This is a timeline of achievements in Soviet and United States spaceflight, spanning the Cold War era of nationalistic competition known as the Space Race.
This list is limited to first achievements by the USSR and USA which were important during the Space Race in terms of public perception and/or technical innovation. This excludes first uses of specific on-board equipment and new scientific discoveries, or achievements by other countries.
| Date | Country | Achievement | Mission / Vehicle | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 July 29 |  USA | The United States announces their intention to launch an artificial satellite[1] during the International Geophysical Year (1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958). | / | |
| 1955 August 30 | USSR | In the Soviet Union, the commission approved launching a 1 ton satellite using the R-7 ICBM. | / |
| Date | Country | Achievement | Mission / Vehicle | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 August 21 | USSR | First intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM); fully operational September 1957 | R-7 Semyorka | ||
| valign=top | 1957 October 4 | USSR | First artificial satellite First man-made signals from orbit | Sputnik 1 | |
| 1957 November 3 | USSR | First mammal (the dog Laika) in orbit around Earth. | Sputnik 2 | ||
| 1958 March 17 | USA | First solar-powered satellite | Vanguard 1 | ||
| valign=top | 1959 January 2 | USSR | First lunar spacecraft (fly-by) First rocket engine restart in Earth orbit First spacecraft to leave Earth's orbit First spacecraft on an escape trajectory from Earth | valign=top | Luna 1 |
| 1959 January 4 | USSR | First spacecraft in heliocentric orbit | Luna 1 | ||
| 1959 February 28 | USA | First satellite in a polar orbit | Discoverer 1 | ||
| 1959 August 7 | USA | First photograph of Earth from orbit | Explorer 6 | ||
| 1959 September 14 | USSR | First hard landing on another celestial body (the Moon) | Luna 2 | ||
| 1959 October 7 | USSR | First three-axis stabilised spacecraft First photos of far side of the Moon, covering 70% of the surface invisible from Earth First automated on board development of photographic film and conversion to radio signals First gravity assist ('sling shot'), returning the spacecraft to Earth to retrieve the photos | Luna 3 |
| Date | Country | Achievement | Mission / Vehicle | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 August 11 | USA | First satellite recovered intact from orbit | Discoverer 13 | |||
| 1960 August 18 | USA | First spy photography from space First aerial recovery of an object (the film) returning from Earth orbit | Discoverer 14 | |||
| valign=top | 1960 August 19 | USSR | First animals and plants returned alive from space (the dogs Belka and Strelka) First capsule recovered from orbit | valign=top | Korabl-Sputnik 2 (aka Sputnik 5) | |
| valign=top | 1961 January 31 | USA | valign=top | First great ape or Hominidae in space, Ham, a chimpanzee | valign=top | Mercury-Redstone 2 |
| valign=top | 1961 February 12 | USSR | First launch from Earth orbit of upper stage into a heliocentric orbit First mid-course corrections First spin-stabilisation | valign=top | Venera 1 | |
| valign=top | 1961 April 12 | USSR | First human spaceflight mission (Yuri Gagarin)[2] First orbital flight of a manned vehicle | valign=top | Vostok 1 | |
| valign=top | 1961 May 5 | USA | First pilot-controlled space flight (Alan Shepard) | valign=top | Freedom 7 | |
| 1961 May 19 | USSR | First planetary flyby (Venus), although contact was lost | valign=top | Venera 1 | ||
| 1961 August 6 | USSR | First crewed mission lasting a full day (Gherman Titov). | valign=top | Vostok 2 | ||
| 1962 August 12 | USSR | First dual crewed spaceflight (Andriyan Nikolayev and Pavel Popovich) First spacecraft-to-spacecraft radio contact First simultaneous flight of crewed spacecraft. First person to float freely in microgravity. | Vostok 3 / Vostok 4 | |||
| 1962 December 14 | USA | First successful planetary flyby mission (Venus). | Mariner 2 | |||
| 1963 June 16 | USSR | First woman in space (Valentina Tereshkova) First civilian in space | Vostok 6 | |||
| 1963 June 19 | USSR | First Mars flyby, although contact was lost | Mars 1 | |||
| 1963 July 19 | USA | First reusable piloted spacecraft First spaceplane (suborbital) | X-15 Flight 90 | |||
| 1963 July 26 | USA | First geosynchronous satellite | Syncom 2 | |||
| 1964 August 19 | USA | First geostationary satellite | Syncom 3 | |||
| 1964 October 12 | USSR | First spaceflight to carry more than one crewman into orbit (3) | Voskhod 1 | |||
| 1965 March 18 | USSR | First extra-vehicular activity ("space walk") | Voskhod 2 | |||
| 1965 March 23 | USA | First piloted spacecraft orbit change | Gemini 3 | |||
| 1965 July 14 | USA | First successful Mars flyby mission | Mariner 4 | |||
| 1965 December 15 | USA | First rendezvous of manned spacecraft | ||||
| valign=top | 1966 February 3 | USSR | First soft landing on another celestial body (the Moon) First photos from another celestial body | valign=top | Luna 9 | |
| 1966 March 1 | USSR | First hard landing on another planet (Venus) | Venera 3 | |||
| 1966 March 16 | USA | First spacecraft docking | Gemini 8 / ATV | |||
| 1966 April 3 | USSR | First artificial satellite to orbit another celestial body (the Moon) | Luna 10 | |||
| 1966 September 12 | USA | First direct-ascent (first orbit) rendezvous | Gemini 11 / ATV | |||
| 1967 October 18 | USSR | First in situ analysis of the atmosphere of another planet (Venus) | Venera 4 | |||
| 1967 October 30 | USSR | First docking of two remote-controlled spacecraft | Cosmos 186 / Cosmos 188 | |||
| 1968 September 14–21 | USSR | First return to Earth after circling the Moon First life forms to circle the Moon (returned safely) | Zond 5 | |||
| 1968 December 21 | USA | First return to Earth after orbiting the Moon First human spaceflight mission to enter the gravitational influence of another celestial body | Apollo 8 | |||
| 1969 January | USSR | First parachute to be deployed on another planet (Venus) | Venera 5 | |||
| 1969 January 16 | USSR | First crew exchange in spaceFirst docking of two manned spacecraft | Soyuz 4 /Soyuz 5 | |||
| 1969 July 20 | USA | First humans on the Moon First space launch from another celestial body First sample return from the Moon | Apollo 11 | |||
| 1969 November 19 | USA | First precisely targeted piloted landing on the Moon (Surveyor 3 site) | Apollo 12 |
| Date | Country | Achievement | Mission / Vehicle | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | 1970 September 24 | USSR | First robotic automatic sample return from another celestial body (the Moon) | valign=top | Luna 16 |
| valign=top | 1970 November 23 | USSR | First lunar rover (remote-controlled)First rover on another celestial body (the Moon) | valign=top | Lunokhod 1 |
| valign=top | 1970 December 15 | USSR | First soft landing on another planet (Venus) First signals from another planet | valign=top | Venera 7 |
| 1971 April 19 | USSR | First human-crewed space station launched | Salyut 1 | ||
| 1971 June 29 | USSR | First human-crewed orbital observatory (Orion 1) | Soyuz 11 / Salyut 1 | ||
| 1971 July 31 | USA | First human-driven lunar rover, the Lunar Roving Vehicle | Apollo 15 | ||
| 1971 November 14 | USA | First spacecraft to orbit Mars | Mariner 9 | ||
| 1971 November 27 | USSR | First hard landing on Mars | Mars 2 | ||
| valign=top | 1971 December 2 | USSR | First soft Mars landing First signals from Mars surface | valign=top | Mars 3 |
| 1972 March 3 | USA | First spacecraft sent on escape trajectory away from the Sun | Pioneer 10 | ||
| 1972 July 15 | USA | First mission to enter the asteroid belt and leave inner Solar System | Pioneer 10 | ||
| 1973 December 3 | USA | First Jupiter flyby | Pioneer 10 | ||
| 1974 March 29 | USA | First Mercury flyby | Mariner 10 | ||
| 1975 July 15 | USSR USA | First multinational human-crewed mission | Soyuz 19 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project | ||
| valign=top | 1975 October 20 | USSR | First spacecraft to orbit Venus (the orbiter) First view and clear photograph from and of the surface of another planet (the lander) | valign=top | Venera 9 |
| 1979 September 1 | USA | First Saturn flyby | Pioneer 11 |
| Date | Country | Achievement | Mission / Vehicle | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 April 12 | USA | First spaceplane in orbit, the Space Shuttle (test flight) | STS-1 | |
| 1984 February 7 | USA | First untethered spacewalk, Bruce McCandless II | STS-41-B | |
| 1985 June 11 | USSR | First aerostat balloon in the atmosphere of Venus | Vega 1 probe | |
| 1986 January 24 | USA | First Uranus flyby | Voyager 2 | |
| 1986 February 19 | USSR | First module of the first modular space station launched, marking the start of the orbital assembly | Mir Core Module | |
| 1989 August 25 | USA | First Neptune flyby | Voyager 2 | |
| 1990 February 11 | USSR | First consistently inhabited long-term research space station | Mir |
On 1991 December 31, the United Nations accepted the dissolution of the USSR, which meant the end of the space race.