Russia
Sergei Korolev founder of the Soviet Union's space program
Born: 12 January 1907, Zhytomyr, Ukraine - Died: 14 January 1966
In 1957 Russia became the first to ever launch a satellite into space on Oct 4th we entered the space Age with Sputnik 1 the first artificial satellite.
This led to a whole series of firsts.
1957 Sept 1st - Laika the first dog in space
1959 January 4th - Luna 1 first vehicle to pass close to the moon
1961 April 12th - Yuri Gagarin the first man in space
1963 June 16th - Valentina Tereshkova First woman in space
1965 March 18th - Alexei Leonov First space walk
1970 November Lunokhod 1 the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another celestial body, on our Moon in the Sea of Rain.
1971 first ever space station was Salyut 1, which was launched by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971.
1988 Buran-Energia : The Soviet Space Shuttle
Mir Space Station 1986 to 2001
ISS 1998-
The Russian Federation Established Roscosmos 25 February 1992 (formerly the 1931–91 Soviet space program)
Buran-Energia - Russia Space Shuttle