Historical Organization
Soviet space program
Soviet space program
Details
Organization Timeline
Sputnik 1 launches into orbit
📅 4 October 1957The Soviet Union launched the first artificial Earth satellite from a spaceport in the Kazakh Soviet Republic.
An artificial moon circles Earth
📅 4 October 1957Sputnik 1 began transmitting radio beeps as it orbited Earth, opening new possibilities for tracking a satellite.
A satellite broadcast reaches ground listeners
📅 4 October 1957Radio signals from Sputnik could be received outside the launch program, making the orbit publicly observable.
The space age enters the sky
📅 4 October 1957The successful launch created a new platform for studying Earth and, later, the wider universe.
Tereshkova launches aboard Vostok 6
📅 16 June 1963Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel in space.
A woman joins human orbital flight
📅 16 June 1963The Vostok 6 mission began from Soviet Central Asia and went on to orbit Earth 48 times.
Vostok 6 expands who can enter space
📅 16 June 1963Tereshkova’s launch showed a woman could perform an orbital spaceflight despite earlier exclusion.
Human observation of Earth gains a new participant
📅 16 June 1963The spacecraft put Tereshkova in Earth orbit for a mission lasting nearly three days.
India’s Aryabhata satellite launches
📅 19 April 1975Designed and built in India, the country’s first satellite was launched on a Soviet rocket.
Indian scientists place a spacecraft in orbit
📅 19 April 1975Aryabhata began a new phase in India’s scientific and engineering space work.
An Indian satellite flies through Soviet cooperation
📅 19 April 1975The launch from Kapustin Yar illustrates international cooperation in the early Indian space program.
Aryabhata honors an Indian astronomer
📅 19 April 1975The spacecraft took its name from the mathematician and astronomer whose work was studied in the earlier astronomy batch.