The monkey speaks his mind

Lana Wood photographed by Cyril Maitland August 1970.

Vintage Russian Matchbox Graphics celebrating early Soviet successes in the space race

[sources: X , Flickr ]  

Luna 1 (Mechta) launched in 1959 -  the first spacecraft to achieve escape velocity from Earth and reach the vicinity of the Moon.

Sputnik 1,  launched in October 1957 the first man-made object in space, it spent 3 months in orbit emitting a radio signal for approx a third of that time.

Sputnik 2  – the second man-made object launched into earth orbit, carrying “Laika” the first living animal to leave our biosphere and enter space.

The relative distances (in kilometers) between the Earth, Moon, and Sun.