On 5 May 1961, Alan B. Shepard became the first American in space, breaking two FAI records for highest altitude and greatest mass lifted to altitude for his suborbital spaceflight.
Shepard’s achievement came just 23 days after Yuri A. Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth.
On 19 April 1971, 50 years ago, the world’s first space station – Salyut 1 – was launched.
Its debut success for the Soviet Salyut program paved the way for the future of space exploration, allowing astronauts to spend extended periods of time in space and conduct the scientific experiments and make the observations that have shaped human history, as well as breaking numerous space records, all ratified by the FAI.
On 12 April 2021 the FAI is celebrating the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic orbit around the Earth, for which he achieved three FAI world records and made a lasting impact on human space exploration.
Following three weeks in quarantine, astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins embarked on a 38-day world tour of over twenty countries, starting in Mexico.
Greeted as heroes across the continents, they become a worldwide sensation, featuring on commemorative merchandise such as stamps, medals and coins from Pakistan to Portugal.
24th July 1969: The day the Apollo 11 crew made it safely back to Earth and fulfilled the goal set by US President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961, "to perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth."
Following Lunar Module Eagle's successful rendez-vous with the Michael Collins who had been orbiting the moon in Columbia, the crew made a television broadcast to Earth, thanking those who had worked on the project and reassuring the world waiting below that they had complete faith in their equipment for a successful return.
A vital part of the Apollo 11 mission was to collect rock samples to return to eagerly awaiting scientists for analysis back on Earth. But how could the first humans on the moon resist leaving a message for future visitors to find?
Image: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon near the lunar module Eagle. Mission Commander Neil Armstrong took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera.
On July 20th 1969, Armstrong and Aldrin made their final descent to the moon’s surface and became the first humans on the moon.
