THe timeline of space events leading up to Apollo 11
Space Exploration Timeline: Jan 1, 1958: US launches first satellite, Explorer. Mar 17, 1958: US launches Vanguard satellite, which continues to transmit date for three years Oct 1, 1958: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) is formed, replacing the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (Naca) May 28, 1959: First monkeys to survive space flight return to Earth after being launched in Jupiter AM-18 missile from Cape Canaveral in Florida. May 5, 1961: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space. May 25, 1961: President John F Kennedy addresses congress and challenges nation to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. Feb 20, 1962: American John Glenn orbits the Earth three times. Oct 3, 1962: American Walter Schirra orbits the Earth six times. July 31, 1964: Ranger 7 transmits the first close-range images of the Moon. Jun 3, 1965: Ed White performs America’s firsts spacewalk. Apr 3, 1966: Luna 10 becomes first satellite to orbit the Moon. Jun 2, 1966: America’s Surveyor 1 soft-lands on the Moon. Jan 27, 1967: Three US astronauts, Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chafee, are killed when a fire ignites in their Apollo 1 capsule while performing a test on the launch pad. Dec 21, 1968: Apollo 8 begins first manned journey to the Moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and Williams Anders make a Christmas Eve broadcast that is shown live on television around the world. July 16, 1969: Apollo 11 blasts off from Cape Kennedy, Florida, with Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Lt Col Michael Collins on board. Jul 20, 1969: Armstrong and Aldrin become the first men to walk on the moon while Collins remains in lunar orbit in the command and service module.