Space Race
April 12 1961 Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin becomes the first human in space
May 5 1961 US Astronaut Alan Shepherd flies briefly into space but does not orbit the earth
February 20 1962 US Astronaut John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth and the third human to do so
Mercury Missions (NASA)
The Mercury Program (Kennedy Space Center)
The Vostok Program (Wikipedia)
The Vostok Program (Space Collection)