Satellites/Probes
This satellite was the first to orbit the Earth on October 4th, 1957
Sputnik
This country was the first to put a man into orbit, entirely skipping sub-orbital spaceflight.
Soviet Union (USSR)
This rocket was the first, and currently only, to launch humans to the moon.
This person was the first to walk on the Moon and was a Purdue alumni.
Neil Armstrong
This mission would be the first to send humans beyond low Earth orbit and into Lunar orbit.
Apollo 8
This probe was the first to explore another planet besides Earth, flying by Mars in 1965.
Mariner 4
This country, while not having any domestic spaceflight capability, also has one of the busiest spaceports in the world.
Kazakhstan
This rocket was the first developed ballistic missile, and the first to reach above the Karman line.
V-2
This person holds the record for the longest gap between two orbital spaceflights. His first was in 1962, and his second was in 1998.
John Glenn
This mission would be the final mission to land on the Moon, leaving on December 14th, 1972.
Apollo 17
This satellite, while nonfunctional, is the oldest orbiting satellite at 66 years, 10 months, and 19 days.
Vanguard 1
This country was the first to launch a cat into Space, doing so in 1963.
France
This rocket was developed in America and was the first orbital rocket to use only Solid propellent.
Scout
This person was the head of NASA from 1961 till 1968 and was instrumental in the development of the Apollo program. He also has a telescope named after him.
James Webb
This mission would be the final Space Shuttle mission, returning to Earth on July 21st, 2011.
STS-135
These probes first flew by Venus, releasing their descent modules, before performing a gravity assist and flying by Haleys Comet.
Vega Probes
This country was the 6th to develop domestic orbital spaceflight, however they abandoned it as it was too expensive; They would only ever launch 1 satellite called Prospero.
Britian
This rocket was the first to launch an American satellite, however it failed just 2 seconds after liftoff.
Vanguard
This astronaut holds the record for being the first to perform an EVA untethered, using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).
Bruce McCandless II
This mission was the first mission to a space station; However, it would end in tragedy with the deaths of all 3 cosmonauts.
Soyuz 11
This probe was recently launched towards Jupiter, and will study three of its moons: Ganymede, Calisto, and Europa.
Jupiter Icey Moons Explorer (JUICE)
This country tried to develop the world's first orbital space cannon; However, their main engineer would be assassinated in 1990.
Iraq
This rocket was the first ever liquid-fueled rocket to be launched and flew to a height of 41 feet or 12.5 meters.
Goddard-1
While Yuri Gagarin was the first person in space and to orbit the Earth, this cosmonaut was Gagarin's backup for Vostok 1 and was the second person in space on Vostok 2.
Gherman Titov
This mission holds the record for the longest ever EVA performed, coming in at 9 hours and 6 minutes. It was recently performed on December 17th, 2024, breaking the previous American record.
Shenzhou 19