The Mercury Rocket was supposed to put the U.S. ahead, but despite its early victories, it was quickly replaced. Why? Find out the fascinating history behind this pioneering spacecraft.

Early on that Friday evening ... Elvis Presley. Sputnik was hurled skywards on the experimental R-7 rocket, powered by liquid oxygen mixed with kerosene, from launch facilities that are still ...

As rocket technology improved and spaceflight ... the Soviet Union sent Sputnik 1 into orbit. Just a month after propelling the first satellite into space, the Soviet Union had made headlines ...

In August-1957, the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile lifted off from Baikonur on a test flight, followed by the launch of Sputnik ... rocket on April 19, 1971. The early first ...

The 1950s and 1960s were the golden age of space exploration. The U.S. and the Soviet Union were locked in a race to the stars. Rockets, astronauts, and satellites filled the headlines. That obsession ...

Frank Cottrell Boyce's book Sputnik's Guide To Life on Earth asks ... Frank: They had this program where they sent, They tested rockets by sending dogs up into space and some of these dogs were ...