When did the race for space begin?
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I would say the race began in earnest in 1957, when the Russians launched Sputnik, the first man-made satellite to orbit the earth.  Some say it began in 1945 when Russia and the US competed to acquire German rocket scientists and engineers after WWII.
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The first cosmonaut was Yuri Gagarin, who was launched into space on April 12, 1961 aboard Vostok 1.
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Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20,1969.  Ten others followed during the next 3 years.
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The Outer Space Treaty, which entered into force in October of 1967, prohibits any nation from claiming overnship of any celestial body as they are the heritage of all mankind.  The concept is similar to freedom of the seas in that no nation can claim control of the open ocean.
91987
The space vehicle was launched at 7:51:00 a.m. EST on December 21, 1968, and was inserted into a 103 by 98 nautical mile parking orbit. The launch vehicle was a three-stage Saturn V and the spacecraft was a standard block II command and service module configuration. A lunar module test article was mounted in the spacecraft/launch vehicle adapter for mass loading purposes.
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(m)\n\nLaunching NASA \n\n"An Act to provide for research into the problems of flight within and outside the Earth's atmosphere, and for other purposes." With this simple preamble, the Congress and the President of the United States created the national Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on October 1, 1958. NASA's birth was directly related to the pressures of national defense. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in the Cold War, a broad contest over the ideologies and allegiances of the nonaligned nations. During this period, space exploration emerged as a major area of contest and became known as the space race. \n\nDuring the late 1940s, the Department of Defense pursued research and rocketry and upper atmospheric sciences as a means of assuring American leadership in technology. A major step forward came when President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved a plan to orbit a scientific satellite as part of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) for the period, July 1, 1957 to December 31, 1958, a cooperative effort to gather scientific data about the Earth. The Soviet Union quickly followed suit, announcing plans to orbit its own satellite. \n\nThe Naval Research Laboratory's Project Vanguard was chosen on 9 September 1955 to support the IGY effort, largely because it did not interfere with high-priority ballistic missile development programs. It used the non-military Viking rocket as its basis while an Army proposal to use the Redstone ballistic missile as the launch vehicle waited in the wings. Project Vanguard enjoyed exceptional publicity throughout the second half of 1955, and all of 1956, but the technological demands upon the program were too great and the funding levels too small to ensure success. \n\nGo through the following link, it will very helpful to you\nhttp://www.policyalmanac.org/economic/archive/nasa_history.shtml
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NASA launched the STEREO shuttle at the end of last month to gather data on the sun. I watched the entire count down and lift off. It was very educational. That baby flew at speeds exceeding 10000 meters per second. They had some weather problems and the launch got held back about 20 minutes, but when it launched it was really worth it. The next launch is on December 7th and I highly reccomend watching it. Its better than most of the crap on television!
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Apollo 11.\n\nApollo 11 was the fifth human spaceflight of the Apollo program, the third human voyage to the moon, and the first manned mission to land on the Moon. It launched on July 16, 1969 carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin. On July 21, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the Moon, while Collins orbited above.\n\nThe mission fufilled President John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a human on the Moon by the end of the 1960s and returning them safely to the Earth.
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Yes. First lunar landing was in July, 1969. \nCheck NASA website and google for landing on moon.
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The first artificial satellite- Sputnik- was launched into space on October 4, 1957 by the Soviet Union. Since then, things have been busy! As of August 19, 1999, there is a total of 2616 satellites in Earth orbit, as well as 90 space probes (that is, objects not orbiting the Earth but sent to the Moon, planets, comets, etc.). On top of that, there are about 6100 pieces of debris out there as well: pieces of broken up satellites, rocket boosters, lost tools, etc. etc., for a grand total of roughly 9000 objects in space. The U.S. alone accounts for about 3850 of that total.
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On April 12, 1961 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is the first person to orbit Earth. His flight in Vostok 1 lasts less than 2 hr.
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Neil Armstrong was the first.\nBuzz Aldrin was the second.
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Columbia was the first operational U.S. space shuttle.  Construction on Columbia began in 1975; the finished shuttle was delivered to NASA on March 25, 1979.  Its first flight was from April 12th to April 14th 1981.
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I think 1947\nCheck out the website below
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Go to NASA at http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html?skipIntro=1 They have a ton of information about anything related to space
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As in up there right now..none.  A launch is set for saturday July 1 at approx 350pn EST (US).  How many are in the fleet? I would have to research the NASA site, but I think there are only 3.
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The first rocket which could fly high enough to get into space was the V2 missile which was first launched by Germany in 1942. The first rocket which actually launched something into space was used to launch Sputnik, the first satellite, on October 4, 1957. The rocket that launched Sputnik was a R-7 ICBM rocket