The Space Race

The Cold War in Orbit1957-75

Origins of the Space Race

Robert Goddard, US, 1926

First successful liquid fuel rocket launch.

Vergeltungswaffe (Vengeance Weapon)

V-2

Sputnik - Early Soviet Superiority

Sputnik 1, October 4, 1957Sputnik 2, November 3, 1957

Laika

Sputnik Mania

Explorer 1, January 31, 1958

Humans in Space

Alan Shepard, May 5, 1961Yuri Gagarin, April 12, 1961

Humans in Space

Valentina Tereshkova, First Woman in Space, June 16, 1963

John Glenn, First Human to Orbit Earth, February 20, 1962

To The Moon

September 12, 1961:President Kennedy challenges nation to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade

Luna 2, Reaches moon on September 14, 1959

Apollo Program

Apollo 11Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin

First Moon Landing, July 20, 1969

Other PlanetsVenus

Mariner 2December 14, 1962

Venera 3March 1, 1966

Mars

Mariner 4 July 1965

Mars 2 & 31971-72

Détente in Space

July 15, 1975:Apollo 18 and Soyuz 19 dock in Earth’s orbit.