<P> Human spaceflight capability was first developed during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union ( USSR ) , which developed the first intercontinental ballistic missile rockets to deliver nuclear weapons . These rockets were large enough to be adapted to carry the first artificial satellites into low Earth orbit . After the first satellites were launched in 1957 and 1958 , the US worked on Project Mercury to launch men singly into orbit , while the USSR secretly pursued the Vostok program to accomplish the same thing . The USSR launched the first human in space , Yuri Gagarin , into a single orbit in Vostok 1 on a Vostok 3KA rocket , on 12 April 1961 . The US launched its first astronaut , Alan Shepard , on a suborbital flight aboard Freedom 7 on a Mercury - Redstone rocket , on 5 May 1961 . Unlike Gagarin , Shepard manually controlled his spacecraft 's attitude , and landed inside it . The first American in orbit was John Glenn aboard Friendship 7 , launched 20 February 1962 on a Mercury - Atlas rocket . The USSR launched five more cosmonauts in Vostok capsules , including the first woman in space , Valentina Tereshkova aboard Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963 . The US launched a total of two astronauts in suborbital flight and four into orbit through 1963 . </P>
<P> Human spaceflight capability was first developed during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union ( USSR ) , which developed the first intercontinental ballistic missile rockets to deliver nuclear weapons . These rockets were large enough to be adapted to carry the first artificial satellites into low Earth orbit . After the first satellites were launched in 1957 and 1958 , the US worked on Project Mercury to launch men singly into orbit , while the USSR secretly pursued the Vostok program to accomplish the same thing . The USSR launched the first human in space , Yuri Gagarin , into a single orbit in Vostok 1 on a Vostok 3KA rocket , on 12 April 1961 . The US launched its first astronaut , Alan Shepard , on a suborbital flight aboard Freedom 7 on a Mercury - Redstone rocket , on 5 May 1961 . Unlike Gagarin , Shepard manually controlled his spacecraft 's attitude , and landed inside it . The first American in orbit was John Glenn aboard Friendship 7 , launched 20 February 1962 on a Mercury - Atlas rocket . The USSR launched five more cosmonauts in Vostok capsules , including the first woman in space , Valentina Tereshkova aboard Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963 . The US launched a total of two astronauts in suborbital flight and four into orbit through 1963 . </P>
when did the us first go into space
when did the us first go into space
1957
1957