The Soviet Union beat the US to this, with the October 4, 1957 orbiting of Sputnik 1, and later beat the US to the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, on April 12, 1961. The race peaked with the July 20, 1969 US landing of the first humans on the Moon with Apollo 11.
The definition of a luminary is an object giving off light, or a personality that is well known or enlightening to mankind. An example of a luminary is a candle.
Johnny Ludlow, Fourth Series Mrs. Henry Wood. Dawson of Sedburgh was a luminary better known than ever Dr. Watson was, by mathematicians both foreign and domestic. The Collected Writing of Thomas De Quincey, Vol. II Thomas De Quincey. This island was in that age the luminary of the Caledonian regions. The Every Day Book of History and Chronology Joel Munsell. The screen immediately below the horizon intercepts the image of the luminary below that line. Magic, Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions Including Trick Photography Albert A. Hopkins. In the days of creation it should have been suspended as the only luminary in the firmament.