The Soviet Union launched the first animal to orbit the earth
into space—a dog nicknamed Laika—aboard the Sputnik 2
spacecraft.

Laika (above) part Siberian husky, lived as a stray on the
Moscow streets before being enlisted into the Soviet space
program.

Electrodes attached to her body provided scientists on the
ground with important information about the biological
effects of space travel. She died from overheating and
panic.

Model of Sputnik 2 at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics
in Moscow.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935 – October 28, 2022)
was an American pianist, singer and songwriter.

Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock ‘n’
roll‘s first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll
and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings
in 1952.
 

An optimistic and upbeat President John F. Kennedy
suggested the Soviet Union and the United States
cooperate on a mission to mount an expedition to
the moon. The proposal caught both the Soviets
and many Americans off guard.

In 1961, shortly after his election as president, John
F. Kennedy announced that he was determined to
win the “space race” with the Soviets.

Kennedy toured Cape Canaveral, Fla. with rocket scientist Werner von Braun (left) on Nov. 16, 1963.

Future President Jimmy Carter filed a report with the
International UFO Bureau on September 18, 1973,
claiming he had seen an Unidentified Flying Object
(UFO) in October 1969.

During the presidential campaign of 1976, Democratic
challenger Carter was forthcoming about his belief that
he had seen a UFO. He described waiting outside for a
Lion’s Club Meeting in Leary, Georgia, to begin, at about
7:30 p.m., when he spotted what he called “the darndest
thing I’ve ever seen” in the sky.

On September 17, 1976, NASA publicly unveiled its first space
shuttle, the Enterprise, during a ceremony in Palmdale, California.

Development of the aircraft-like spacecraft cost almost $10 billion
and took nearly a decade. In 1977, the Enterprise became the first
space shuttle to fly freely when it was lifted to a height of 25,000
feet by a Boeing 747 airplane and then released, gliding back to
Edwards Air Force Base on its own accord.

From left to right they are: NASA Administrator Dr.
James D. Fletcher; DeForest Kelley, who portrayed
Dr. "Bones" McCoy on the series; George Takei
(Mr. Sulu); James Doohan (Chief Engineer
Montgomery "Scotty" Scott); Nichelle Nichols
(Lt. Uhura); Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock); series
creator Gene Roddenberry; an unnamed NASA
official; and, Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Chekov).