Timeline
Here you will find the timeline of the basic history of NASA and Space Exploration. This timeline was taken from the book Throttle Up! (Official Book Of US Space Camp).

1242
A famous English Franciscan monk, Roger Bacon, developed a method to produce gun powder. Trying to keep it a secret, he wrote the formula in secret Latin anagram.  When translated it reads "...but of saltpeter take seven parts, five of young hazel twigs, and five of sulfur; and so thou wilt call up thunder and destruction, if thou know the art."

1687
Sir Isaac Newton gained fame with his work Principia, exploring the laws of motion and universal gravitation. In this his famous law, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." NASA used this as the underlying principle of rockets.

1857
Sept. 17
The village of Izhevskoye, Spassk Uyezd, Ryazan Gubernia welcomes Konstantin Tsiolkovsky as a newborn baby.  Later in life, Konstantin is the Father of Cosmonautics in the USSR.

1882
Oct. 5: Worcester, Massachusetts
Later dying "August 10th, 1945 in Baltimore" Robert Hutchings Goddard is born. Later in his life, Robert becomes the Father of Rocketry in the United States.

1894
June 11
Hermann Julius Oberth who will become the Father of German Rocketry is born in Magyszeben (now Sibiu) on the northern slopes in the Transylvanian Hungry.

1912
March 23
Doctor Wernher Vonbraun is born in Wirsitz Germany.  Dr. Wernher is considered to be the father of the American Space Program

1926
March 16
Goddard achieves the worlds first flight of a liquid propellent rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts.

1944
Sept. 7th
V-2 offensive against London is underway.  On this date, the first V-2 rocket with a one ton explosive warhead is launched.  About 4,320 V-2's are launched between September 6. 1944 and March 27, 1945.  According to civil defense records, of these about 1,120 are directed against London and its suburbs.

1945
May 2
General Dornberger, Doctor Werhner Braugn, and other peeneunde official surrender to the US 7th army. 
September 20
Werhner Vonbraun and other leading German leading rocket engineers arrive in the US under "Operation Paper Clip."

1957
Oct. 4th
The first artificial satellite in the world is launched by the Soviet Union: Sputnik 1.

1958
January 31
US launches its first artificial satellite, Explorer I, in Cape Canaveral by a Jupiter-C.  It contained instrumentation outfitted to the satellite by Dr. James A. Van Allen.  During this mission, NASA discovered radiation belts, now called the "Van Allen radiation belts" around our planet.
October 1
National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA is created in the U.S. by the "Space Act"
October 7
Project Mercury is approved by NASA.  Its goals were to "send a man into orbit, investigate his capabilities and reactions in space and return him safely to Earth."

1959
April 2nd
The "Original Seven Astronauts" are selected for Project Mercury.

1961
April 12
First launch of a human being into space. The 108 min. orbit around Earth was completed by Lt. Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union onboard Vostak 1.
May 5th
First American Astronaut in space, onboard Freedom 7, it was 15 min. 22 seconds, and all missions were fulfilled.

1962
February 20
The four hour, 55 minute, 23 second Earth Revolution, Mercury 6 capsule named Friendship 7, completes three Earth Revolutions by Lt. John H. Glenn.

1963
June 1-19
First space flight of a woman aboard the Soviet space craft, Vostok 6.

1965
March 18-19
The worlds first space walk is performed by cosmonaut, Alexei A. Leonov. The Spacewalk lasts 10 minutes.
March 23
Two-man Gemini 3 capsule is piloted by Lt.-Col. Virgil I. Grissom and the Lt.-Cdr. John W. Young.

1968
October 11 - 22
First manned flight of Apollo spacecraft.

1969
July 16-24
NASA's Apollo 11 landed on the moon, making Neil Armstrong the first
man to ever step foot on the moon.

1970
February 11th
First launch of a satellite by Japan.
April 24th
Peoples Republic of China launched an artificial satellite.
December 12th
Launch of Explorer 42, a US built satellite by an Italian crew.

1971
October 28
Launch of British satellite.

1972
March 29
Convention held to discuss the damage caused by artificial space objects.
May 24th
President Nixon and Soviet Premier Kosygin sign an agreement in Moscow providing for cooperation in the peaceful exploration of space.

1973
May 14th
Launch of Skylab the first US Space station into orbit.

1975
July 26
Launch of China III Military satellite.

1976
March 17th
Four Astronauts announced to fly space shuttle.
August 17th
Indonesia uses Hughes Palapa (launched July 8th by NASA) for its telecommunication.

1977
August 12th
First flight test of the Space Shuttle Orbiter "Enterprise"

1979
July 11
Due to decayed orbit skylab Space Station falls into Earth's atmosphere.
December 18
A moon treaty drawn up by the UN is ready for signing.

1980
May 26th
First flight of a Hungarian Cosmonaut

1981
April 12th
First manned test flight of shuttle Columbia.

1982
August 19th
Flight of the second woman in space.

1983
August 30th
First African-American male in space.

1984
February 3rd
First use of the manned maneuvering unit.
July 17th
First Woman to go on a space walk.
Oct. 5th
First US Female space walk.

1986
Jan. 20th
The loss of Challenger and her crew.
Feb. 20th
Launch of space station MIR

1992
May 7-16
STS-49 with the rescue of the Intelsat-VI satellite results in first three man EVA.
Sept. 12th
First female African American and Japanese to fly aboard US Space Craft, and first married couple in space.

1993
December 2-12
The Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission had five scheduled EVA's. The most space walks ever conducted by the US on one mission.  Everything went flawlessly.