First in the World - Space

In this article, we are listing all the first in space, technology ie, first human in space, the first satellite, the first man to land on the moon, etc for those who are preparing for the competitive examinations like UPSC, PSC, State Services, IAS, IBPS, KAS, SBI, SSC, Railways, etc.

Space Odyssey: First in the World


  • Yuri Gagarin
    First Man in Space – Yuri Gagarin (USSR,1961).
    • Spacecraft – Vostok 1.
    • Nickname – Columbus of the space.
  • First Woman Cosmonaut – Valentina Tereshkova (June 16, 1963, USSR).
    • Spacecraft – Vostok 6.
  • First Animal in Space – Laika (Dog, USSR, 1957).
  • First American in Space – Alan Shepard Jr. (1961).
  • First American Woman in Space – Sally Ride (Shuttle Columbia, 1983).
  • First Man to Walk in Space – Alexei Leonov (1965).
  • First Woman to Walk in Space – Svetlana Savitskaya (1984).
  • First Black Astronaut in Space – Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez (USSR, Cuban of African descent, September 18, 1980).
  • First American Astronaut to make two space flights – Gordon Cooper (USA).
  • First American astronaut to float in space – Edward White.
  • First Woman to stay for the longest period in space – Christina Koch (289 consecutive days).
  • China's First Man in Space – Yang Liwei.
  • First Manned Space Vehicle – Vostok 1 (USSR,1961).
  • First Space Station – Salyut 1 (USSR, 1971).
    • 11 crew members stayed for 24 days (died while returning to Earth).
  • First Space Lab – Skylab (USA, 1973).
  • First Space Shuttle – Columbia (January 16, 2003, USA).
  • First Unmanned Spacecraft – Shenzoo (November 20,1999, China).
  • First Crew transfer between the orbiting spaceships – Soyuz T-15 & Mir Space Station.
  • First Country to send Nuclear Powered Spacecraft to explore Jupiter – USA.
  • Eileen Collins
    First Female Shuttle Commander – Eileen Collins.
  • First Cosmonauts to spend about 17½ days in Space Endurance Flight – Adrin Nikolayev & Vitaly Sevastyanosov (Soyuz-9, June 1, 1970).
  • First US space shuttle to explode while returning to Earth killing all the astronauts on board – Columbia (February 1, 2003).
  • First Residents on the International Space Station – Bill Shepherd (USA), Yuri Gidzenko & Sergei Krikalev (Russia).
  • First European Woman to International Space Station – Claudie Haignere (France).
  • First Manned Spaceship to perform the longest stay in space – Apollo-7 (11 days, USA)
  • First reused spacecraft of NASA – Space Shuttle.
  • First Private Manned Spacecraft – Spaceship One (June 21, 2004).
  • First Spacecraft to touch the surface of a comet – Deep Impact (NASA, July 4, 2005).
    • Comet – Temple-I.
  • First Japanese spacecraft to land on an asteroid and collect samples – Hayabusa (November 2005, JAXA).
  • First Space Tourist – Denis Tito (2001).
    • Second Space Tourist of the World – Mark Shuttleworth (South Africa, April 2002).
  • First Woman Space Tourist – Anousheh Ansari (2006).
  • First Person to travel twice to Space as a Tourist – Charles Simonyi (March 26, 2009).
  • First Private Company to send astronauts to space – SpaceX (May 30, 2020).
    • Spacecraft – Crew Dragon.
    • Rocket – Falcon 9.
    • Astronauts – Robert Behnken & Douglas Hurley (NASA).
  • First Space Hotel – Aurora Station (preparing to be opened in 2021, by US-company Orion Span)(Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover).
  • First Mobile robot to Moon – VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover).
    • Expected launch date – late 2023.
    • Part of NASA's Artemis program for searching water on the moon.

Planets

  • First country to take photos from the surface of another planet – USSR (Venus).
  • First spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet – Venera 4 (1967).
  • First to land a spacecraft on another world – Venera 9 (USSR, Venus, 1975).
  • First spacecraft to visit Mercury – Mariner 10 (1974).
  • First spacecraft to enter the orbit of Mercury – MESSENGER (2011).
  • First spacecraft send by European Space Agency to Venus – Venus Express (2005).
  • First spacecraft to reach Jupiter – Pioneer 10 (March 1972).
  • First spacecraft to reach Saturn – Pioneer 11 (Sept. 1, 1979).
  • America's first Mission to Saturn – Cassini Spacecraft (July 1, 2004).
  • First (& only) spacecraft to Uranus – Voyager 2 (January 24, 1986).
  • First (& only) spacecraft to Neptune – Voyager 2 (1989).
  • First European space probe landing on the surface of the Saturn's Moon, Titan – Huygens (January 15, 2005).
  • First Probe Mission to Pluto – New Horizons (January 19, 2006, USA).

Satellites

Below is the list of First Satellites of some of the important countries around the world and the year in which they were launched.
CountrySatellite NameYear
USExplorer I1958
BritainAriel I1962
FranceAsterix1965
ChinaDong Fang Hong I1970
IndiaAryabhatta1975

  • First Country to launch Satellite into space – USSR.
  • First Artificial Satellite in Space – Sputnik (USSR, 1957).
  • First Communication Satellite – Echo (USA, 1968).
  • First Country to launch 6G experimental Satellite – China (2020).

Moon

  • First Country to send Man to the Moon – U.S.A.
  • First Man to land on the Moon – Neil A. Armstrong (followed by Edwin E. Adrin Jr.. July 21, 1969, USA)
    • Spacecraft – Apollo-11.
  • First Space Vehicle to Orbit the Moon – Luna-10 (USSR).
  • First Country to launch a Space Rocket to the Moon – USSR.
  • First Space Rocket to hit the Moon – Lunik II.
  • First Unmanned Moon Buggy to explore Surface of the Moon – Lunokhod-1 (USSR).
  • First Spaceship to take a sample of Moon's Crust – Surveyor-3 (USA).
  • First Manned Spaceship to perform space flight around the moon – Apollo-8 (USA).
  • First Manned Space Vehicle to Land on the Moon – Lunar Exploration Module (LEM, nickname - Eagle).
  • First Man buried on the Moon – Eugene M. Shoemaker (ashes of a famous geologist onboard Lunar Prospector when NASA deliberately crashed it on July 31, 1999).
  • First unmanned spaceship to have soft-landed and lifted off from the Moon to return to the Earth – Luna-16 (September 21, 1970, USSR).
  • First Space Vehicle to soft-land on moon – Luna-9 (USSR).
  • First Moon probe craft of European Space Agency – SMART-I.
  • First Lunar Orbiter of China – Change-I (October 24, 2007).
    • Launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, South-Western Sichuan Province.
  • First-ever commercial lunar payload paid entirely in the cryptocurrency Dogecoin – DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon (Company: SpaceX).

Mars

  • First spacecraft to touch down on Mars' surface – Viking-1 (June 19, 1976, USA).
  • First Arab country to send a mission to Mars – UAE (July 19, 2020).
    • Probe Name – Al Amal (Meaning Hope).
    • Arab World's First Interplanetary Mission.
  • First fully indigenious Mars mission of China – Tianwen-1 (Meaning Questions to Heaven, July 23, 2020).
  • NASA's Mars Rover of 2020 – Perseverance.
  • First Mars Rover of China – ZhuRong.

📝SideNotes:

  • NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration, US Space Agency.
  • Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency – JAXA.
Thanks for reading!!!