Page 18 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - August 2019
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18 Notable Russian Space Progam Firsts
Notable Russian Space • 1968: First living beings to reach the Moon
(circumlunar flights) and return unharmed to
Program Firsts Earth, Russian tortoises and other lifeforms
on Zond 5
• 1969: First docking between two manned
Two days after the United States announced its
craft in Earth orbit and exchange of crews,
intention to launch an artificial satellite, on July
Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5
31, 1956, the Soviet Union announced its
• 1970: First soil samples automatically
intention to do the same. Sputnik 1 was
extracted and returned to Earth from another
launched on October 4, 1957, beating the United
celestial body, Luna 16
States and stunning people all over the world.
• 1970: First robotic space rover, Lunokhod 1
• 1957: First intercontinental ballistic missile on the Moon.1970: First data received from
and orbital launch vehicle, the R-7 the surface of another planet of the Solar
system (Venus), Venera 7
Semyorka
• 1971: First space station, Salyut 1
• 1957: First satellite, Sputnik 1
• 1971: First probe to impact the surface of
• 1957: First animal in Earth orbit, the dog
Mars, Mars 2
Laika on Sputnik 2
on Vostok 1, Vostok program • 1971: First probe to land on Mars, Mars 3
• 1959: First rocket ignition in Earth orbit,
• 1961: First person to spend over 24 hours in • 1975: First probe to orbit Venus, to make
first man-made object to escape Earth's
space Gherman Titov, Vostok 2 (also first
gravity, Luna 1 soft landing on Venus, first photos from
person to sleep in space).
• 1959: First data communications, or • 1962: First dual manned spaceflight, Vostok surface of Venus, Venera 9
telemetry, to and from outer space, Luna 1. • 1980: First Hispanic and Black person in
3 and Vostok 4 space, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez on Soyuz
• 1959: First man-made object to pass near the
• 1962: First probe launched to Mars, Mars 1 38
Moon, first man-made object in Heliocentric
• 1963: First woman in space, Valentina • 1984: First woman to walk in space,
orbit, Luna 1
Tereshkova, Vostok 6 Svetlana Savitskaya (Salyut 7 space
• 1959: First probe to impact the Moon, Luna
• 1964: First multi-person crew (3), Voskhod 1 station)1986: First crew to visit two separate
2
• 1965: First extra-vehicular activity (EVA), space stations (Mir and Salyut 7)
• 1959: First images of the moon's far side,
by Alexsei Leonov,[19] Voskhod 2
Luna 3 • 1986: First probes to deploy robotic balloons
• 1965: First probe to hit another planet of the
• 1960: First animals to safely return from Solar System (Venus), Venera 3 into Venus atmosphere and to return pictures
Earth orbit, the dogs Belka and Strelka on of a comet during close flyby Vega 1, Vega 2
• 1966: First probe to make a soft landing on • 1986: First permanently manned space
Sputnik 5.
and transmit from the surface of the Moon, station, Mir, 1986–2001, with permanent
• 1961: First probe launched to Venus, Venera
Luna 9 presence on board (1989–1999)
1
• 1966: First probe in lunar orbit, Luna 10 • 1987: First crew to spend over one year in
• 1961: First person in space (International
• 1967: First unmanned rendezvous and space, Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov on
definition) and in Earth orbit, Yuri Gagarin
docking, Cosmos 186/Cosmos 188. board of Soyuz TM-4 - Mir.
