Space race

The launch of the Soviet-made satellite Sputnik I is shown in the Russian documentary film Ten Years of the Space Age Photograph: Novosti/AP

October 4 1957: The world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, is launched by the Soviet Union from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Its beep-beep signal picked up on Earth signalled the dawn of a new era Photograph: AFP

October 6 1957, Moscow, Russia: Technicians trace the orbit of Sputnik I Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis

November 1957, Rome, Italy: A man observes a model of Sputnik I on display in a department store Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis

Sputnik I was about the size of a basketball, weighed 83kg, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path Photograph: NASA/EPA

November 5 1957: Laika, the female dog who was a passenger on board Sputnik II Photograph: NASA/AP

The orbits of the Soviet satellites Sputnik I, II and III Photograph: Roger-Viollet/Rex Features

January 31 1958: The first US satellite, Explorer I, lifts off at Cape Canaveral, Florida Photograph: NASA

A slide projection show at a planetarium at the time of Lunik III's trip around the moon in 1959 Photograph: Carl Mydans/Time Life Pictures/Getty

April 12 1961: Yuri Gagarin prepares to board the Vostok I spaceship at the Baikonur launchpad shortly before its take-off. He was the first man to travel in space, completing a circuit of the Earth Photograph: AFP

Feb 20, 1962: The launch of Friendship 7, the first American manned orbital space flight Photograph: Rex Features

May 5 1961: Alan Shepard lifts off in the Freedom 7 Photograph: NASA/Getty

1962: John Glenn Jr in his silver mercury spacesuit during pre-flight training activities at Cape Canaveral Photograph: Rex Features

February 20 1962: Astronaut John Glenn Jr is loaded into the Friendship 7 capsule in preparation for flight on the Mercury Titan rocket Photograph: NASA/Getty

January 19 1962: John Glenn sits beside the Friendship 7 capsule in Cape Canaveral Photograph: NASA/AP

1963: Valentina Tereshkova practises feeding in simulated flight conditions for her flight as the first woman in space on the Vostok VI mission Photograph: Keystone/Getty