On 4th , the launched Sputnik, the world's first man-made into .

Sputnik was smaller than 2 in diameter.

It started the between the US and the USSR (the Soviets), which lasted years.

Before that, at the end of World II, they had captured scientists to get their missile attacks technology.

The thing about Sputnik was the fact that the same could be used to launch a .

So Eisenhower ordered that the navy launched satellites as as .

On December , an American satellite took off and to the ground 2 seconds later. It was a embarrassment for the US: printed headlines like and .

Fortunately, the army Explorer project was launched in .

Then, Yuri Gagarine the first man in in April .

Project Mercury made the first American in in .

In May 1961, President Kennedy announced the goal of a man on the by the end of the s.

They succeeded in this through the , with Neil Armsstrong taking his famous on July 28th .

The US and the USSR then moved to rather than and started building together the first space stations through the joined Apollo-Soyuz mission.

The American and Soviets crews , and . It marked the end of the Space Race in .