| Date | Importance | United States Mission | Solviet Union Mission |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 21, 1957 | First ICBM | R-7 Semyorka | |
| October 4, 1957 | First artificial sattelite - First signals from space | Sputnik 1 | |
| November 3, 1957 | First dog in space | Sputnik 2 | |
| January 31, 1958 | First US satellite - detection of Van Allen radiation belts | Explorer 1 - ABMA | |
| March 17, 1958 | First solar powered sattelite | Vanguard 1 - NRL | |
| December 18, 1958 | First communication sattelite | Project SCORE - ABMA | |
| January 2, 1959 | First rocket engine restart in Earth orbit - First lunar spacecraft - First detection of solar wind | Luna 1 | |
| January 4, 1959 | First man-made heliocentric orbit | Luna 1 | |
| February 17, 1959 | First weather sattelite | Vanguard 2 - NASA (NRL) | |
| February 28, 1959 | First sattelite in a polar orbit | Discoverer 1 - USAF/ARPA | |
| June 25, 1959 | First spy sattelite to cary a camera (failed to achive orbit) | Discoverer 4 - USAF/ARPA | |
| August 7, 1959 | First picture from earth orbit | Explorer 6 - NASA | |
| September 14, 1959 | First impact into another celestial body (Moon) | Luna 2 | |
| October 7, 1959 | Photos of the far side of the Moon | Luna 3 | |
| April 1, 1960 | First imaging weather sattelite | Trios 1 - NASA | |
| July 5, 1960 | First successful US spy satellite (returned intelligence data) | Grab 1 - NRL | |
| August 11, 1960 | First recovored intact satelite | Discoverer 13 - USAF - ARPA | |
| August 12, 1960 | First passive communications satellite | Echo 1A - NASA | |
| August 18, 1960 | First successful recovery of film from an orbiting satellite - First aerial recovery of an object returning from Earth orbit | Discoverer 14 - USAF - ARPA | |
| August 19, 1960 | First recovory of animals from space | Spunik 5 | |
| August 19, 1960 | First chimpanzee (Hominid Ham) in space | Mercury Redstone 2 | |
| February 12, 1961 | First launch from Earth orbit of upper stage into a heliocentric orbit - First mid-course corrections - First spin-stabilisation | Venera 1 | |
| April 12, 1961 | First manned spaceflight (Yuri Gagarin) | Vostok 1 | |
| May 5, 1961 | First pilot-controlled space flight (Alan Shepard) - First human space mission that landed with pilot still in spacecraft and thus the first complete human spaceflight by FAI definitions | Freedom 7 | |
| May 19, 1961 | First planetary flyby at Venus | Venera 1 | |
| August 6, 1961 | First crewed mission lasting a full day | Vostok 2 | |
| March 7, 1962 | First orbiting solar observatory | OSO 1 - NASA | |
| April 26, 1962 | First spacecraft to imact on the far side of the moon | Ranger 4 - NASA | |
| April 26, 1962 | First sattelite in orbit made by a non superpower | United Kingdom | Ariel 1 |
| July 10, 1962 | First active communications sattelite | Telestar - AT&T | |
| August 12, 1962 | First dual crewed spaceflight - First ship-to-ship radio contact and First simultaneous - flight of crewed spacecraft | Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 | |
| December 14, 1962 | First US planitary flyby | Mariner 2 - NASA | |
| June 16, 1963 | First woman in space - first civillian in space | Vostok 6 | |
| June 19, 1963 | Five-day human spaceflight record | Vostok 5 | |
| July 19, 1963 | First reuseable piloted spacecraft | X-15 Flight 90 - NASA | |
| July 26, 1963 | First geosynchronous satellite | Syncom 2 - NASA | |
| December 5, 1963 | First satellite navigation system | NAVSAT - USN | |
| August 19, 1964 | First geostationary satellite | Syncom 3 - NASA | |
| October 12, 1964 | First multi-person crew whitch was 3 people | Voskhod 1 | |
| March 18, 1965 | First EVA (extra-vehicular activity) | Voskhod 2 | |
| March 23, 1965 | First piloted spacecraft orbit change | Gemini3 - NASA | |
| June 3, 1965 | First EVA by an American | Gemini 4 - NASA | |
| July 14, 1965 | First Mars flyby | Mariner 4 - NASA | |
| August 29, 1965 | Eight-day human spaceflight record | Gemini 5 - NASA | |
| December 15, 1965 | First orbital rendezvous (station-keeping, no docking) | Gemini 6A and Gemini 7 - NASA | |
| December 18, 1965 | 14-day human spaceflight record | Gemini 7 - NASA | |
| February 3, 1966 | First soft landing on another celestial body (Moon) first photos from another celestial body | Luna 9 | |
| March 1, 1966 | First impact into another planet (Venus) | Venera 3 | |
| March 16, 1966 | first spacecraft docking | Gemini 8 and ATV - NASA | |
| April 3, 1966 | First artificial satellite to orbit another celestial body: the Moon | Luna 10 | |
| September 12, 1966 | First direct-ascent rendezvous on first orbit record highest apogee, 1,374 kilometers (854 mi), for piloted Earth orbit | Gemini 11 and ATV - NASA | |
| November 12–14, 1966 | First 5.5 hr extra-vehicular activity first demonstration of practical work capability | Gemini 12 - NASA | |
| October 30, 1967 | First docking of two remote-controlled spacecraft | Cosmos 186 and Cosmos 188 | |
| December 7, 1968 | First orbital UV (ultraviolet) observatory | OAO-2 - NASA | |
| December 21, 1968 | First human-crewed spaceflight to, and orbit of, another celestial object: the Moon first human spaceflight to enter the gravitational influence of another celestial body | Apollo 8 - NASA | |
| January 16, 1969 | First crew exchange in space first docking of two manned spacecraft | Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 | |
| July 20, 1969 | First humans on the Moon First space launch from another celestial body | Apollo 11 - NASA | |
| November 19, 1969 | First precisely targeted piloted landing on the Moon (Surveyor 3 site) first man to dance on the Moon (Pete Conrad) | Apollo 12 - NASA | |
| April 11, 1970 | First explosion onboard a spacecraft, crew survived. (Jim Lovell, John Swigert, Fred Haise) | Apollo 13 - NASA | |
| December 12, 1970 | First X-ray orbital observatory | Uhuru (satellite) - NASA | |
| December 15, 1970 | First soft landing on another planet (Venus) first signals from another planet | Venera 7 | |
| April 19, 1971 | First human-crewed space station launched | Salyut 1 | |
| June 29, 1971 | First human-crewed orbital observatory (Orion 1) 23-day manned space record | Soyuz 11 and Salyut 1 | |
| July 31, 1971 | First mobile vehicle lunar rover driven by humans on the Moon | Mariner 9 - NASA | |
| November 27, 1971 | First impact into Mars | Mars 2 | |
| December 2, 1971 | First soft Mars landing first signals from Mars surface | Mars 3 | |
| March 3, 1972 | First human-made object sent on escape trajectory away from the Sun | Pioneer 10 - NASA | |
| July 15, 1972 | First mission to enter the asteroid belt and leave inner solar system | Pioneer 10 - NASA | |
| November 9, 1972 | First commercially operated domestic satellite in geostationary orbit | Canada | Anik A1-Telesat |
| November 15, 1972 | First orbital gamma ray observatory | SAS-2 - NASA | |
| July 28, 1973 | 56-day human-crewed space record | Skylab 3 - NASA | |
| November 16, 1973 | 84-day human-crewed space record | Skylab 4 - NASA | |
| December 3, 1973 | First Jupiter flyby | Pioneer 10 - NASA | |
| February 5, 1974 | First planetary gravitational assist (Venus flyby) | Mariner 10 - NASA | |
| March 29, 1974 | First Mercury flyby | Mariner 10 - NASA | |
| July 15, 1975 | First multinational human-crewed mission | Apollo–Soyuz Test Project | Soyuz 19 |