On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space. A melodramatic telling details Gagarin's historic flight.

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Radio Moscow announces the historic flight of the first woman in outer space. On June 16, 1963, aboard Vostok 6, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova completed 48 orbits of Earth in 71 hours.

On April 12, 1981, NASA launched the world's first reusable manned spacecraft. In the minutes before takeoff, Kennedy Space Center launch control communicates with astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen as they prepare to take Columbia on its first test flight into space and back.

Upon his return to Earth from the International Space Station on May 9, 2001, California millionaire Dennis Tito speaks at a press conference about his experience as the world's first space tourist. The tycoon reportedly paid the Russian space program $20 million for the trip into outer space.

Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space when the shuttle Challenger takes off on June 18, 1983. The historical moment is noted in communication just after liftoff.

On April 12, 1981, NASA launched the first space shuttle into orbit.

On May 28, 1959, in an experiment that would lead the way to manned space flight, the United States launched two monkeys to an altitude of 300 miles. A Voice of America news report details the travels of the two primates who survived the space flight and were the first in history to return safely to Earth.