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On August 2, 1955 the Space Race had begun when the Soviet Union had responded to Untied States announcement of sending satellites into space. The origins of the Space Race were the United States and the Soviet Union competing in building and innovating nuclear weapons.

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Soviet Union Flag Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty-Free Images - iStock

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Search from Soviet Union Flag stock photos, pictures and royalty-free images from iStock. Find high-quality stock photos that you won't find anywhere else.

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On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union had sent the Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile carrying Sputnik, the first artificial sateliite to reach space.

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One month later during 1957 the USSR launches Sputnik 2 which sends the first living organism into space, the dog Laika. This had shown that living organisms could safely travel into space and return back to Earth.

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On January 31, 1958 the US launches their first mission in the Space Race, Explorer 1, which was the first US satellite to reach space.

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The USSR launches Luna 1 on January 2, 1959 which was meant to orbit and take pictures of the moon and is known as the ,"Cosmic rocket" since it accidentally escaped the orbit of the moon and orbited the sun instead.

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On August 7, 1959 the US launches Explorer 6 the worlds first weather satellite and obtains the first pictures of Earth.

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On September 11, 1959 the USSR launches Luna 2 and becomes the first man made object to land on the moon.

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On October 4, 1959 the USSR launches Luna 3 and succeeds in photographing the far side of the moon and sending an object around the orbit of the moon.

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The Soviet Union in their Sputnik 5 mission succeeds in returning the two dogs, Belka and Strelka, and a few plants into space and safely back to Earth.

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On January 31, 1961 the US successfully sends a chimpanzee into space and safely returns it back to Earth.

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On April 12, 1961 the Soviet Union sends Yuri Gagarin onboard Vostok 1 who makes a single orbit around Earth and stays in space for one hour and fourty-eight minutes; therefore, becoming the first human in space.

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On May 5, 1961 the US sends Alan Shepard aboard the Mercury-Redstone 3 into space but he did not orbit Earth. Instead, he was 116 miles high and the flight lasted for 15 minutes.

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On June 16, 1963 Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first civilian and woman aboard Vostok 6 and orbits the Earth 48 times and spends almost 3 days in space.

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On March 18, 1965 Alexei Leonov leaves his spacecraft, the Voskhod 2, and conducts the first space walk which lasted for 12 minutes.

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On July 14, 1965 the US satellite Mariner 4 performs the first successful mission to Mars returning the first close up images.

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On December 21, 1968 Apollo 8 becomes the first human crewed mission by the US to orbit the moon and successfully come back to Earth.

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On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the moon in their Apollo 11 mission by the US. This was seen as a win by the US and was witnessed on TV worldwide by 723 million people.

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On April 11, 1970 the US Apollo 13 mission had an explosion and was the first time a spacecraft had survived an explosion in space. This mission was supposed to land on the moon but had to be turned back because of the explosion.

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On April 19, 1971 the USSR launches the first space station, Salyut 1, and the Salyut program followed with five more successful launches of seven more space stations. Parts of this space station will become the core segments of the International Space Station.

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On August 1, 1971 David Scott, the commander of the Apollo 15 mission to the moon, became the first man to drive a vehicle on the moon. He also payed tribute to those who died in the Soviet Union and the US for space exploration. When he was walking on the moon he placed a plaque with a list of dead in space exploration and a aluminum sculpture of an astronaut.

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With the tensions between the USSR and the US softening the Apollo-Soyuz mission is launched on July 15, 1975 in which the Apollo spacecraft by the US and the Soyuz spacecraft by the Soviet Union dock in space. The two commanders ,Tom Stafford Alexei Leonov from the US and Soviet Union, exchange the first international handshake and this marks the end of the space race.