From 1959-1963, the United States worked toward putting satellites and humans into orbit via the Mercury program, but they continued to lag behind the Soviets. With the opening of a new decade, the Soviets reinforced their Space Race lead in a big way. On April 12, 1961, the world watched as the Soviets scored two major victories: they sent the first human being into space and made that man the first to orbit the Earth. Yuri Gagarin's success seemed to both solidify the Soviet's lead in th...