12 Epic Space Journeys

12 Epic Space Journeys — page 1 — 1 Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin Is First Person in Space this reason they ran Vostok 1 from the ground The spacecraft launched from a site in the Soviet Union Gagarin radioed Poyekhali Russian for The Soviet Union took a big lead in the space race on April 12 1961 At the time the United States and the Soviet Union were in a conflict called the Cold War They competed to show who had better technology and military strength The space race was a large part of the Cold War The Russians launched a spacecraft into orbit around Earth on April 12 1961 Yuri Gagarin was a 27-year old Russian Air Force pilot He rode inside Vostok 1 Objects in outer space experience weightlessness The engineers in charge of the mission did not know how this would affect Gagarin’s ability to control the spacecraft For 4 Gagarin beat the United States effort to send the first person in space by at least two weeks

12 Epic Space Journeys — page 2 — Vostok 1 replica stands at the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy in Moscow Off we go He flew over Siberia diagonally across the Pacific Ocean and over the Hawaiian Islands He flew around the southern tip of South Africa and northeast across the Atlantic After about one hour over Africa engines fired to slow Vostok 1 It began to descend over Egypt When the spacecraft reached the Soviet Union Gagarin ejected He landed with a parachute He completed one orbit around the Earth Gagarin became an international hero as the first person in space NASA The Soviet Union launched Sputnik on October 4 1957 It was the first human-made object to enter Earth’s orbit To compete with the Soviets US President Dwight D Eisenhower signed an order to create the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA NASA is the government agency in charge of space exploration 108 Length in minutes of flight by Vostok 1 Vostok 1 launched on April 12 1961 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin rode inside the spacecraft Gagarin made one orbit of Earth 5

12 Epic Space Journeys — page 3 — 2 6 Astronaut Neil Armstrong Is First Human on Moon On July 20 1969 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission A rocket launched the command and lunar modules Near the moon the modules separated Armstrong and Aldrin landed in the lunar module A third astronaut Michael Collins orbited the moon in the command module President Kennedy’s goal was met and an important milestone was passed when Armstrong stepped out of the module and placed a foot on the moon In 1961 US President John F Kennedy set a goal of landing a person on the moon before 1970 NASA created the Apollo program to meet this goal The early Apollo missions tested the rockets needed to put a person on the moon A practice run of the first manned mission ended in a terrible accident On January 27 1967 three astronauts died in a fire that broke out in the Apollo 1 spacecraft Despite the tragedy of Apollo 1 NASA kept working on their goal On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans aboard Apollo 8 went from Earth orbit to lunar orbit This was the first successful manned mission to the moon Astronauts Frank Borman Bill Anders and Jim Lovell were the first humans to see the far side of the moon in person

12 Epic Space Journeys — page 4 — Approximately 530 million people watched the moon landing on TV THINK ABOUT IT Astronaut Neil Armstrong’s words when he stepped onto the moon became famous He said That’s one small step for a man One giant leap for mankind What did he mean 7 12 Number of people who have walked on the moon NASA’s Apollo program ran from 1961 to 1972 Neil Armstrong took the first step on the moon from Apollo 11 The Apollo program led the way for future human space flight

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