TIME LINE
1949
Rhesus monkey Albert II becomes first creature to experience zero gravity on board a rocket.
1950–1958
Air Force flies planes in parabolas to mimic zero G and study its effects on chimps, cats, humans.
Nov. 1957
Soviet dog Laika orbits Earth, dies in space.
Aug. 1960
Soviet dogs Belka and Strelka are first to return alive from orbit.
Mercury Space Program Era 1961–1963
Jan. 31, 1961
Astrochimp Ham survives a suborbital flight in a Mercury space capsule.
April 12, 1961
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space, and first human to orbit Earth.
May 5, 1961
Alan Shepard becomes first American in space.
Nov. 29, 1961
Astrochimp Enos orbits Earth.
Feb. 20, 1962
John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit Earth.
Gemini Space Flights 1965–1966
1965–1966
Air Force tests Gemini diets and “restricted bathing” regimens in space cabin simulators.
Mar. 18, 1965
Alexei Leonov becomes first astronaut to spacewalk outside spacecraft.
Mar. 23, 1965
Gemini III “corned beef sandwich incident.”
June 3, 1965
Gemini IV: Ed White becomes NASA’s first spacewalker.
Dec. 4–18, 1965
Gemini VII: two men, two weeks, no bath.
Apollo Lunar Missions 1968–1972
Mar. 3–13, 1969
Apollo 9: Rusty Schweickart battles space motion sickness.
July 20, 1969
Apollo 11: first humans set foot on the moon.
Dec. 7–9, 1972
Apollo 17: first scientist in space.
Orbiting Space Station (and Space Shuttle) Era 1973–2015
1973–1979
Skylab U.S. space station missions; space showers prove untenable.
1971–1982
Salyut Soviet space station missions.
Jan. 1978
First U.S. female astronaut candidate.
April 12, 1981
First Space Shuttle launch.
Jan. 28, 1986
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
1986–2001
Mir.
Nov. 2000
First International Space Station mission.
Feb. 1, 2003
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.