ON 4 October 1957, the space race was born when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1-the world’s first artificial satellite. The satellite even carried out a few scientific experiments while it was circling the Earth more than 224 kilometres up.
The first days of the space race were dominated by the Soviet Union. After Sputnik, the Soviets put a man in space. In 1961, Yuri Gagarin circled the Earth once in his cramped Vostok 1 capsule before descending to Earth.
The Americans missed their chance with these landmarks, but on 20 July 1969 the US became the first nation…
