Yes,
The first man-made object to orbit the Earth was the Soviet Sputnik launched on a converted ICBM in the International Geophysical Year.
The first human to orbit the Earth was Soviet Yuri Gagarin who completed a 108 minute orbit in Vostok 1 in 1961.
The first American to orbit the Earth was John Glenn in 1962.
RussiaApril 12, 1961: Russian Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space
The first Earth creature to go into space was Laika, a female stray dog from Moscow, Russia. She was launched aboard the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957. Unfortunately, Laika did not survive the mission.
YURI GAGRIN WAS THE FIRST MAN and Valentina was the first women to go in space
The first creature to go to outer space was a dog named Laika.
It was designed to fly in space, and its first mission was another test of the space shuttle.
russia was the first to go into space with sputnick
Russia
Sputnik from Russia.
Yuri Gagarin of the USSR on 12 April 1961.
The first man to go to space was Yuri Gagarin, a Russian cosmonaut.
The cold war space race was when Russia and America were competing against each other to see who could go to space first.
To beat Russia in the "Space Race"
Sputnik (first satellite, 1961) by Russia or the V-2's (first auto-piloted rocket, 1945) by Nazi Germany
because it has always been mans dream to travel the heavens (also because we can, and because we can get there before everyone else) also, the United States was in a vicious space race against Russia due in large part to the country's sending both the first man and first aeronautic vehicle into space.
RussiaApril 12, 1961: Russian Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space
A pair of fruitflies were sent into space by the United States. This took place in the late 1940s, and the flies were the very first living creatures to go into space.
The first space shuttle test flights began in 1981, with the first operational flights beginning in 1982.