WORLD'S BIGGEST SPACE AGENCIES

Between their rivalries and collaborations, how have the world's top national space agencies contributed to our knowledge of the cosmos?

- WORDS AILSA HARVEY

LUNAR TOUCHDOWN

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was founded in response to the Soviet space agency's first satellite launch. Different branches of the US military had been working on building satellites, but after realising they were behind in space technology, the US decided to start up a designated space agency. This early competition for the Soviet Union led to what became known as the Space Race, to see which space agency could reach space first and showcase its country's spacefaring superiority. Although the US was beaten in sending the first human-made object into space, NASA won the Space Race by putting a human on the Moon.

The first American astronaut to orbit Earth was Alan Shepard, who NASA launched into space in 1961. Just 20 days later, the Apollo space program was initiated. This was the space agency's mission to the Moon. Eight years later, on 20 July 1969, the Apollo 11 mission brought Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin onto the lunar surface. But this success was not achieved without harsh lessons to be learned. The Apollo 1 mission in 1967 resulted in three astronauts losing their lives in a fire on the launchpad. The tragedy significantly improved NASA's safety protocols and spacecraft features, including fire-resistant materials.

FIRST HUMANS IN SPACE