The Cold War

29 July 1958 US President Eisenhower signs the National Aeronautics Space Act.

First US satellite is launched 31 January 1958.

NASA introduces its first astronaut class of seven on April 9, 1959. During Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations (1959 - 1963).

"Ham"--the astrochimp--becomes the first Chimpanzee in space. He completes a successful suborbital flight in the Mercury Redstone 2.

20 February 1962, the launch of Friendship 7 marked the first American manned orbital space flight.

Kennedy delivers a speech in 1962 where he states: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade a do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

TIMES Magazine depicts the nature of the Cold War on its front cover in 1968.

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins sit in quarantine after returning from their mission from the moon.

US astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins are the first of mankind to land on the moon; July 16, 1969 - July 24, 1969.

7 - 19 December 1972, Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt become the last men to walk on the moon in the 20th century.

A manned space station that was used to conduct experiments to see whether human life could be sustained in space.

July 1975, the US and Soviet Union participated in a joint space venture. Astronauts docked the Apollo spacecraft with the cosmonauts in the Soyuz and the crews shared a meal.