gagarin became the first successful cosmonaut when he entered orbit in Russia's Vostok 1 on April 12 1961, a day now celebrated as a holiday in Russia and in many other countries. 23 days later, on mission Freedom 7, Alan Shepard first entered space for the U.S. John Glenn, in Friendship 7, became the first American to successfully orbit Earth, completing three orbits on February 20 1962.

Related Topics:
Yuri Gagarin - Cosmonaut - Orbit - Vostok 1 - April 12 - 1961 - Freedom 7 - Alan Shepard - John Glenn - Friendship 7 - February 20 - 1962

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The first dual-manned flight also originated in the USSR, August 11 - 15, 1962. Soviet Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space on June 16 1963 in Vostok 6. Korolev had initially scheduled further Vostok missions of longer duration, but following the announcement of the Apollo Program, Premier Khrushchev demanded more firsts. The first flight with more than one crew member, the USSR's Voskhod 1, a modified version of the Vostok craft, took off on October 12 1964 carrying Komarov, Feoktistov and Yegorov onboard. This flight also marked the first occasion on which a crew did not wear spacesuits.

Related Topics:
August 11 - 15 - 1962 - Valentina Tereshkova - June 16 - 1963 - Vostok 6 - Premier Khrushchev - Voskhod 1 - October 12 - 1964 - Spacesuit

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Aleksei Leonov, from Voskhod 2, launched by the USSR on March 18 1965, carried out the first spacewalk. This mission nearly ended in disaster; Leonov almost failed to return to the capsule and, due to a poor retrorocket fire, the ship landed 1000 miles (1600 km) off target. By this time Khrushchev had left office and the new Soviet leadership would not commit to an all-out effort.

Related Topics:
Aleksei Leonov - Voskhod 2 - March 18 - 1965 - Spacewalk - Retrorocket

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