Before Shuttles_______________ All space flights were made with a single use craft_______________ Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarian 1st human to orbit earth

_______________ US. Alan Shepard went into space but not into orbit

1960-1970’s

April 1961

May 1961

At this point U.S. Seems to be losing the Cold War and Space Race

More Before Shuttles

_______________ John Glenn orbited the Earth.

___________________ Apollo 11 landed on Moon, Neil Armstrong 1st to walk on moon.

__________________ NASA decided to build a reusable spacecraft. Space flight was very expensive.

Feb 1962

July 1969

Late 1970’s

Shuttles:___________ reusable vehicle that takes off like a rocket and lands like a plane

1St Shuttle launch was in 1982

A space shuttle