Timeline

Timeline of Book:

1949: Rhesus monkey Albert II becomes first creature to experience zero gravity on board a rocket.
1950-1958: Air Force flies plane in parabolas to mimic zero G and study its effects on chimps, cats, humans.
Nov. 1957: Soviet dog Laika orbits Earth, dies in space.
Aug. 1960: Soviet dogs Belka and Strelka are first to return alive from orbit.

Mercury Space Program Era 1961-1963
Jan. 31, 1961: Astrochimp Ham survives a suborbital flight in a Mercury space capsule.
April 12, 1961: Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space, and first human to orbit Earth.
Mary 5, 1961: Alan Shephard becomes first American in space.
Nov. 29, 1961: Astrochimp Enos orbits Earth.
Feb. 20, 1962: John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit, Earth.

Gemini Space Flights 1965-1966
1965-1966: Air Force tests Gemini diets and "restricted bathing" regimens in space cabin stimulators.
Mar. 18, 1965: Alexei Lenonov becomes first astronaut to spacewalk outside spacecraft.
Mar. 23, 1965: Gemini III "corned beef sandwich incident"
June 3, 1965: Gemini IV: Ed White becomes NASA's first spacewalker.
Dec. 4-18, 1965: Gemini VII: two men, two weeks, no bath.

Apollo Lunar Missions 1968-1972
Mar. 3-13, 1969: Apollo 9: Rusty Schweickart battles space motion sickness.
July 20, 1969: Apollo 11: first human set foot on the moon.
Dec. 7-9, 1972: Apollo 17: first scientist in space.

Orbiting Space Station (and Space Shuttle) Era 1973-2015
1973-1979: Skylab U.S. space station missions; space showers prove untenable.
1971-1982: Salyut Soviet space station missions.
Jan. 1978: First U.S. female astronaut candidate.
April 12, 1981: First Space Shuttle launch.
Jan. 28, 1986: Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
1986-2001: Mir.
Nov. 2000: First International Space Station
Feb. 1, 2003: Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

I will speak more about the later topics when I come to the sections in my book, just thought everyone might want to check up on their "Firsts in Space" facts.