Liftoff! Pioneers of space

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space 60 years ago.

He was one of several stars of the Cold War space race between the Soviet Union and the United States who would become heroes to millions.

But the technology that sent them into orbit had less glorious origins in the dying days of Nazi Germany.

- The Germans -

Many of the key rocket scientists behind both the American and Soviet space programmes were Germans, who had worked on Adolf Hitler's "secret weapons", the V-1 and V-2 rockets.

Some 1,600 German rocket experts were secretly taken to the US in the dying days of World War II, while the Russians rounded up about 2,000 in one night at gunpoint and sent them to work in the Soviet Union.

Wernher von Braun

The inventor of Hitler's V-2 rocket -- the world's first guided ballistic missile -- was the architect of the US Apollo programme that would put a man on the Moon.

Brought across the Atlantic with his brother Magnus, he came up with the Saturn V rocket that powered the American lunar missions. He died in 1977 still advocating manned missions to Mars.

Kurt H. Debus

A friend of Von Braun, Debus was Hitler's flight test director for the V-1s and V-2s.

In 1952, he began the building of rocket launch facilities at Cape Canaveral in Florida and was later director of operations of what would become the Kennedy Space Centre, overseeing the flight by the first US astronaut Alan Shepard and the Moon missions.

- The Soviets -

Yuri Gagarin

The first man in space, Gagarin was chosen from 3,000 candidates.

He completed a single 108-minute orbit aboard Vostok-1 on April 12, 1961 after declaring "Let's Go!"

He died in 1968 at the age of 34 in a still unexplained plane crash.

Guerman Titov

Gagarin's understudy for the historic 1961 flight, Titov, never got over the disappointment.

Four months later, he orbited the Earth 17 times on Vostok-2. He was elected to the Russian parliament in 1995.

Alexei Leonov

The then 30-year-old made the first spacewalk in history from Voskhod 2 in 1965.

It lasted 12 minutes and nine seconds and nearly killed him as his spacesuit inflated due to the lack of atmospheric pressure. He had to bleed off some of the oxygen, risking death.

Leonov later took part in the groundbreaking Apollo-Soyuz mission that opened a new era of space cooperation between the Soviets and the US in 1975.

Valentina Tereshkova

The first woman in space, she spent nearly three days in orbit in June 1963.

She had to overcome a host of problems during the flight, which were not revealed until after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

She remains the only woman to have carried out a solo mission.

Sergei Korolev

Chief Soviet rocket engineer Korolev clocked up successes from the launching of Sputnik 1 to Gagarin's historic flight. His role was only disclosed after his death in 1966.

Vladimir Komarov

Komarov became the first person to die in space on April 23, 1967 after a 26-hour flight on Soyuz 1.

A parachute failed on re-entry, causing his craft to plummet to Earth.

- The Americans -

Alan Shepard

The first American in space, Shepard's flight on Freedom 7 on May 5, 1961 was suborbital, rising to an altitude of 116 miles (186 kilometres).

He later commanded the Apollo 14 in 1971 and became the fifth person to walk on the Moon, where he played golf.

John Glenn

The first American to orbit the Earth in February 1962, he was later elected as a US senator, serving until 1999.

In 1998, at the age of 77, Glenn became the oldest person to go into space when he journeyed aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

Sally Ride

In June 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to be sent into space, on the space shuttle Challenger.

She also took part in a 1986 commission that investigated the loss of the vessel. She died of cancer aged 61 in 2012.

Neil Armstrong

Armstrong was the first human to set foot on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

Despite slightly fluffing his line -- "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind" -- it has since been etched in history.

His fellow crew members were Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, who followed 20 minutes later, and Michael Collins, who remained alone in lunar orbit.

Milestones in space exploration
Paris (AFP) April 12, 2021 - From Yuri Gagarin to the first man on the Moon and the robot that landed on a comet, we look at 10 key dates in space exploration.

- 1957: Sputnik -

Moscow launches the first satellite, Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957, ushering in the Cold War tussle for the cosmos.

The beach ball-sized aluminium sphere takes 98 minutes to orbit the Earth and sends back the first message from space, simple "beep-beep-beep" radio signals.

A month later Sputnik 2 carries the first living being to fully orbit the Earth, a small street dog called Laika. She dies after a few hours.

- 1961: Gagarin, first man -

On April 12, 1961 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space, completing a single, 108-minute orbit aboard Vostok-1.

Twenty-three days later Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space when he makes a 15-minute trip.

On June 16, 1963 cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space.

It takes a full 40 years for the old Cold War rivals to be joined in space by a third country, when China sends up Yang Liwei onboard Earth orbiter Shenzhou 5.

- 1969: Walking on the Moon -

US astronaut Neil Armstrong is the first man to step onto the Moon on July 21, 1969, Buzz Aldrin joining him around 20 minutes later.

Between 1969 and 1972, 10 astronauts -- all American -- walked on the Moon as part of NASA's Apollo programme.

- 1971: Space station -

The Soviet Union launches the first orbital space station, Salyut 1, on April 19, 1971.

Another Russian space station, Mir, follows. It is brought back to Earth in 2001 after 15 years in orbit.

Construction of the still-operating International Space Station (ISS) starts in 1998. The biggest man-made structure in space, it orbits Earth 16 times a day.

- 1976: Mars -

US spacecraft Viking 1 becomes the first to successfully land on Mars on July 20, 1976 and sends back images of the Red Planet.

The robot Opportunity explored Mars between 2004 and 2018, with NASA's Curiosity Rover still active there.

About 40 missions are sent to Mars, more than half of which fail.

- 1981: Space shuttle -

The US space shuttle Columbia, the first reusable manned spacecraft, makes its first voyage on April 12, 1981.

It is followed by Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour, which serve the ISS until the shuttle programme winds up in 2011.

The US has since depended on Russia to transport its astronauts to the ISS.

Two US shuttles were destroyed in flight, with the loss of 14 astronauts: Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003.

- 1990: Hubble -

Hubble is the first space telescope to be placed into orbit on April 25, 1990, 547 kilometres (340 miles) above the Earth.

It revolutionises astronomy, allowing scientists to observe the planets and distant stars and galaxies unimpeded.

- 2001: Tourism -

On April 28, 2001 Italian American multi-millionaire Dennis Tito, 60, becomes the world's first space tourist. He pays Russia $20 million to stay on the ISS for eight days.

In all, seven space tourists have taken Russian flights to the ISS.

The US company SpaceX is planning to launch its first space tourism mission at the end of 2021.

- 2008: SpaceX -

SpaceX becomes the first private firm to successfully launch a rocket into the Earth's orbit in September 2008.

Its Dragon cargo ship becomes the first commercial spacecraft to visit the ISS in May 2012, on a mission for NASA.

Since then, SpaceX has conquered the satellite launch market with its Falcon 9.

After flights in 2020, SpaceX has planned two other manned launches for NASA to the ISS in 2021, including one which will lift off from Florida on April 22 with French, American and Japanese astronauts.

- 2014: Comet landing -

The European Space Agency places a small robot, Philae, on a comet more than 500 million kilometres from Earth on November 12, 2014. The first comet lander is part of a mission aiming to explore the origins of the Solar System.

The manmade object that is furthest away from the Earth is the unmanned US spaceship Voyager 1, launched in 1977 and still travelling.

In August 2012 it made it into interstellar space, about 13 billion miles from Earth.

- 2021: Moon to Mars -

NASA sees the Moon as a pit stop for missions to Mars. It aims to send the first woman to the Moon by 2024.

Perseverance became the fifth rover to set wheels down on Mars on February 18, laying the groundwork for NASA's first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet.

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Three-man crew docks at ISS after flight honouring Gagarin
Almaty, Kazakhstan (AFP) April 9, 2021
A three-man crew docked at the international Space Station Friday after a flight honouring the 60th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in space. A Soyuz capsule carrying Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei docked at 1105 GMT, footage broadcasted by NASA TV showed. "There is contact!" Russia's space agency Roscosmos wrote on Twitter. "Hey, Expedition 64 - set the dinner table... Can't wait to join you on ... read more