how did we start visiting outer space?

Human space exploration began in the 1950s during the Cold War, driven primarily by competition between the United States and the Soviet Union in what was called the "space race." The Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, into Earth's orbit in 1957, followed by the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, in 1961. The U.S. responded by creating NASA in 1958 and stepping up its space efforts, eventually landing astronauts on the Moon in 1969. This race and subsequent cooperation laid the foundation for ongoing global space exploration efforts.