Finally on July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off. On the fifth day in space, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin began preparations to land the lunar module Eagle on the moon’s surface.

Then he’ll land again, trying to make it as close to base as he can. Nearly nine years later, in April 1961, Yuri Gagarin did just that, becoming the first man in space.

The space race is thought to have ended when Neil Armstrong stepped on the Moon on July 20, 1969 from Apollo spacecraft. But the fierce development of space technology continued.

Yuri Gagarin was at the forefront of human advancement (Picture: REX) 64 years ago, a man born in a tiny Russian village to a carpenter and a dairy farmer spent 108 minutes looking down at Earth ...

Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, and other pioneering cosmonauts came almost as close, as did NASA shuttle astronauts in 1990. A polar orbit is ideal for climate and Earth-mapping satellites ...

The 1960s were a landmark decade for space exploration, featuring milestones like the launch of the first weather satellite (1960), the first human in space (Yuri Gagarin, 1961) and the first moon ...

The top ten: First organ transplant (1954) First heart transplant (1967) Penicillin (1942) First man on the moon (Neil Armstrong, 1969) First man in space (Yuri Gagarin, 1961) Tuberculosis vaccine ...

On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped down from Apollo 11's lunar module onto the surface of the moon, the first human in history to do so.

On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped down from Apollo 11's lunar module onto the surface of the moon, the first human in history to do so. By touching down on the lunar surface ...