On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth, circling the planet three times in 4 hours and 55 minutes. He also became the oldest person to fly in space in 1988 when, at age 77, he flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

The records soon began to come in. On June 16, 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. On March 18, 1965, Aleksei Leonov took the first space walk -- a 10 minute tethered excursion outside Voskhod 2. On June 3 that same year, Edward White II became the first American to walk in space, floating outside Gemini 4 for 22 minutes.