Knowledge Organiser: Class: Gorillas Subject: History – The Space Race Who were the first people to travel into space/the moon and what did they accomplish? Timeline of events: Key Vocabulary/Terminology: 1955: US and Soviet Union announce they will be launching satellites into orbit The Cold War: was a long period of tension th between the Western World and the countries of 1957: October 4 : Soviets successfully launch the first satellite into orbit with Sputnik 1 Eastern Europe. The west was led by the United 1958: February: four months later, US launches first successful satellite into orbit: Explorer 1 States and Eastern Europe was led by the Soviet Union. These two countries became known as 1961: Soviet Union’s first man in space: Yuri Gagarin. He orbited the Earth in Vostok 1 and superpowers. became a hero to the Soviet Union and a celebrity worldwide The Soviet Union: a country also known as the 1961: Three weeks later, the US send their spacecraft, Freedom 7 and astronaut Alan Shepard USSR that existed from 1922 to 1991 became the first American in space. Rocket engineers: someone who builds and tests 1961: May 25th: John F Kennedy (US President) claimed that America (The US) would be the first rockets nation to land a man on the moon before the end of the decade. The Apollo program was V2s: the world’s first long-range guided ballistic launched. missile 1962: February: John Glenn: first American to orbit Earth Orbit: the curved path of a celestial object or spacecraft round a star, planet, or moon 1963: June 16th: Astronaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to travel in space for the Soviet Union Satellite: an artificial body placed in orbit round the earth or moon or another planet in order to collect 1965: Alexi Leonov achieves the first spacewalk for the Soviet Union for 12 minutes and 9 information or for communication. seconds Sputnik 1: Soviet Union’s first successful satellite 1965: Ed White becomes the first astronaut to walk in space for the US into orbit 1966: NASA’s Gemini program (US) achieves the first docking of two spacecraft in Earth’s orbit Explorer 1: US first successful satellite into orbit 1969: July 16th: Apollo 11 spacecraft launched into space with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Vostok 1: spacecraft used by Yuri Gagarin to orbit Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins the Earth 1969: July 20th: The Lunar Module, The Eagle lands on the moon. Neil Armstrong steps out on Decade: a period of ten years the moon, famously saying, ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’ – The US The Apollo Program: a series of spaceflights led by wins The Space Race! the US with the aim of putting a man on the moon. 1975: interest in lunar missions dies down. The relationship between The Soviet Union and the Apollo 11: spacecraft that carried three US US improves and a joint program called the Apollo-Soyuz mission sees both sides dock together astronauts to the moon in space and the commanders of each craft shake hands. .