Sixty years ago this week, the USSR launched Sputnik 1, the world’s first manmade satellite, and set off an international competition for spaceflight supremacy. Here are the most important moments in the space race.
September 23, 1957
After a night of drinking, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev challenges President Eisenhower to a gentleman’s game of space travel in which the victor would receive global supremacy
November 3, 1957
The USSR launches Sputnik 2, beating America in the race to kill a dog in space
January 29, 1958
NASA narrowly decides to name its first satellite Explorer instead of Better Dead Than Red
October 11, 1958
The United States faces a major setback when, after a mathematical error, Pioneer 1 is accidentally launched 70,700 miles into the Earth’s core
April 12, 1961
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space after being the last Russian scientist to yell not it
September 12, 1962
President John F. Kennedy puts NASA scientists in an awkward position when he suggests, in a speech, that it’s somehow possible to travel to the moon
December 8, 1962
NASA achieves several major breakthroughs after scientists start using basketballs as stand-ins for Earth instead of a slightly deflated football
July 20, 1969
Nervous firemen adjust crash pad as Neil Armstrong performs death-defying moon walk 238,900 miles above Earth
August 15, 1969
Buzz Aldrin insists on showing everyone pictures from his incredible trip to the moon
September 2, 1995
The United States definitively clinches the win as Elon Musk lands successfully in California