Ineptly stealing an idea from @pagesandpages77, every time I notice my follower count has increased, I’ll share a space fact from that year. I’m currently at 1,954, so:

1954 – An Alabama woman became the only known person in history to be hit by a meteor.
https://www.alabamapioneers.com/metereorite-hits-woman-november-30-1954-and-eventually-ruins-her-life/

Already up a follower to 1,955:

1955 – Did you know there was like an actual day the Space Race began? On August 2 of 1955, the Soviet Union responded to the announcement that the US was going to try to launch a satellite by saying, "hey, us, too!" https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/the-space-race/

And now I'm at 1,956 followers (Thanks!):

1956 – On Sept. 20, the first Jupiter C rocket reaches an apogee of 682. @DrVonBraun's team was ordered to add ballast to prevent it from "accidentally" launching the world's first satellite into orbit, over a year ahead of Sputnik.

Up two overnight to 1,958 followers:

1958 – Eight months and a day after the first US satellite launch, Explorer 1 on Jan 31, the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration marks its first day of operations on Oct 1. https://twitter.com/nasa/status/1046800302765215744

Hit 1,959 followers over the weekend:

1959 – On May 28, @Astro_MissBaker and her companion Miss Able launch on a Jupiter rocket to become the first US animals to complete a successful flight into space and return alive. https://www.al.com/living/2016/05/miss_baker_-_the_original_monk.html

Up to 1,961:

1961 – A Soviet farmer enounters a man in a bulky orange suit and a white helmet, who tells him not to be afraid – "I am a Soviet citizen like you, who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow!"

…E.T. was basically stolen from Gagarin.

Now at 1,963 followers:

1963 — NASA and the Air Force debuted spaceflight reusability when a previously flown X-15 entered space for its second time.

Up to 1,965 followers:

1965 – Over an 18-day period in June, two spaceflight firsts debuted:

On June 3, Ed White made the first American spacewalk, and on June 21, Yang Liwei, the first Chinese taikonaut in space, was born.

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1098.html
http://www.china.org.cn/china/shenzhouVII_spacewalk/2008-09/12/content_16440252.htm

After doing a few of these two months ago, my followers took a nose dive, so I'm just now up again to 1,968:

1968 – NASA's Saturn V rocket made its @StarTrek debut in "Assignment: Earth." You can see this Saturn V today at @RocketCenterUSA.

Also, Apollo 8 happened.

Up to 1,971:

1971 – 47 years before SpaceX launched a Tesla on a Falcon Heavy, NASA sent the first electric car into deep space, an people actually drove this one on another world. Apollo 15 was the first mission to carry a Lunar Roving Vehicle to the surface of the moon.

1973 – The most important year in spaceflight history. Period.

1975 – Astronaut Tom Stafford and Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov violated Russian tradition and risked angering a cosmic "house spirit" by shaking hands through a doorway IN SPACE, and lived to tell the tale.

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo-soyuz/astp_mission.html
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2015/06/09/11-russian-superstitions-because-we-were-scared-to-do-13-a47241
#ApolloSoyuz #SpaceGhost

Up to 1,981 followers –

1981 – The first two shuttle missions launched. You can easily recognize pictures of shuttle launches in 1981 by the fact it was the only year the external tanks were painted white. Even for space vehicles, fashion is a fickle mistress.

Missed a few, at 1,990 followers – 

1990 – There were important shuttle missions, and then there were unforgettable shuttle missions, and April 1990's STS-31 is one of the latter. Even if you don't recognize that mission number, you know the payload it deployed –  @NASAHubble.

At 1,996 followers —

On August 6, 1996, a team of researchers published an article in Science claiming that meteorite ALH84001 may contain trace evidence of life from Mars.

Pres Clinton’s speech about the meteorite was later used in the movie Contact.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/68241/why-film-contact-annoyed-bill-clinton

TWO THOUSAND FOLLOWERS!

2000 — On Halloween, the Expedition 1 crew launched to the International @Space_Station, beginning uninterrupted human presence in space.

If you’re 19 or under, there have never not been people in space during your lifetime. https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/oct-31-2000-launch-of-first-crew-to-international-space-station

After bouncing down off 2,000, I've rebounded back to 2,001 followers:

2001 – Under Project Jupiter, the upcoming Discovery 1 mission is redirected to the Jovian system, following the February discovery of the Tycho Magnetic Anomaly by Lunar Orbiter 10. http://www.mach25media.com/2001tl.html 

Up to 2,006 followers –

2006 – On the 4th of July, the final era of the Space Shuttle Program began as Discovery's STS-121 Return to Flight mission launched. 3 years after the loss of Columbia and a year after issues on STS-114, 121 began the final 5 years of shuttle flights.

2,009 followers —

2009 — A stolen moment from an alternate timeline, the @NASA_Ares_I_X launch kicked off an era that never began.

Ares I-X was @TIME magazine’s invention of the year, and the most captivating launch I’ve witnessed in person.

https://www.al.com/space-news/2009/11/time_magazine_names_nasa_ares.html

At 2,011:

2011: "Having fired the imagination of a generation, a ship like no other, it's place in history secured, the space shuttle pulls into port for the last time, its voyage at an end." http://www.collectspace.com/flightdayjournal/sts-135/

Up to 2,013:

2013: Look, I'm not saying 2013 was a slow year in space history, but asteroid mission planning was NASA's No. 3 accomplishment for the year. https://www.nasa.gov/content/year-in-review-2013-feature

Among the highlights, though, was @Cmdr_Hadfield singing Bowie on ISS.
https://www.space.com/21113-astronaut-covers-space-oddity-video.html

(How weird and awesome is it that Hadfield’s video has serious competition for "Top Bowie-Related Space Moment of the 2010s”) https://consequenceofsound.net/2018/02/elon-musks-latest-spacex-rocket-is-soundtracked-by-an-infinite-loop-of-david-bowies-space-oddity/