First person to walk in space:  Alexi Leonov (Voskhod 2, Soviet Union)
Oct. 4, 1957 First artificial spacecraft to orbit Earth:  Sputnik (Soviet Union)  
1957 First Earth creature to orbit the Earth:   - Laika, a dog,  (Sputnik 2, Soviet Union)
October 1, 1958  NASA was created
April 12, 1961 First manned space flight:  Yuri A. Gagarin from the Soviet Union orbited the earth in the spaceship Vostok
May 5, 1961 First American to pilot a spacecraft:  Alan Shepard 
Feb. 20, 1962 First US astronaut to orbit Earth:  John H. Glenn, Jr. 
June, 1963 Valery Bykovsky completed a five day mission
June, 1963 First woman in space: Valentina Tereshkova (Voskod 6, Soviet Union)
March, 1965 First person to walk in space:  Alexi Leonov (Voskhod 2, Soviet Union)
June 3 1965 First US astronaut to conduct a spacewalk:  Edward H. White, Jr., Gemini 4 
Jan. 27, 1967 a fire in the cockpit of the Apollo I spaceship killed Roger B. Chaffee, Virgil Grissom, and Edward H. White, Jr.
Dec. 21, 1968 First manned voyage to moon:  US launched Apollo 8 which orbited the moon 10 times and returned back to Earth
July 16, 1969  First moon landing blasted off on carrying Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins
July 20, 1969 First human to set foot on the moon:  Neil Armstrong 
July 30, 1971 First lunar rover used by astronauts to explore the surface of the moon
April 12, 1981 First reusable manned spacecraft was launched:  Space Shuttle Columbia
June, 1983 First American woman to fly in space:  Sally K. Ride
[FrontPage Image Map Component]