P13mile5

On October 4,1957 the Soviet Union launched the first

man-made satellite,Sputnik I. It began the space exploration
race between USA and USSR. The USSR wanted to go in
space before the USA. You had to train extremely hard.
Russia sent a cosmonaut named Gagarin into space, Gagarin
orbited the earth 2 times, and was the first astronaut in
space. In space he felt like he was a stranger in his own body.
The first space capsule in space was called Vostok I. It
moved 5 miles per second! Gagarin was lieutenant when he left
Earth, but he was made a major when he came back to honor
his experiment.

Russia also made the first step in space. The first step in

space was made by cosmonaut Lenov in 1965. After an
enjoyable stroll in space for twelve minutes, Lenov had some
problems getting back into the space capsule because his space
suit expanded. He barely got back to the space ship.

The first woman in space was named Tereshkova. She went

into space on June 16, 1963. She orbited the Earth
forty-eight times, for Tershkova it took three days to orbit
the Earth 48 times.The Soviet space program was set back
when Soyuz I crashed, and the cosmonaut was killed.

President Kennedy decided the US should build on the

knowledge gained from the Soviet Union, and build a space ship
that would eventually land on the moon. The US pulled ahead in
the space race.