The russians launched the world's first artificial satellite, sputnik 1, on october 4,1957. Next, sputnik2, carrying a dog called laika, went up into space on november 3. The americans launched explorer1, on january 31, 1
1958. The americans won the race to land on the moon more than ten years later with apollo 11 on july 20,1969. "This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" said astronaut neil armstrong , the first person to walk on the moon. Space exploration has continued since then, and has brought new discoveries in many different areas of science.