History+of+the+Space+Program+in+the+Soviet+Union

=**History of the Space program in the Soviet Union**= =By:Sayad= = = =History changed on Friday October 4, 1957 when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik 1. That was the worlds first artificial satellite. It weighed about 183 pounds and was about the size of a basketball. It took about 98 minutes to orbit the earth. When Sputnik was launched it marked a significant time in the space age and U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.= = = =On November 3,1957 the Soviet Union launched another satellite named Sputnik 2 which carried a dog named Laika which meant "barker" in Russian. She lived for seven days proving that animals and humans could survive in space. After Sputnik 2, Sputnik 3 was launched on May 15, 1958.= = = =On January 2, 1959 Luna 1 was launched by the USSR. Then Luna 2 was launched. It made impact with the moon on September 13th, becoming the first man made object to do so. On October 4th Luna 3 orbited the moon and photographed 70% of its surface.= = = =Yuri Gagarin orbited earth once then he became the first man in space on April 12, 1961 and died in an airplane crash on March 27, 1968. After men went into space the Soviets sent a woman named Valentina Tereshkova. She spent three days in space alone in June of 1963. The Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov took the first space walk that lasted twelve minutes. On August 6, 1961 Gherman Titiov spends a day in space with Vostok 2.= = = =November 16, 1965 Venus 3 is launched. It became the first man made object to impact Venus and Mars in March of 1966. The Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to soft-land on the moon. The Luna 10 was the satellite to orbit the moon. On April 24, 1967 Cosmonaut Vladimir Komorov was killed when his parachute failed to open on the re-entry.= = =

=September 15, 1968 Zond 5 was launched by the Soviet Union and it became the first spacecraft to orbit and return to earth. January 15, 1969 Soyuz 4 and 5 performed the first Soviet spacecraft docking.=

=Bibliography:= =World Book encylopedia= =http://www.thespacerace.com/timeline/= =http://teacher.scholastic.com/space/space_firsts/index.htm= = =