The Greatest Firsts In Space...

Blast off into the final frontier with this Buzzfeed dedicated to mankind's greatest pioneering achievements in the exploration of space. The greatest space firsts of all time...

10. The First Animal In Space

20th Feb. 1947

The Americans were the first to launch a living creature into the dark depths of space. In 1947, a V-2 rocket blasted off from New Mexico with several fruit flies on board. In just over 3 minutes, the flies had broken through the 100km definition of the edge of space.

9. First Monkey In Space

14th June 1949

Just two years later, the US launched the very first monkey into space. Meet the mighty Rhesus Monkey, Albert II who managed to reach 134KM above ground and into space. Sadly, this little fellow wasn't quite as lucky as the fruit flies. His parachute failed during the re-entry, killing Albert instantly.

Over the next decade, the US continued to send up more monkeys into space for experiments. Only about 1 in 3 of these survived the trip back. Have they never seen Planet Of The Apes?!

8. First Animal In Orbit

3rd Nov. 1957

...and probably the cutest space animal too! Laika, a cross between a husky and a terrier was launched into orbit by the Soviets towards the start of the 'space race'. Originally a stray on the streets of Moscow, she was taken in and trained before being blasted from the planet. It was never planned for Laika to return to earth and she died just a couple of hours after the launch due to overheating.

7. First Man In Space

12th April 1961

Just 14 years since fruit flies were sent into the edge of space, Yuri Gagarin was blasted into outer-space, becoming the first ever human to leave the planet. His flight lasted 108 minutes in total and although he very nearly died, he made it back to Earth safely, firmly placing his name in the annals of human achievement.

6. First Woman In Space

16th June 1963

The Soviet's do it again! Valentina Tereshkova became the first ever woman in space, orbiting the earth for three days, alone. During her achievement and Gagarin, the US had desperately tried to match the Soviets, with Alan Sheppard and John Glenn among the first American astronauts in space.

5. First Death In Space (besides all the animals!)

1967

1967 was not a good time for astronauts. With the pressures to reach the moon building up, tragedy struck NASA when the Apollo 1 mission came to a sudden end.. During a launch rehearsal, the rocket burst into flames killing the crew, Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee.

In the same year, the Soviet's had a similar accident when Vladimir Komarov became the first person to die during a flight in outer space.

4. First Man On The Moon!

20th July 1969

The Americans did it! Before their goal of 1970, NASA puts a man on the moon. With millions of people glued to their TV screen, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.

(...Unless you believe in the conspiracies of course!)

3. First Mission To Mars

20th July 1976

On the 7 year annivesary of the first man on the Moon, Viking 1 lands on the surface of the red planet. Above are the very first pictures sent from the surface of Mars. The machine is captured by martians and used for their evil plans....

2. First American Woman In Space

18th June 1983

A whole 20 years since the Soviets blasted a woman into space! Sally Ride became the first US lady to reach for the stars.

1. First Astronaut Goes Viral!

19th Dec. 2012

How could we possibly leave off Chris Hadfield from the list?! With his incredible videos, not only was he the first Canadian in space, but his videos went viral. How can you not love this video? Just incredible!

Gagarin - First In Space

We've all dreamed of heading out into the stars and being one of the first to explore the wonders of the universe. The stunning new film, Gagarin - First In Space - is based on the true story of Yuri Gagarin, the very first person in space. Check out the trailer! You'll love this movie!

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Click here to order your copy of this new film.