Space race

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Sputnik 1 ("Satellite-1"), was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was a 58 cm (23 in) diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennae to broadcast radio pulses. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable. This surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War.

This Las Vegas newspaper captures the excitement as two American astronauts explore the moon's surface on July 20. Earlier in the day, President Richard Nixon had led the nation in prayer for a successful moon landing.

Race for the moon! Time Magazine December 1968 #apolloprogram #projectapollo #moon #nasa #space #spaceexploration #flight #aviation #aviationlovers #timemagazine #magazine #coldwar #astronomy #astronauts #pilot #pilots #kennedyspacecenter #johnsonspacecenter #awesome #art #luna #race #cosmonauts #picoftheday #photooftheday #instagood #instagram Credit : @time

This week’s cover of @time illustrated by SHOUT is a homage to the Dec. 6, 1968, cover illustrated by #robertgrossman . Published shortly before the success of Apollo 8 which made U.S. astronauts the first to orbit the moon and marked a pivotal moment for space exploration.

A half-century later, the men who made it happen still get choked up talking about that day in 1969. Here's what they remember.

NASA has confirmed that the Mars Curiosity rover has collected rock samples that it drilled from the Martian surface.