No.
No
the Moon!
Apollo 8
A ladybug. For real.
The first manned flight was on April 12th 1961 with Yuri Gagarin. The first man landing on the Moon was on July 20th 1969. So it was a bit under 8 years.
The moon
Apollo 6 was an unmanned test flight, which was not intended to reach the moon. Apollo 8 was the first to orbit the moon. Apollo 11 was the first to land on the moon.
The USSR or Russia. They had the first satellite, the first animal in space, the first manned space flight, and the first space walk. But we beat them to the moon.
There have been no animals taken to the moon yet, however Laika was the first dog shot into space.
The first manned flight to the moon was on an Apollo spacecraft launched by America.
The first photo was of the far side of the moon was taken in 1959 by Luna 3, the Soviet space craft. It was first directly observed by Apollo 8 in 1968.
Apollo 11 was the flight that landed the first two people on the moon on July 20, 1969. The astronauts were Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.