The Begenning Space Exploration was started in the 1950's and is now an ongoing discovery. It started all the way back in 1957 on October 4th, when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite into space. The satellite was called Sputnik 1. It was a huge advance in space exploration and a big step for man kind and there technology. On April 12, 1961, a Russian man named Yuri Gagarin became the first man to enter outer space. His flight lasted a quick 108 minutes. Gargarin was about about 327 kilometers up in a shuttle called Vostok 1. The first U.S. satellite was released into orbit in 1958. The satellite was named Explorer 1 and was a big deal for the Americans. The first American to go into orbit was Alan Shepard in 1961. Not long after that in 1962 John Glenn became the first American to orbit around the Earth. As most of us already know, American hero Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon. This was revolutionary and began a new age of space exploration. The first rover to land on Mars was the Mars 3 Prop-M rover and lost connection 20 seconds after the landing in 1971. The first successful rover to land on Mars was in 1997 and was called Sojourner also by the U.S.
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