| The first privately funded spacecraft lifts off from an airstrip in the Mojave Desert. |
| Flight controllers also tested a new maneuvering technique called aerobraking, which uses a planet's atmosphere to slow a spacecraft. |
| Because a spacecraft is unable to carry much fuel and cannot refuel in-flight, other routes to autonomy have had to be explored. |
| As the parachute shot out from the top of the spacecraft, the aerobrake was released to fall freely to the surface of Mars. |
| Each one was part of a lunar landing mission during which two American astronauts landed a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. |
| During that flight, Leonov performed the first space walk, leaving the spacecraft through an inflatable airlock for several minutes. |
