The space race began in 1957 with the launch of the first arteficial earth-orbiting satellite, Sputnik 1, by the Russians. This simple satellite's launch had a huge political impact because it started the space race. The spcae race may have been a way to avoid a more dangerous arms race. During the era of the Space Race, the United States and Russia both tried to achieve new space firsts.
The Russain satellite Sputnik 2 carried the first space traveler, a dog named Laika, in November of 1957. The first United States satellite, Explorer 1 was launched January 31, 1958. Explorer 1 detected the Van Allen belts (belts of charged particles traped by the Earth's gravitaional pull). Luna 2 was the first arteficial, unmanned satellite to hit the moon, and in 1959, Luna 3 flew around the moon and took the first pictures of the Dark Side of the moon. The first 'soft-landing' (a landing without crashing) was made in February of 1966 by Luna 9.
On February 12, 1961, the first human in space and the first human to orbit the earth, Yuri Gagarin, was blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodome. The fisrt American in space was Alan Shepard, and the first American to orbit the Earth was John Glenn. The first space walk took place in March of 1965 by Alexei Leonov.
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the moon. There were six more Apollo flights to the moon after Apollo 11 (Armstrong and Aldrin), and five out of the six were succesful. The moon is the only cosmic body that has ever been landed on by humans.
After the walk on the moon, goals turn to long-term space flights. In April, 1971, Russia launches the first space station, Salyut 1. In May, 1973, the United States launches it's first space station, Skylab 1. In July 1975, the first international space mission, Apollo-Soyez, brings together US astronauts and Russian cosmonauts as a Russian spacecraft docks with an Apollo command module. In February 1986, Russia launches the first components of spacestation MIR, which remained in use for 15 years, until it was brought down in March of 2001. The first component of the International Space Station (ISS) was launched in November, 1998. In October, 2000, the first US-Russian crew leaved Earth to dock with the ISS. In March 2001, the Canadarm 2 was attatched to the ISS. Crews now live in the ISS continuously.