1961-1965

April 12, 1961 First Man in Space May 5, 1961 First American in Space May 25, 1961 President Kennedy's Historic Speech February 20, 1962 First American in Orbit March 18, 1965 First Space Walk July 14, 1965 First Close-up Images of Mars

First Man in Space In this time period Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first human to go into space. The Vostok 1 spacecraft made one complete orbit around Earth in 108 minutes, and reached altitudes of 112 to 203 miles. The flight lasted only one hour and 48 minutes. During the flight technology was not so advanced therefore he was likely to die but he returned safely. He was very young and died in a training accident in 1968.

First American in Space On May 5, 1961, Astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American to be launched into space. He only lasted 15 minutes in space because of his weight. 5 minutes of that time he felt lighter and went back into his capsule. On your right is Alan Sheppard. The mission was successful but did not go as planned. He also had to check the maneuvering capability on his mercury capsule.

JFK’s Historic Speech 20 days after Alan Shepards success President Kennedy announces a speech. The speech states a challenge to send a man on the moon before the end of the decade. The challenge also includes to bring the man back to America safely. President Kennedy also seized all missions to complete this challenge. President Kennedy said that he had given the funds to complete this mission. He also said that it would have been the most important mission of all because we have not met deadlines for our missions.

First American Orbit On Your right is john Glenn. He is the first American to orbit the earth. When he was launched his mission was to follow the Atlas D rocket. The mission was a success and he completed 3 orbits. It took 4 hours and 56 minutes. Since NASA was born more missions have been successful.

First Space Walk The first space walk occurred on March 18 1965. The people who walked in space are Commander Pavel 1, Belyayeu and pilot Alexei A. Lenov. They were sent into space to orbit the Voskhod 2. It was the first tethered spacewalk. The mission only lasted 12 minutes. As you can see In the picturethe people are in the small pod. On the bottom is the voskhod 2. which is much smaller than the voskhod 1.

First Close-up Images of Mars Mariner 4 arrived at Mars and gave scientists their first views of the planet at close range. The photos showed no sign of life. It only showed many rocks and a bumpy area. On your right is one of the pictures received from the Mariner 4. ON the bottom is the Mariner 4. You can see the camera and satellite sending the pictures.