This is a timeline of space exploration which includes notable achievements, first accomplishments and milestones in humanity's exploration of outer space. This timeline generally does not distinguish achievements by a specific country or private company, as it considers humanity as a whole.

The launch of the first human-made object to orbit Earth, the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1, on 4 October 1957, and the first Moon landing by the American Apollo 11 mission on 20 July 1969 are often taken as landmarks for this initial period.

Humanity's first reusable spacecraft, the space shuttle carried people into orbit repeatedly; launched, recovered and repaired satellites; conducted cutting-edge research; and built the largest structure in space, the International Space Station.

On May 5, 1961, Alan B. Shepard became the first American in space during a suborbital flight aboard his Mercury capsule named Freedom 7. Three weeks later, based on the success of Shepard’s brief flight, President John F. Kennedy committed the United States to achieving a lunar landing before the end of the decade.

Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was planned to be the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, [1] the American undertaking to land the first man on the Moon. It was planned to launch on February 21, 1967, as the first low Earth orbital test of …

Jul 20, 2019 · The three-stage 363-foot rocket will use its 7.5 million pounds of thrust to propel them into space and into history. At 9:32 a.m. EDT, the engines fire and Apollo 11 clears the tower. About 12 minutes later, the crew is in Earth orbit.

Mar 19, 2025 · The first human to go into space, Yuri Gagarin, was launched, again by the Soviet Union, for a one-orbit journey around Earth on April 12, 1961. Within 10 years of that first human flight, American astronauts walked on the surface of the Moon.

Apr 6, 2011 · Yuri Gagarin was a 27-year-old Soviet Air Force pilot when he made his first and only trip into space. Upon his triumphant return he instantly became a national treasure, too valuable to send...

Mar 20, 2025 · Apollo 11, the first space mission to put people on the Moon, was launched on July 16, 1969. Almost every major aspect of the flight of Apollo 11 was witnessed via television by hundreds of millions of people in nearly every part of the globe, until splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on July 24. What was the Apollo 11 rocket called?

The Pioneer 1 mission is a notable milestone in space exploration history. Launched by NASA on October 11, 1958, it represented the start of the United States’ ambitious efforts to explore beyond Earth’s atmosphere.