The first human in space was Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

The first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova in 1963.

The first spacewalk was performed by Alexei Leonov in 1965.

The first American in space was Alan Shepard in 1961.

The first person to orbit Earth was Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1.

The first multiple-person crewed mission was Voskhod 1 in 1964.

The first Moon landing was by Apollo 11 in 1969.

The first person to walk on the Moon was Neil Armstrong.

The first reusable spacecraft was the Space Shuttle in 1981.

The first crew to spend over a year in space was on Mir (1994–95).

The first artificial satellite was Sputnik 1, launched in 1957.

The first U.S. satellite was Explorer 1, launched in 1958.

The first weather satellite was TIROS-1 in 1960.

The first communications satellite was Telstar 1 in 1962.

The first satellite to orbit the Moon was Luna 10 in 1966.

The first satellite to orbit another planet was Mariner 9 at Mars in 1971.

The first satellite to orbit the Sun was Pioneer 5 in 1960.

The first GPS satellite was Navstar 1 in 1978.

The first satellite with solar panels was Vanguard 1 in 1958.

The first satellite launched by a private company was OSCAR-1 in 1961.

The first spacecraft to reach the Moon was Luna 2 in 1959.

The first soft landing on the Moon was Luna 9 in 1966.

The first Mars flyby was Mariner 4 in 1965.

The first probe to land on Mars was Viking 1 in 1976.

The first Venus flyby was Mariner 2 in 1962.

The first spacecraft to orbit Venus was Magellan in 1990.

The first landing on Venus was Venera 7 in 1970.

The first landing on Titan was by Huygens in 2005.

The first landing on Titan was by Huygens in 2005.

The first flyby of Pluto was New Horizons in 2015.

The first spacecraft to leave the solar system was Voyager 1.

The first message sent to aliens was the Arecibo message in 1974.

The first interstellar object detected was 'Oumuamua in 2017.

The first close-up photos of Saturn were by Pioneer 11 in 1979.

The first probe to orbit Jupiter was Galileo in 1995.

The first landing on a comet was Philae on 67P in 2014.

The first asteroid sample return was Hayabusa in 2010.

The first interstellar probe design was Breakthrough Starshot (concept).

The first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid was Dawn at Vesta in 2011.

The first return from a comet sample will be OSIRIS-REx (2023).

The first space telescope was the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory in 1966.

The first long-duration observatory was the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990.

The first X-ray space observatory was Uhuru in 1970.

The first gamma-ray telescope was CGRO in 1991.

The first black hole image was captured in 2019.

The first neutrino detection from a supernova was SN 1987A.

The first gravitational wave detection was by LIGO in 2015.

The first cosmic microwave background map was by COBE in 1989.

The first exoplanet discovery was 51 Pegasi b in 1995.

The first Earth-like exoplanet was Kepler-186f in 2014.

The first space station was Salyut 1 in 1971.

The first international space station was the ISS, launched in 1998.

The first private space company to reach orbit was SpaceX in 2008.

The first commercial resupply mission was SpaceX CRS-1 in 2012.

The first space tourist was Dennis Tito in 2001.

The first commercial crewed launch was SpaceX Crew Dragon in 2020.

The first private moon lander attempt was Beresheet in 2019.

The first all-civilian space mission was Inspiration4 in 2021.

The first commercial spaceplane tested was SpaceShipOne in 2004.

The first commercial astronaut program was Blue Origin’s New Shepard.

The first robot in space was Lunokhod 1 in 1970.

The first AI astronaut assistant was CIMON on the ISS in 2018.

The first robot to explore the Moon was Lunokhod 1.

The first robot to explore Mars was Sojourner in 1997.

The first autonomous docking was done by Progress M-15 in 1992.

The first space robot with arms was Canada’s Canadarm in 1981.

The first robotic arm on Mars was on Spirit and Opportunity rovers.

The first helicopter on Mars was Ingenuity, flown in 2021.

The first AI space operations system was used by NASA for scheduling.

The first swarm of satellites was launched by Planet Labs.

The first woman to spacewalk was Svetlana Savitskaya in 1984.

The first Black astronaut was Guion Bluford in 1983.

The first Indian in space was Rakesh Sharma in 1984.

The first Muslim in space was Prince Sultan bin Salman in 1985.

The first disabled astronaut candidate was John McFall (2022).

The first woman to command a space shuttle was Eileen Collins in 1999.

The first space crew with two women was STS-40 in 1991.

The first all-female spacewalk was in 2019 by Koch and Meir.

The first Arab woman astronaut was Nora Al Matrooshi (2021).

The first Chinese woman in space was Liu Yang in 2012.

The first launch pad was at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

The first reusable booster was recovered by SpaceX in 2015.

The first orbital launch tower was used for R-7 rockets in the 1950s.

The first inflatable space habitat was Bigelow Genesis I in 2006.

The first modular space station was Mir, launched in 1986.

The first solar sail test was IKAROS by Japan in 2010.

The first 3D-printed object in space was created in 2014.

The first space elevator test cable was built in 2012 (Earth-based).

The first deep-space antenna network was NASA’s Deep Space Network.

The first artificial gravity experiment in orbit was tested by Skylab.

The first live TV from space was during Apollo 7 in 1968.

The first satellite phone call was made via Iridium in 1998.

The first space tweet was sent by Mike Massimino in 2009.

The first live-streamed Mars rover landing was in 2012 (Curiosity).

The first global satellite internet test was by Starlink in 2019.

The first full Earth image was captured by ATS-3 in 1967.

The first space-based navigation was tested in the 1960s Transit system.

The first smartphone in space was an iPhone 4 on STS-135.

The first VR experience filmed in space was by Felix & Paul Studios.

The first quantum encryption from space was by China’s Micius satellite.

The first living being in space was Laika, a dog on Sputnik 2 in 1957.

The first plant grown in space was Arabidopsis aboard Salyut 7 in 1982.