Timeline: 50 Years ofSpaceflightBy

Astronaut Ed White floats in zero gravity of space off the coast ofCalifornia during the Gemini IV mission.

On Oct. 4, 2007, the Space Age celebrated the 50thanniversary of the historic launch of Sputnik, the firstartificial satellite, by the former Soviet Union.

The space shot also launched the Space Race to themoon between the United States and the Soviet Union.But despite that turbulent beginning, the initial launch hasled to five decades of triumphs and tragedies in spacescience and exploration.

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Below is a timeline by Space News and SPACE.comchronicling the first 50 years of spaceflight. You areinvited to walk through the half century of spaceexploration and click related links for more in depthinformation:

Sometime in the 11th century: China combines sulfur,charcoal and saltpeter (potassium nitrate) to makegunpowder, the first fuel used to propel early rockets inChinese warfare.

July 4, 1054: Chinese astronomers observe thesupernova in Taurus that formed the Crab Nebula.

Mid-1700s: Hyder Ali, the Sultan of Mysome in India,begins manufacturing rockets sheathed in iron, notcardboard or paper, to improve their range and stability.

March 16, 1926: Robert Goddard, sometimes referred toas the "Father of Modern Rocketry," launches the firstsuccessful liquid-fueled rocket.

July 17, 1929: Robert Goddard launches a rocket thatcarries with it the first set of scientific tools — abarometer and a camera — in Auburn, Mass. The launchwas Goddard's fourth.

Feb. 18, 1930: The dwarf planet Pluto is discovered byAmerican astronomer Clyde Tombaugh at Lowell

Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Oct. 3, 1942: Germany successfully test launches thefirst ballistic missile, the A4, more commonly known asthe V-2, and later uses it near the end of Europeancombat in World War II.

Sep. 29, 1945: Wernher von Braun arrives at Ft. Bliss,Texas, with six other German rocket specialists.

Oct. 14, 1947: American test pilot Chuck Yeager breaksthe sound barrier for the first time in the X-1, also knownas Glamorous Glennis.

Oct. 4, 1957: A modified R-7 two-stage ICBM launchesthe satellite Sputnik 1 from Tyuratam. The Space Racebetween the Soviet Union and the United States begins.

Nov. 3, 1957: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2 withthe first living passenger, the dog Laika, aboard.

Dec. 6, 1957: A Vanguard TV-3 carrying a grapefruit-sized satellite explodes at launch; a failed response to theSputnik launch by the United States.

Jan. 31, 1958: Explorer 1, the first satellite with anonboard telemetry system, is launched by the UnitedStates into orbit aboard a Juno rocket and returns datafrom space.

Oct. 7, 1958: NASA Administrator T. Keith Glennanpublicly announces NASA's manned spaceflight program

along with the formation of the Space Task Group, apanel of scientist and engineers from space-policyorganizations absorbed by NASA. The announcementcame just six days after NASA was founded.

Jan. 2, 1959: The U.S.S.R. launches Luna 1, whichmisses the moon but becomes the first artificial object toleave Earth orbit.

Jan. 12, 1959: NASA awards McDonnell Corp. thecontract to manufacture the Mercury capsules.

Feb. 28, 1959: NASA launches Discover 1, the U.S. firstspy satellite, but it is not until the Aug. 11, 1960, launch ofDiscover 13 that film is recovered successfully.

May 28, 1959: The United States launches the firstprimates in space, Able and Baker, on a suborbital flight.

Aug. 7, 1959: NASA's Explorer 6 launches and providesthe first photographs of the Earth from space.

Sept. 12, 1959: The Soviet Union's Luna 2 is launchedand two days later is intentionally crashed into the Moon.

Sept. 17, 1959: NASA's X-15 hypersonic research plane,capable of speeds to Mach 6.7, makes its first poweredflight.

Oct. 24, 1960: To rush the launch of a Mars probebefore the Nov. 7 anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution,Field Marshall Mitrofan Nedelin ignored several safety

protocols and 126 people are killed when the R-16 ICBMexplodes at the Baikonur Cosmodrome during launchpreparations.

Feb. 12, 1961: The Soviet Union launches Venera toVenus, but the probe stops responding after a week.

April 12, 1961: Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man inspace with a 108-minute flight on Vostok 1 in which hecompleted one orbit.

May 5, 1961: Mercury Freedom 7 launches on aRedstone rocket for a 15-minute suborbital flight, makingAlan Shepard the first American in space.

May 25, 1961: In a speech before Congress, PresidentJohn Kennedy announces that an American will land onthe moon and be returned safely to Earth before the endof the decade.

Oct. 27, 1961: Saturn 1, the rocket for the initial Apollomissions, is tested for the first time.

Feb. 20, 1962: John Glenn makes the first U.S. mannedorbital flight aboard Mercury 6.

June 7, 1962: Wernher von Braun backs the idea of aLunar Orbit Rendezvous mission.

July 10, 1962: The United States launches Telstar 1,which enables the trans-Atlantic transmission oftelevision signals.

June 14, 1962: Agreements are signed establishing theEuropean Space Research Organisation and theEuropean Launcher Development Organisation. Botheventually were dissolved.

July 28, 1962: The U.S.S.R launches its first successfulspy satellite, designated Cosmos 7.

Aug. 27, 1962: Mariner 2 launches and eventuallyperforms the first successful interplanetary flyby when itpasses by Venus.

Sept. 29, 1962: Canada's Alouette 1 launches aboard aNASA Thor-Agena B rocket, becoming the first satellitefrom a country other than the United States or SovietUnion.

June 16, 1963: Valentina Tereshkova becomes the firstwoman to fly into space.

July 28, 1964: Ranger 7 launches and is the Rangerseries' first success, taking photographs of the moonuntil it crashes into its surface four days later.

April 8, 1964: Gemini 1, a two-seat spacecraft system,launches in an unmanned flight.

Aug. 19, 1964: NASA's Syncom 3 launches aboard aThor-Delta rocket, becoming the first geostationarytelecommunications satellite.

Oct. 12, 1964: The Soviet Union launches Voskhod 1, a

modified Vostok orbiter with a three-person crew.

March 18, 1965: Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov makesthe first spacewalk from the Voskhod 2 orbiter.

March 23, 1965: Gemini 3, the first of the mannedGemini missions, launches with a two-person crew on aTitan 2 rocket, making astronaut Gus Grissom the firstman to travel in space twice.

June 3, 1965: Ed White, during the Gemini 4 mission,becomes the first American to walk in space.

July 14, 1965: Mariner 4 executes the first successfulMars flyby.

Aug. 21, 1965: Gemini 5 launches on an eight-daymission.

Dec. 15, 1965: Gemini 6 launches and performs arendezvous with Gemini 7.

Jan. 14, 1966: The Soviet Union's chief designer, SergeiKorolev, dies from complications stemming from routinesurgery, leaving the Soviet space program without itsmost influential leader of the preceding 20 years.

Feb. 3, 1966: The unmanned Soviet spacecraft Luna 9makes the first soft landing on the Moon.

March 1, 1966: The Soviet Union's Venera 3 probebecomes the first spacecraft to land on the planetVenus,

but its communications system failed before data couldbe returned.

March 16, 1966: Gemini 8 launches on a Titan 2 rocketand later docks with a previously launched Agena rocket— the first docking between two orbiting spacecraft.

April 3, 1966: The Soviet Luna 10 space probe enterslunar orbit, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit theMoon.

June 2, 1966: Surveyor 1, a lunar lander, performs thefirst successful U.S. soft landing on the Moon.

Jan. 27, 1967: All three astronauts for NASA's Apollo 1mission suffocate from smoke inhalationin a cabin fireduring a launch pad test.

April 5, 1967: A review board delivers a damning reportto NASA Administrator James Webb about problem areasin the Apollo spacecraft. The recommendedmodifications are completed by Oct. 9, 1968.

April 23, 1967: Soyuz 1 launches but myriad problemssurface. The solar panels do not unfold, there are stabilityproblems and the parachute fails to open on descentcausing the death of Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov.

Oct. 11, 1968: Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission,launches on a Saturn 1 for an 11-day mission in Earthorbit. The mission also featured the first live TV

broadcast of humans in space.

Dec. 21, 1968: Apollo 8 launches on a Saturn V andbecomes the first manned mission to orbit the moon.

Jan. 16, 1969: Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 rendezvous anddock and perform the first in-orbit crew transfer.

March 3, 1969: Apollo 9 launches. During the mission,tests of the lunar module are conducted in Earth orbit.

May 22, 1969: Apollo 10's Lunar Module Snoopy comeswithin 8.6 miles (14 kilometers) of the moon's surface.

July 20, 1969: Six years after U.S. President John F.Kennedy's assassination, the Apollo 11 crew lands on theMoon, fulfilling his promise to put an American there bythe end of the decade and return him safely to Earth.

Nov. 26, 1965: France launches its first satellite, Astérix,on a Diamant A rocket, becoming the third nation to doso.

Feb. 11, 1970: Japan's Lambda 4 rocket launches aJapanese test satellite, Ohsumi into orbit.

April 13, 1970: An explosion ruptures thecommandmodule of Apollo 13, days after launch and within reachof the moon. Abandoning the mission to save their lives,the astronauts climb into the Lunar Module and slingshotaround the Moon to speed their return back to Earth.

April 24, 1970: The People's Republic of China launchesits first satellite, Dong Fang Hong-1, on a Long March 1rocket, becoming the fifth nation capable of launching itsown satellites into space.

Sept. 12: 1970: The Soviet Union launches Luna 16, thefirst successful automated lunar sample retrieval mission.

April 19, 1971: A Proton rocket launches thefirst spacestation, Salyut 1, from Baikonur.

June 6, 1971: Soyuz 11 launches successfully, dockingwith Salyut 1. The three cosmonauts are killed during re-entry from a pressure leak in the cabin.

July 26, 1971: Apollo 15 launches with a Boeing-builtLunar Roving Vehicle and better life-support equipmentto explore the Moon.

Oct. 28, 1971: The United Kingdom successfullylaunches its Prospero satellite into orbit on a Black Arrowrocket, becoming the sixth nation capable of launching itsown satellites into space.

Nov. 13, 1971: Mariner 9 becomes the first spacecraft toorbit Mars and provides the first complete map of theplanet's surface.

Jan. 5, 1972: U.S. President Richard Nixon announcesthat NASA is developing a reusable launch vehicle, thespace shuttle.

March 3, 1972: Pioneer 10, the first spacecraft to leavethe solar system, launches from Cape Kennedy, Fla.

Dec. 19, 1972: Apollo 17, the last mission to the moon,returns to Earth.

May 14, 1973: A Saturn V rocket launches Skylab, theUnited States' first space station.

March 29, 1974: Mariner 10 becomes the first spacecraftto fly by Mercury.

April 19, 1975: The Soviet Union launches India's firstsatellite, Aryabhata.

May 31, 1975: The European Space Agency is formed.

July 17 1975: Soyuz-19 and Apollo 18 dock.

Aug. 9, 1975: ESA launches its first satellite, Cos-B,aboard a Thor-Delta rocket.

Sept. 9, 1975: Viking 2, composed of a lander and anorbiter, launches for Mars.

July 20, 1976: The U.S. Viking 1 lands on Mars,becoming the first successful Mars lander.

Aug. 20, 1977: Voyager 2 is launched on a course towardUranus and Neptune.

Sept. 5, 1977: Voyager 1 is launched to perform flybys of

Jupiter and Saturn.

Sept. 29, 1977: Salyut 6 reaches orbit. It is the firstspace station equipped with docking stations on eitherend, which allow for two vehicles to dock at once,including the Progress supply ship.

Feb. 22, 1978: The first GPS satellite, Navstar 1,launches aboard an Atlas F rocket.

July 11, 1979: Skylab, the first American space station,crashes back to Earth in the sparsely populatedgrasslands of western Australia.

Sept. 1, 1979: Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft tofly past Saturn.

Dec. 24, 1979: The French-built Ariane rocket, Europe'sfirst launch vehicle, launches successfully.

July 18 1980: India launches its Rohini 1 satellite. Byusing its domestically developed SLV-3 rocket, Indiabecomes the seventh nation capable of sending objectsinto space by itself.

April 12, 1981: Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off fromCape Canaveral, beginning the first space mission forNASA's new astronaut transportation system.

June 24, 1982: French air force test pilot Jean-LoupChrétien launches to the Soviet Union's Salyut 7 aboardSoyuz T-6.

Nov. 11, 1982: Shuttle Columbia launches. During itsmission, it deploys two commercial communicationssatellites.

June 18, 1983: Sally Ride aboard the Space ShuttleChallenger becomes the first American woman in space.

Feb. 7, 1984: Astronauts Bruce McCandless and RobertStewart maneuver as many as 328 feet (100 meters)from the Space Shuttle Challenger using the MannedManeuvering Unit, which contains small thrusters, in thefirst ever untethered spacewalks.

April 8, 1984: Challenger crew repairs the Solar Maxsatellite during a spacewalk.

Sept. 11: 1985: The International Cometary Explorer,launched by NASA in 1978, performs the first cometflyby.

Jan. 24, 1986: Voyager 2 completes the first and onlyspacecraft flyby of Uranus.

Jan. 28, 1986: Challenger broke apart 73 seconds afterlaunch after its external tank exploded, grounding theshuttle fleet for more than two years.

Feb. 20, 1986: The Soviet Union launches theMir spacestation.

March 13, 1986: A two-cosmonaut crew launchesaboard Soyuz T-15 to power up the Mir space station.

During their 18-month mission, they also revive theabandoned Salyut 7, and take parts that are later placedaboard Mir.

June 15, 1988: PanAmSat launches its first satellite,PanAmSat 1, on an Ariane 4 rocket, giving Intelsat its firsttaste of competition.

Sept. 19, 1988: Israel launches its first satellite, the Ofeq1 reconnaissance probe, aboard an Israeli Shavit rocket.

Nov. 15, 1988: The Soviet Union launches its Buranspace shuttle on its only flight, an unpiloted test.

May 4, 1989: The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches theMagellan space probe to use radar to map the surface ofVenus.

Oct. 18, 1989: Shuttle Atlantis launches with Jupiter-bound Galileo space probe on board.

April 7, 1990: China launches the Asiasat-1communications satellite, completing its first commercialcontract.

April 25, 1990: The Space Shuttle Discovery releasesthe Hubble Space Telescopeinto Earth orbit.

Oct. 29, 1991: The U.S. Galileo spacecraft, on its way toJupiter, successfully encounters the asteroid Gaspra,obtaining images and other data during its flyby.

April 23, 1992: The U.S. Cosmic Background Explorerspacecraft detects the first evidence of structure in theresidual radiation left over from the Big Bang that createdthe Universe.

Dec. 28, 1992: Lockheed and Khrunichev Enterpriseannounce plans to form Lockheed-Khrunichev-EnergiaInternational, a new company to market Proton rockets.

June 21, 1993: Shuttle Endeavour launches carryingSpacehab, a privately owned laboratory that sits in theshuttle cargo bay.

Dec. 2, 1993: Endeavour launches on a mission to repairtheHubble Space Telescope.

Dec. 17, 1993: DirecTV launches its first satellite,DirecTV 1, aboard an Ariane 4 rocket.

Feb. 7, 1994: The first Milstar secure communicationssatellite launches. The geosynchronous satellites areused by battlefield commanders and for strategiccommunications.

Oct. 15, 1994: India launches its four-stage PolarSatelliteLaunch Vehicle for the first time.

Jan. 26, 1995: A Chinese Long March rocket carryingthe Hughes-built Apstar-1 rocket fails. The accidentinvestigation, along with the probe of a subsequent LongMarch failure that destroyed an Intelsat satellite, leads to

technology-transfer allegations that ultimately result inthe U.S. government barring launches of American-builtsatellites on Chinese rockets.

Feb. 3, 1995: The Space Shuttle Discovery launchesanddocks with the Mir space station.

March 15, 1995: Aerospace giants Lockheed Corp. andMartin Marietta Corp. merge.

July 13, 1995: Galileo releases its space probe, which isbound for Jupiter and its moons.

Aug. 7, 1996: NASA and Stanford University researchersannounce a paper contending that a 4-billion-year-oldMartian meteorite, called ALH 84001, found in Antarcticain 1984, contains fossilized traces of carbonate materialsthat suggest primitive life might once have existed onMars. That contention remains controversial.

May 5, 1997: Satellite mobile phone company Iridiumlaunches its first five satellites on a Delta 2 rocket.

June 25 1997: An unmanned Russian Progress supplyspacecraft collides with the Mir space station.

July 4, 1997: The Mars Pathfinder lander and itsaccompanying Sojourner rover touch down on thesurface of Mars.

Aug. 1, 1997: The Boeing Co. and the McDonnellDouglas Corp. merge, keeping Boeing's name.

Feb. 14, 1998: Globalstar, a satellite mobile telephonecompany, launches its first four satellites on a Delta 2rocket.

Sept. 9, 1998: A Russian Zenit 2 rocket launches andsubsequently crashes, destroying all 12 Loral-builtGlobalstar satellites aboard. The payload had anestimated value of about $180 million.

Nov. 20, 1998: Russia's Zarya control module, the firstsegment of the International Space Station, launches intospace and unfurls its solar arrays.

March 27, 1999: Sea Launch Co. launches ademonstration satellite, successfully completing its firstlaunch.

July 23, 1999: The Chandra X-ray observatory, NASA'sflagship mission for X-ray astronomy, launches aboardthe Space Shuttle Columbia.

Aug. 13, 1999: Iridium files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy,after being unable to pay its creditors. Iridium SatelliteLLC later acquired the original Iridium's assets frombankruptcy.

Nov. 19, 1999: China successfully test launches theunmanned Shenzhou 1.

July 10, 2000: Europe's largest aerospace company,European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., EADS,

forms with the consolidation of DaimlerChryslerAerospace AG of Munich, Aerospatiale Matra S.A. ofParis, and Construcciones Aeronáuticas S.A. of Madrid.

March 18, 2001: After launch delays with XM-1, XMSatellite Radio's XM-2 satellite becomes the company'sfirst satellite in orbit when it is launched by Sea LaunchCo.

March 23, 2001: After being mothballed in 1999, Mirdescends into the Earth's atmosphere and breaks up overthe Pacific Ocean.

May 6, 2001: U.S. entrepreneur Dennis Tito returns toEarth aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to become theworld's first paying tourist to visit the International SpaceStation.

Aug. 29, 2001: Japan's workhorse launch system, thetwo-stage H-2A rocket, launches for the first time.

Feb. 15, 2002: After having trouble selling its satellitemobile phone service, Globalstar voluntarily files forChapter 11 bankruptcy protection from escalatingcreditor debt. The company emerged from bankruptcyApril 14, 2004.

Feb. 1, 2003: The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegratesas it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, killing the crew.Damage from insulating foam hitting the orbiter's leadingwing on liftoff is later cited as the cause of the accident.

Aug 22, 2003: The VLS-V03, a Brazilian prototyperocket, explodes on the launch pad at Alcántara killing 21people.

Aug. 25, 2003: NASA launches the Spitzer SpaceTelescope aboard a Delta rocket.

Oct. 1, 2003: Japan's two space agencies, the Instituteof Space and Astronautical Science and the NationalSpace Development Agency of Japan, merge into theJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Oct. 15, 2003: Yang Liwei becomes China's firsttaikonaut, having launched aboard Shenzhou 5.

Jan. 4, 2004: The first Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit,lands on Mars. Its twin, Opportunity lands Jan. 25.

Jan. 14, 2004: President George W. Bush advocatesspace exploration missions to the moon and Mars forNASA in his Vision for Space Exploration speech.

Sept. 20, 2004: India launches its three-stageGeosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle for the firsttime.

Oct. 4, 2004: Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne pilotedcraft wins the X Prize by flying over 100 kilometers aboveEarth twice within two weeks.

July 26, 2005: Discovery becomes the first shuttle tolaunch since the Columbia disaster more than two years

before. While the crew returned safely, the loss of severalpieces of foam debris prompted further investigation,which delayed future shuttle missions.

Oct. 12, 2005: A two-taikonaut crew launches aboardthe Chinese Shenzhou 6.

Oct 19, 2005: The last of the Martin Marietta-built Titan4 heavy-lift rockets launches.

Jan. 19, 2006: New Horizons, NASA's first-ever missionto the dwarf planet Pluto and its moons, launches atop anAtlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Flies pastJupiter one year later in what is billed as NASA's fastestmission to date.

July 3, 2006: Intelsat acquires fellow fixed satelliteservice provider PanAmSat for $6.4 billion.

July 4, 2006: NASA's second post-Columbia accidenttest flight, STS-121 aboard Discovery, begins asuccessful space station-bound mission, returning theU.S. orbiter fleet to flight status.

Sept. 9., 2006: NASA resumes construction of theInternational Space Station with the launch of the shuttleAtlantis on STS-115 after two successful return to flighttest missions. Atlantis' launch occurs after nearly fouryears without a station construction flight.

Oct. 11, 2006: Lockheed Martin completes the sale of its

majority share in International Launch Services to SpaceTransport Inc. for $60 million.

Jan. 11, 2007: China downs one of its weather satellites,Fengyun-1C, with a ground launched missile. In doing so,China joins Russia and the United States as the onlynations to have successfully tested anti-satelliteweapons.

April 6, 2007: The European Commission approves theacquisition of French-Italian Alcatel Alenia by Paris-basedThales, thus creating satellite manufacturer Thales AleniaSpace.?

Aug. 8, 2007: NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour launchestoward the International Space Station on the STS-118construction mission. The shuttle crew includes teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan, NASA's first educatorspaceflyer, who originally served backup for the firstTeacher-in-Space Christa McAuliffe who was lost with sixcrewmates during the 1986 Challenger accident.

Sept. 27, 2007: Dawn, the first ion-powered probe tovisit two celestial bodies in one go, launches on an eight-year mission to the asteroid Vesta and dwarf planetCeres, the two largest space rocks in the solar system.

Oct. 1, 2007: NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, the firstfemale commander of the International Space Station,prepares for an Oct. 10 launch with her Expedition 16crewmate Yuri Malenchenko and Malaysia's first

astronaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. Whitson, andNASA's second female shuttle commander PamelaMelroy, will command a joint space station constructionmission in late October.

Oct. 4, 2007: The Space Age turns 50, five decadesafter the historic launch of Sputnik 1.

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