"Firsts"

[NASA. The Sputnik 1. Date Unknown.]

First Satellite Launched into Space

"Russia Friday night annouced the first successful launching of an earth satellite.
Hours after the annoucement, the tiny 'moon' was seen hurtling through the sky in various parts of the United States.
Soviet scientists hurled the satellite into space earlier Friday and sent it spinning around the earth at a speed of 18,000 miles an hour and at an altitude of 560 miles, the announcements said.
The sphere-shaped man-made "moon" was equipped with a radio transmitter sending signals to earth stations."

["Russ 'Moon' Circling Globe -- 18,000 mph" San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, CA). October 5th, 1957.]

First Man in Space

"A man aged about 25-23 with a kind, Russian face, eyes set well apart, fine bushy brows and a high forehead. He smiles a good, honest smile. And is there any need to add that this man who has been the first to dare to fly in space, to reach for the stars, to look down on our earth, is a man of a very great and very real character. "

["First Man To Enter Space Is 27, Married, Father Of Two." The Huntsville Times (Huntsville, AL). April 12th, 1961.]

[Valentin Cheredintsev/TASS. Yuri Gagarin. 1966]

[NASA. Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to fly to space when she launched on the Vostok 6 mission. June 16th, 1963.]

First Woman in Space

"Vostek VI Piloted by Valentina Tereshkova, reported in.
The Soviet Union today maneuvered its first cosmonette and fifth male cosmonaut toward an expected rendezvous in space. The woman was launched on her historic journey Sunday.
The world's first cosmonette was Valentina Tereshkova, 26, an unmarried, dimpled "space sister" of the five Russian men who have successfully orbited the earth."

["26-Year-Old Woman Believed Destined for Rendezvous in Space." The Springfield Union (Springfield, MA). June 17th, 1963.]

First African American in Space

"Blueford became the first Black person in space when he flew on the space shuttle Challenger in 1983. Bluford was a former Fighter Pilot who flew 144 combat missions in the Vietnam War in 1966-67. After his wartime service, he [joined] the NASA astronaut corps in 1979. Bluford was a mission specialist on four shuttle flights:[2x Challenger, 2x Discovery]"

[Chesnutt Library. Guin Bludford, Jr. February 25th, 2013.]

[NASA. Official Portrait of Astronaut Guion S. Bluford for Lithograph. October 23rd, 1992.]

[NASA. Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka. 1980s]

The First Asian American in Space

"Ellison Onizuka was the first Asian American to fly in space. He was a member of NASA's Astronaut Class of 1978, also known as the Thirty-Five New Guys, the first astronaut class in nearly a decade and also the first to include women, Hispanics and Asian and African Americans.

[...]After joining NASA and completing astronaut training, Onizuka's first space mission was aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-51-C in 1985.

On January 28, 1986, Onizuka lost his life when Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch. "

["U.S. Celebrates Moon Landing In Many Ways." Muncie Evening Press (Muncie, Indiana). June 21st, 1969.]

The First Men on the Moon

"They were shining hours. Americans landed on the moon and walked its rocky surface while millions of their countrymen locked their attention on television and radio sets on a July Sunday that will live in history."