The Space Race template
The Cold War contest in orbit, from Sputnik to the Apollo–Soyuz handshake, with every date to the day.
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How to adapt this template
- Colour by country so the back-and-forth lead is obvious.
- Try the Gantt view to compare the two programmes side by side.
- Every date here is exact, which makes it a good template for practising day-level timelines.
What's in it
| Event | When | Category |
|---|---|---|
| Sputnik 1 | 4 Oct 1957 | Soviet Union |
| Laika aboard Sputnik 2 | 3 Nov 1957 | Soviet Union |
| Explorer 1 | 31 Jan 1958 | United States |
| Gagarin orbits Earth | 12 Apr 1961 | Soviet Union |
| Shepard's suborbital flight | 5 May 1961 | United States |
| Kennedy's "We choose to go to the Moon" | 12 Sep 1962 | United States |
| Tereshkova, first woman in space | 16 Jun 1963 | Soviet Union |
| Leonov's spacewalk | 18 Mar 1965 | Soviet Union |
| Apollo 11 lands on the Moon | 20 Jul 1969 | United States |
| Apollo–Soyuz docking | 17 Jul 1975 | Joint |
Questions people ask
How do I edit the the space race template?
Click any event in the list below the timeline to change its title, dates, category or note, or drag its marker along the axis. Changes save automatically in your browser.
Can I export this template to PowerPoint?
Yes. Use Export → PowerPoint for an editable .pptx slide, or export PNG, SVG, PDF or JSON.
Is my edited version private?
Yes. It is stored only in this browser (localStorage). Nothing is uploaded, and you can delete everything from the My timelines menu.