The following is a list of Space Firsts – aka Space Milestones. It features a timeline features a list of first achievements from animals, space travel and exploration, NASA firsts, robotic missions, people and more.
1957:
Laika was the first animal to orbit the Earth.
The World’s First Artificial Satellite was Sputnik.
1959:
Luna 1 was the fist space probe to achieve Planet Earth escape velocity. The probe was launched on March 2, 1972.
1960:
Tiros 1 was the first weather satellite. It was launched on April 1, 1960 by a Thor-Able Rocket.
1961:
First Human in Space was Yuri Gagarin
1962:
First American in Earth Orbit was John Glenn.
1963:
First Woman in Space was Valentina Tereshkova
1965:
– First Space Walk was by Alexei Leonov.
– Venera 3 was the first spacecraft to impact on another planet (Venus). It was launched on November 16, 1965.
1966:
– Luna 9 was the first successful lunar soft landing. It was launched on January 31, 1966.
– Luna 10 was the first spacecraft to be placed in Moon orbit. It was launched on March 31, 1966.
– Surveyor was the first US soft landing on the Moon. It televised photos of itself and the lunar surface. It was launched on May 30, 1966 by an Atlas-Centaur.
1969:
First Human Landing on the Moon-Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
1972:
Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to explore the Asteroid Belt, fly by Jupiter and leave the Solar System. The probe was launched on March 2, 1972
1975:
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: U.S.-USSR joint mission. Apollo 18 and Soyuz 19 docked.
1981:
First Piloted orbital test flight of U.S. Space Shuttle
1983:
First flight of U.S. Woman Astronaut was Sally Ride.
1984:
First Female Space Walker was Svetlana Savitskaya.
1990:
Hubble Space Telescope launched.
2000:
The first commercially (privately) funded human spaceflight.
This was to Mir Space Station. The mission was funded by MirCorp, a western company that was leasing the station from Energia, the Russian company that operated Mir for the Russian government.
2001:
The first Space Tourist was Dennis Tito.
2004:
SpaceShipOne was the first manned private spaceflight. Mike Melvill the pilot was the first private astronaut in space.
