Space History - Fast Facts, Gifts, Video, Quotes

Space History
Milestones in the history of people in space

Only weeks after the first machine was sent into space, the first living creature followed. Within a few years, humans themselves were up among the stars.

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Fast Facts In Space History

First Earthling in space - Laika, a dog (USSR), 3 November 1957.

First person in space - Yuri Gagarin (USSR), 12 April 1961.

First woman in space - Valentina Tereshkova (USSR), 16 June 1963.

Shortest manned space flight - 15 minutes, 28 seconds were spent on a sub-orbital flight by Alan Shepard (USA) on 5 May 1961.

First manned spacecraft docking (USA) - 16 March 1966 between the manned Gemini vehicle and the pre-launched Agena target vehicle. Neil Armstrong piloted.

More Fast Facts About Space History

Is the Moon getting a bit close to the Earth? The crew of the International Space Station captured this strange photograph in 2003. The illusion is caused by the angle of sunlight.
Image source: NASA

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More Fast Facts About Space History

First international spacecraft docking - Apollo (USA) and Soyuz (USSR), 17 July 1975, as part of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

Most time spent in space - 803 days were spent in space by Sergei Krikalev (Russia) between 1988 and 2005.

First space shuttle flight - the space shuttle Colombia (USA), 12 April 1981.

First space shuttle disaster - the space shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after take off, 28 January 1986.

Most space flights - Jerry Ross and Franklin Chang-Diaz (both USA) had completed 7 missions each by 2002.

Longest shuttle mission - 17 days, 15 hours and 53 minutes were spent on a mission by the space shuttle Columbia (USA) in 1996.

Oldest person in space - John Glenn (USA), aged 77, in 1998. Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962.

Even More Fast Facts About Space History

Space History On Video
	Shuttle Launch From Inside Orbiter See what it's like to be an astronaut launching into space.
	Shuttle Landing In Cape Town Yeah right.

Even More Fast Facts About Space History

First civilian into space - Toyohiro Akiyama, a Japanese reporter, accompanied a Russian crew aboard Soyuz TM11 to the Mir space station, December 1990.

First British person in space - Helen Sharman, aboard Soyuz TM12 mission, 18 May 1991.

First space 'tourist' - Dennis Tito (USA) paid $20 million to visit the International Space Station in 2001.

Second space shuttle disaster - Columbia disintegrates during reentry, 1 February 2003. All seven crew members perish.

First private manned spacecraft - SpaceShipOne, 21 June 2004.

Quotable Quotes

“After the third mission, Apollo became not a gateway to exploration, but a singular moment... From Earth to the Moon.” Andrew Chalkin

“The Apollo program was very goal-driven. Get people to the moon. Get them back safely. Mission done. The big difference with the (new) exploration vision is that the moon is not the goal. The moon is a steppingstone.” Scott Horowitz

“We have lost one shuttle for every 57 flights and that is not a good ratio. I do believe we need to continue space flights, but maybe we can follow the example of the Russians and use unmanned vehicles to transport hardware into space.” Lincoln Davis

“It's really come full circle. Right back to Sputnik-size spacecraft.” Stephen Gardner, helping to design a (very small) satellite.

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