Soviet Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to travel into space. In Vostok 6, she completes 48 orbits in 71 hours.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin make history by becoming the first humans to walk on the moon.
USSR launches the world's first space station, Salyut.
The European Space Agency is established in Paris as a collaboration between 20 European nations.
Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space.
Svetlana Savitskaya becomes first woman to walk in space.
Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes first American woman to walk in space.
Russia launches the Mir modular space station into orbit. Upon completion it served as a space laboratory for more than 14 years.
Dr Helen Sharman becomes first British citizen to travel into space in response to a radio ad seeking astronauts.
Mae Jemison becomes first black woman in space.
Ellen Ochoa becomes first Hispanic woman in space.
Chiaki Mukai becomes first Japanese woman in space.
Eileen Collins becomes first female shuttle pilot. Four years later she would break another first becoming the first female commander of a space shuttle.
The first piece of the International Space Station is launched and becomes fully operational in May 2009.
Anousheh Ansari becomes the first Iranian in space and the first female space tourist.
After 195 days, Sunita Williams achieves the longest ever female stint in space.
Peggy Whitson becomes first female commander of the International Space Station.
Scientist Yi So-Yeon becomes first South Korean in space.
In charge of medical experiments during her mission, Liu Yang becomes first Chinese woman in space.
Dutch company Mars 1 starts accepting applications to go on a one-way trip to Mars with takeoff scheduled for 2022.