What was the first space shuttle that took off from earth?
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It was Columbia. It was first launched into space 04/12/81 It was the First Flight (STS-1) of the space shuttle program, now on hiatus after the rentry destruction of Columbia.\n\nThere was an earlier test orbiter called Enterprise. It was the prototype and was used to many tests but never actually made it into orbit. This orbiter now resides at McDonnell Space Hangar at the new National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport in northern Virginia.
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LEO - Low Earth Orbit - Approximatly 70 to 1000 miles, though sometimes extended to as much as about 2000 miles - The shuttle typically flies between 150 and 200 miles - this the the altitude of the majority of satelites.\n\nMEO - Medium Earth Orbit - Any orbit greater than LEO, but Less than GEO(we'll get to that next) - not much to say here, as the term is much less used and LEO is more often beginning to describe anything less than GEO.\n\nGEO - Geosynchronous or Geostationary Earth Orbit - Satellites at this orbit travel around the Earth at low or zero inclination(a fancy word for tilt relative to our equator).  At a distance of about 22,400 miles or 3.3 times the Earth's diamenter, these satellites achive a balence between obital velocity and the speed of the earth's rotation, allowing them to remain over the same goegraphic location as they obit in "sync" with the earth's roatation.  Geostationary Orbits are at a zero inclination and require regular station adjustments to keep them over the exact same location all the time, while Geosynchonous orbits may drift a little tracing a figure eight ground track over thier respective region.\n\nI hope that helps you understand.  Let me know if you need to know more.
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Apollo 11.\n\nApollo 11 was the fifth human spaceflight of the Apollo program, the third human voyage to the moon, and the first manned mission to land on the Moon. It launched on July 16, 1969 carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin. On July 21, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the Moon, while Collins orbited above.\n\nThe mission fufilled President John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a human on the Moon by the end of the 1960s and returning them safely to the Earth.
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The First satellite in Space, Sputnik.\nThe Moon Landing. First man on the moon.\nVoyager first satellite to exit solar system, Voyager.
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On July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).  NASA began operation on October 1, 1958.
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This is actually a good question, because all the shuttle deaths we heard about occurred while going into or down from space.  However, in 1971, three Russian cosmonauts of Soyuz 11 were killed by exposure to vacuum after undocking from space station Salyut 1 when a valve accidently opened.  Their craft subsequently landed normally, but a recovery crew discovered their dead bodies.
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Yuri Gagarin was the first person in space, and Alexei Leonov was the first to walk in space (EVA).\n\nThe first American in space was Alan Shepard, and the first American EVA was Ed White.
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by going to space in  a rocket.
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Launched on April 12, 1961, Vostok 1 took Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space, and was the first orbital space flight.
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The Soviet Sputnik program consisted of four satellites, three of which reached Earth orbit. \n\nSputnik 1, launched on Oct.4, 1957, became the first artificial satellite to successfully orbit the Earth. It was a metallic sphere about 2 feet across, weighing 184 lbs (84 kg), with long "whiskers" pointing to one side, and stayed in orbit for 6 months before falling back to Earth. Its rocket booster, weighing 4 tons, also reached orbit and was easily visible from the ground. \n\nThe second Sputnik satellite was launched on Nov 3, 1957 and carried a dog, named Laika, into space. Biological data was returned for a week before the animal had to be put to sleep. \n\nThe last Sputnik installment was intended to be a space laboratory for study of Earth's magnetic field and radiation belt. After its launch on May 15, 1958, it remained in orbit for nearly two years. \n\nThe Sputnik missions all happened during the midst of the Cold War between the U.S.S.R. and the United States. Americans became worried about the Soviet accomplishments and soon the development of space technology became a national priority. \n\n4 more details get 2 dese links;\nhttp://www.batnet.com/mfwright/sputnik.html\nhttp://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/\nhttp://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsatellite.htm\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1\nhttp://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9069273\nhttp://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0843738.html
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1962\n"Mariner 2, the world's first successful interplanetary spacecraft, was launched August 27, 1962. It reached Venus on December 14, 1962"\nhttp://www.solarviews.com/eng/marin2.htm\n\n1965\n"MARINER 4, the sister probe to MARINER 3, did reach Mars in 1965 and took the first close-up images of the Martian surface (22 in all) as it flew by the planet."\nhttp://www.faqs.org/faqs/space/probe/\n\n1967\nVenera 5 was the first succesful landing on venus, October 18, 1967, Mariner 5 did it the next day\nhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/18/newsid_4082000/4082373.stm
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Aryabhatta was the first satellite sent by India into space.\n\nLaunch Date : April 19, 1975 \nWeight : 360 kg \nLaunched by : Soviet Intercosmos Rocket of Soviet Union
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The names of the shuttles are: Atlantis, Challenger, Columbia, Discovery, Endeavour.\nChallenger was lost during launch in 1986, Columbia was lost during re-entry on February 2003.\nMission names are for example STS-114, STS-115...
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the space shuttle is basically designed to place satellites in orbit and is not for going to the moon. if it could it would take approx 2 to 3 days. in the 60's when we actually could go to moon the apollo program used massive saturn five rockets just to get out of earth orbit. nasa are currently working on a new rocket based moon  program. try www.nasa.com for more info.
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I would say the race began in earnest in 1957, when the Russians launched Sputnik, the first man-made satellite to orbit the earth.  Some say it began in 1945 when Russia and the US competed to acquire German rocket scientists and engineers after WWII.
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John Glenn, Jr., Astronaut / U.S. Senator \n\nBorn: 18 July 1921 \nBirthplace: Cambridge, Ohio \nBest Known As: The first American to orbit Earth
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On its final mission, the craft was carrying the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, and the first female astronaut of Indian birth, Kalpana Chawla. Other crew members on the final flight included Rick Husband (commander), Willie McCool (pilot), Michael P. Anderson, Laurel Clark, and David M. Brown.