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Luna 1 became the first artificial object to reach the escape velocity of the Earth, [14] along with its carrier rocket's 1,472-kilogram (3,245 lb) [2] upper stage, which it separated from after being the first spacecraft to reach heliocentric orbit. [1] It remains in orbit around the Sun, between the orbits of Earth and Mars. [2]
Sputnik 1 (/ ˈ s p ʌ t n ɪ k, ˈ s p ʊ t n ɪ k /, Russian: Спутник-1, Satellite 1), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite.It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program.
Vostok 1 (Russian: Восток, lit. ' East ' or ' Orient ') was the first spaceflight of the Vostok programme and the first human orbital spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA space capsule was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 12 April 1961, with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin aboard, making him the first human to reach orbital velocity around the Earth and to complete a full orbit ...
The core stage then separated while the rocket was in a suborbital trajectory, and the upper stage carried it to orbit. Once the upper stage finished firing, it separated from the spacecraft, which orbited for 108 minutes before returning to Earth in Kazakhstan. [49] Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth. [50]
The first small-lift launch vehicle was the Sputnik rocket, launched by the Soviet Union, which was derived from the R-7 Semyorka ICBM. On 4 October 1957, the Sputnik rocket was used to perform the world's first satellite launch, placing the Sputnik 1 satellite into a low Earth orbit. [3] [4] [5] The US responded by attempting to launch the ...
1963 - The USSR launches Vostok 6, Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman (and first civilian) in space and to orbit Earth. She remained in space for nearly three days and orbited the Earth 48 times. 1963 - US X-15 rocket-plane, the first reusable crewed spacecraft (suborbital) reaches space, pioneering reusability, carried launch and glide ...
Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. Its goal was to put a person into Earth orbit and return them safely, ideally before the Soviet Union. John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962, aboard the Mercury-Atlas 6. [57]
Rocket malfunction caused the spacecraft to get stranded in low Earth orbit. [4] November 18 US: Ranger 2: Atlas-Agena: Moon Failure: Booster rocket malfunction caused spacecraft to be trapped in low Earth orbit. [5] 1962 January 26 US: Ranger 3: Atlas-Agena: Moon Failure: NASA's first attempt to land a spacecraft on the Moon.