This era was known as the space race unfortunately the Russians were the first to have a human fly in space. In 1961 Yuri Gagarin flew Vostok 1 one orbit around the moon (Manuel, 2017). The United States responded to this two weeks later with a fifteen minute suborbital flight. Things started getting really interesting when the United States Started its Gemini Missions in 1964. Gemini 3 was the First manned mission in 1965. All the missions were to develop technology and systems to get the Apollo missions to the moon and back. The Russians also launched their Voskhod 1 in 1964 which was a manned mission as well, sort of the Russian equivalent to the Gemini missions. (Manuel, 2017)
The Apollo missions started in 1968, but launched 4 missions before Apollo 11 landed on the moon on 1969. However the Russians never landed humans on the moon, but in 1966 they landed an unmanned spacecraft on the moon. After the Apollo mission, the US went on to the space shuttle which led to the International Space Station where the US and Russia have a joint operation still ongoing to this day with other countries as well. (Manuel, 2017) Ever since Russia launched the Sputnik in 1957, both the United States and Russia were in competition the be the first send satellites, animals, cameras, and people into space. However Russia beat the United States by sending the first satellite, animal, and human into space flight. The missions conducted by the United States starting with the Gemini missions were all going towards one goal which was to land humans on the moon and in 1969 the United States achieved just that.
