1951 7/22 - Soviet dogs Tsygan and Dezik become the first on a rocket 7/29 - Soviet dogs Lisa and Dezik are the first to die on a flight
1952 Publication of Das Marsprojekt (The Mars Project) by Werner von Braun
1955 6/2 - Baikonur Cosmodrome established
1956 June - Construction begins at Jiuquan 12/17 - First successful launch of the Atlas A
1957 10/4 - Launch of Sputnik, the Space Age begins 8/21 - First successful launch of the R-7 First ICBM 11/3 - Launch of Sputnik 2, carries Laika
1958 1/31 - Launch of Explorer 1, first US satellite discovers Van Allen belts 8/2 - First successful launch of Atlas B First American ICBM 10/1 - NASA is formed from NACA
1959 1/2 - Luna 1 First spacecraft to reach the moon, passes within 5995 km 9/12 - Luna 2 Impacts the moon on September 14 10/4 - Luna 3 Returns photos of the lunar far side
1960 5/1 - American U-2 spy plane shot down over Russia Pilot Francis Gary Powers is captured 7/28 - Apollo program announced 10/24 - Nedelin disaster R-16 ICBM explodes on the pad, killing over 100
1961 1/31 - MR-2 Chimpanzee Ham makes first sub-orbital flight 4/2 - Vostok Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space 5/5 - Freedom 7 Alan Shepard is the first American into space 7/21 - Liberty Bell 7 8/6 - Vostok 2 11/29 - MA-5 Chimpanzee Enos orbits the Earth
1962 2/20 - Friendship 7 John Glenn is the first American in orbit 5/24 - Aurora 7 7/17 - X-15 #62 8/11 - Vostok 3 8/12 - Vostok 4 10/3 - Sigma 7
1963 1/17 - X-15 #77 5/15 - Faith 7 6/14 - Vostok 5 6/16 - Vostok 6 6/27 - X-15 #87 7/19 - X-15 #90 8/22 - X-15 #91
1964 10/2 - Voskhod
1965 3/18 - Voskhod 2 Alexi Leonov performs the first space walk 3/23 - Gemini 3 6/3 - Gemini IV 6/29 - X-15 #138 8/10 - X-15 #143 8/21 - Gemini 5 9/28 - X-15 #150 10/14 - X-15 #153 12/4 - Gemini VII 12/15 - Gemini VI-A
1966 3/16 - Gemini VIII 6/3 - Gemini IX-A 7/18 - Gemini X 9/12 - Gemini XI 11/1 - X-15 #174 11/11 - Gemini XII
1967 1/27 - Apollo 1 Fire on the pad kills 3 4/23 - Soyuz Komarov dies in crash on 4/24 10/17 - X-15 #190 11/15 - X-15 #191 Fatal crash kills pilot Michael Adams
1968 8/21 - X-15 #197 10/11 - Apollo 7 10/26 - Soyuz 3 12/21 - Apollo 8 First manned spacecraft in circumlunar orbit
1969 1/14 - Soyuz 4 1/15 - Soyuz 5 3/3 - Apollo 9 5/18 - Apollo 10 Lunar Module is piloted to 14.9 km above the lunar surface 6/11 - Apollo missions through Apollo 20 approved 7/16 - Apollo 11 Moon landing on July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become first men on the moon 10/11 - Soyuz 6 10/12 - Soyuz 7 10/13 - Soyuz 8 Russia has 3 spacecraft in orbit 11/14 - Apollo 12
1970 1/4 - Apollo 20 mission cut from NASA budget 4/11 - Apollo 13 A oxygen tank explosion aborts the planned lunar landing 6/1 - Soyuz 9 9/2 - Apollo 18 & 19 missions cut from NASA budget
1971 1/31 - Apollo 14 4/19 - Launch of Salyut 1 First space station 4/22 - Soyuz 10 Docked with the Salyut 1 space station, but cosmonauts were unable to enter 6/6 - Soyuz 11 Cosmonauts entered the Salyut 1 space station All 3 die during reentry on June 29 7/26 - Apollo 15
1972 4/16 - Apollo 16 12/7 - Apollo 17
1973 4/3 - Launch of Salyut 2 Station failed to stabilized and broke apart 5/14 - Launch of Skylab First American space station 5/25 - Skylab 1 7/28 - Skylab 2 9/27 - Soyuz 12 11/16 - Skylab 3 12/18 - Soyuz 13 Marks the first time both US and USSR have men in orbit
1974 6/22 - Launch of Salyut 3 This is an Almaz type military station 7/3 - Soyuz 14 8/26 - Soyuz 15 12/12 - Soyuz 16 Dress rehearsal for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project 12/26 - Launch of Salyut 4
1975 1/10 - Soyuz 17 4/5 - Soyuz 18-1 Aborted flight due to a stage separation failure 5/24 - Soyuz 18 6/22 - Launch of Salyut 5 7/15 - Soyuz 19 Soyuz 19 and ASTP dock on July 20 7/15 - ASTP Soyuz 19 and ASTP dock on July 20
1976 7/6 - Soyuz 21 9/15 - Soyuz 22 10/14 - Soyuz 23
1977 2/7 - Soyuz 24 8/12 - First free flight of shuttle Enterprise 9/13 - Second free flight of shuttle Enterprise 9/23 - Third free flight of shuttle Enterprise 9/29 - Launch of Salyut 6 10/9 - Soyuz 25 10/12 - Fourth free flight of shuttle Enterprise 10/26 - Final free flight of shuttle Enterprise 12/10 - Soyuz 26
1978 1/10 - Soyuz 27 3/2 - Soyuz 28 6/15 - Soyuz 29 6/27 - Soyuz 30 8/26 - Soyuz 31
1979 2/25 - Soyuz 32 4/10 - Soyuz 33 6/6 - Soyuz 34 (unmanned) 7/11 - Skylab crashes into Australia and the Indian Ocean 12/16 - Soyuz-T 1 (unmanned)
1980 4/9 - Soyuz 35 5/26 - Soyuz 36 6/5 - Soyuz-T 2 7/23 - Soyuz 37 9/18 - Soyuz 38 11/27 - Soyuz-T 3
1981 3/12 - Soyuz-T 4 3/22 - Soyuz 39 4/12 - STS-1 Maiden flight of shuttle Columbia 5/14 - Soyuz 40 11/12 - STS-2 (Columbia)
1982 3/22 - STS-3 (Columbia) 4/19 - Launch of Salyut 7 5/13 - Soyuz-T 5 6/27 - STS-4 (Columbia) 6/24 - Soyuz-T 6 8/19 - Soyuz-T 7 11/11 - STS-5 (Columbia)
1983 4/4 - STS-6 Maiden flight of shuttle Challenger 4/20 - Soyuz-T 8 6/18 - STS-7 (Challenger) 6/27 - Soyuz-T 9 8/30 - STS-8 (Challenger) 9/26 - Soyuz-T 10-1 Launch abort when lower end of rocket catches fire 11/28 - STS-9 (Columbia)
1984 2/3 - 41-B (Challenger) 2/8 - Soyuz-T 10 4/3 - Soyuz-T 11 4/6 - 41-C (Challenger) 7/17 - Soyuz-T 12 8/30 - 41-D Maiden flight of shuttle Discovery 10/5 - 41-G (Challenger) 11/8 - 51-A (Discovery)
1985 1/24 - 51-C (Discovery) 4/12 - 51-D (Discovery) 4/29 - 51-B (Challenger) 6/6 - Soyuz-T 13 6/17 - 51-G (Discovery) 7/29 - 51-F (Challenger) 8/27 - 51-I (Discovery) 9/17 - Soyuz-T 14 10/3 - 51-J Maiden flight of shuttle Atlantis 10/30 - 61-A (Challenger) 11/27 - 61-B (Atlantis)
1986 1/12 - 51-C (Columbia) 1/28 - 51-D Challenger explodes 73 seconds after lift-off Seven crew members perish 2/20 - Mir core module launched 3/13 - Soyuz-T 15
1987 2/5 - Soyuz-TM 2 3/31 - Kvant (Mir astrophysics module) 7/22 - Soyuz-TM 3 12/21 - Soyuz-TM 4
1988 6/7 - Soyuz-TM 5 8/29 - Soyuz-TM 6 9/29 - STS-26 (Discovery) 11/26 - Soyuz-TM 7 12/2 - STS-27 (Atlantis)
1989 3/13 - STS-29 (Discovery) 5/4 - STS-30 (Atlantis) 8/8 - STS-28 (Columbia) 9/5 - Soyuz-TM 8 10/18 - STS-34 (Atlantis) 11/23 - STS-33 (Discovery) 11/26 - Kvant 2 (Mir scientific/airlock module)
1990 1/9 - STS-32 (Columbia) 2/11 - Soyuz-TM 9 2/28 - STS-36 (Atlantis) 4/24 - STS-31 (Discovery) 5/31 - Kristall (Mir materials processing laboratory) 8/1 - Soyuz-TM 10 10/6 - STS-41 (Discovery) 11/15 - STS-38 (Atlantis) 12/2 - STS-35 (Columbia) 12/2 - Soyuz-TM 11
1991 4/5 - STS-37 (Atlantis) 4/28 - STS-39 (Discovery) 5/18 - Soyuz-TM 12 6/5 - STS-40 (Columbia) 8/2 - STS-43 (Atlantis) 9/12 - STS-48 (Discovery) 10/2 - Soyuz-TM 13 11/25 - STS-44 (Atlantis)
1992 1/22 - STS-42 (Discovery) 3/17 - Soyuz-TM 14 3/24 - STS-45 (Atlantis) 5/7 - STS-49 Maiden flight of shuttle Endeavour 6/25 - STS-50 (Columbia) 7/27 - Soyuz-TM 15 7/31 - STS-46 (Atlantis) 9/12 - STS-47 (Endeavour) 10/22 - STS-52 (Columbia) 12/2 - STS-53 (Discovery)
1993 1/13 - STS-54 (Endeavour) 1/24 - Soyuz-TM 16 4/8 - STS-56 (Discovery) 4/26 - STS-55 (Columbia) 6/21 - STS-57 (Endeavour) 7/1 - Soyuz-TM 17 9/12 - STS-51 (Discovery) 10/18 - STS-58 (Columbia) 12/2 - STS-61 (Endeavour)
1994 1/8 - Soyuz-TM 18 2/3 - STS-60 (Discovery) 3/4 - STS-62 (Columbia) 4/9 - STS-59 (Endeavour) 7/1 - Soyuz-TM 19 7/8 - STS-65 (Columbia) 9/9 - STS-64 (Discovery) 9/30 - STS-68 (Endeavour) 10/3 - Soyuz-TM 20 11/3 - STS-66 (Atlantis)
1995 2/3 - STS-63 (Discovery) 3/2 - STS-67 (Endeavour) 3/14 - Soyuz-TM 21 6/27 - STS-71 (Atlantis) 7/13 - STS-70 (Discovery) 9/3 - Soyuz-TM 22 9/7 - STS-69 (Endeavour) 10/20 - STS-73 (Columbia) 11/12 - STS-74 (Atlantis)
1996 1/11 - STS-72 (Endeavour) 2/21 - Soyuz-TM 23 2/22 - STS-75 (Columbia) 3/22 - STS-76 (Atlantis) 5/19 - STS-77 (Endeavour) 6/20 - STS-78 (Columbia) 8/17 - Soyuz-TM 24 9/16 - STS-79 (Atlantis) 11/19 - STS-80 (Columbia)
1997 1/12 - STS-81 (Atlantis) 2/10 - Soyuz-TM 25 2/11 - STS-82 (Discovery) 4/4 - STS-83 (Columbia) 5/15 - STS-84 (Atlantis) 7/1 - STS-94 (Columbia) 8/5 - Soyuz-TM 26 8/7 - STS-85 (Discovery) 9/26 - STS-86 (Atlantis) 11/19 - STS-87 (Columbia)
1998 1/23 - STS-89 (Endeavour) 1/29 - Soyuz-TM 27 4/17 - STS-90 (Columbia) 6/2 - STS-91 (Discovery) 8/13 - Soyuz-TM 28 10/29 - STS-95 (Discovery) 11/20 - Zarya (ISS core) 12/4 - STS-88 (Endeavour)
1999 2/20 - Soyuz-TM 29 5/27 - STS-96 (Discovery) 7/23 - STS-93 (Columbia) 12/20 - STS-103 (Discovery)
2000 2/11 - STS-99 (Endeavour) 4/4 - Soyuz-TM 30 5/19 - STS-101 (Atlantis) 7/12 - Zvezda Service Module 9/8 - STS-106 (Atlantis) 10/11 - STS-92 (Discovery) 10/31 - Soyuz-TM 31 12/1 - STS-97 (Endeavour)
2001 2/7 - STS-98 (Atlantis) 3/8 - STS-102 (Discovery) 3/23 - Mir deorbits into the South Pacific 4/19 - STS-100 (Endeavour) 4/28 - Soyuz-TM 32 Dennis Tito - First space tourist 7/12 - STS-104 (Atlantis) 8/10 - STS-105 (Discovery) 10/21 - Soyuz-TM 33 12/5 - STS-108 (Endeavour)
2002 3/1 - STS-109 (Columbia) 4/8 - STS-110 (Atlantis) 4/26 - Soyuz-TM 32 6/5 - STS-111 (Endeavour) 10/7 - STS-112 (Atlantis) 10/30 - Soyuz-TMA 1 11/24 - STS-113 (Endeavour)
2003 1/16 - STS-107 Shuttle Columbia breaks up over Texas on February 1 4/26 - Soyuz-TMA 2 10/15 - Shenzhou 5 Yang Liwei is the first Chinese yuhangyuan 10/18 - Soyuz-TMA 3 12/17 - SpaceShipOne 11P First commercial aircraft to go supersonic
2004 4/19 - Soyuz-TMA 4 6/21 - SpaceShipOne 15P Mike Melvill flys the first privately financed spacecraft into space 9/29 - SpaceShipOne 16P Mike Melvill flys the first X-Prize qualification flight in SpaceShipOne 10/4 - SpaceShipOne 17P Brian Binnie wins the X-Prize for Scaled Composites in SpaceShipOne
2005 4/15 - Soyuz-TMA 6 7/26 - STS-114 (Discovery) 10/1 - Soyuz-TMA 7 10/12 - Shenzhou 6
2006 3/31 - Soyuz-TMA 8 7/4 - STS-121 (Discovery) 9/9 - STS-115 (Atlantis) 9/18 - Soyuz-TMA 9 12/10 - STS-116 (Discovery)
2007 4/7 - Soyuz-TMA 10 6/8 - STS-117 (Atlantis) 8/8 - STS-118 (Endeavour) 10/10 - Soyuz-TMA 11 10/23 - STS-120 (Discovery)
2008 2/7 - STS-122 (Atlantis) 3/11 - STS-123 (Endeavour) 4/12 - Soyuz-TNA 12
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