Second Sphere Timeline

20th Century

1951: European Coal and Steel Community established by Treaty of Paris.

1957: Sputnik launched.

1961: Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space.

1969: Apollo 11 mission places men on the Moon.

1986: Mir construction begins.

1991: European Union established by Treaty of Maastricht.

1996: Dolly the Sheep born.

1998: International Space Station construction begins.

21st Century

2002: Prof. Kevin Warwick has the first neural interface implanted.

20XX: First transgenic baby born.

20XX: First commercial fusion reactor built.

Posthuman Age

2050s: Mind uploading and strong AI lead to the rapid iterative development of the Posthumans, who soon cleave away from mainstream (trans) humanity. As the technology improved, many of the early researcher and volunteer uploads were joined by a broader spectrum of individuals and the upload community as a whole began to mature and shed its perceived status as a research experiment and engage more closely with the physical world. This maturation also resulted in the first substantial synthesis - the merging of multiple individuals into a compound intellect. While this had been ongoing for several years on a smaller scale, the full-on merger was what eventually defined Posthuman as distinct beings.
The first self-proclaimed posthuman individual was a compound entity that took the name 'Omoikane' - 'Thought-Combining Deity'. Others soon followed, many also taking names from mythology to reflect the core ideas they embodied. Powerful intellects - and increasingly so as processing power is added - these compound intellects began advising governments, NGOs and companies. Many scientific and technical feats were also pioneered by the posthumans, further adding to their influence and profile. While showing no unified or systemic ideology, as a rule they supported rationalist causes.
By the end of the '50s many posthumans had leveraged existing spaceflight infrastructure to land Von Neumann probes on a number of short-period comets and begin in-situ processing with the aim to circularize their orbits and convert them into orbiting servers, much more powerful than any on Earth. Even with relatively conservative estimates of available resources, any one of these could be converted to enough computronium to have more aggregate computational power than every human on Earth combined - a rather awe-inspiring amount. Long before any of the conversions were done these 'comet brains' were already host to populations of uploads and posthumans.

2050s-2060s: 'Crazy Years' of transgenic advancement, including the south American retroviral therapies that prove so disastrous.

2059: Posthuman exotic physics experiments begin in earnest as several Earth-crossing extinct comets are converted to computronium and scientific equipment via von Neumann swarms.

2063: First extrasolar expeditions by Alcubiere-derived ‘warp drive’ probes. Additional Earth-crossing asteroids are broken up and used to construct exotic-matter factories.

2065: ‘Warp cannons’ are built, capable of launching ‘sleeper ships’ across distances exceeding two hundred light years at low superlight speeds. Longshot colonization era begins.

2071 (estimated): Precursor delta-dust recovered from Alpha Centauri is reverse-engineered by posthumans.

2073: First independently-capable FTL drive publically demonstrated by the posthumans. While bulky and complex it was the first propulsion system that could be effectively built and operated by baseline humans.

2074: Legal proceedings begin against the retroviral therapies used in South America. A number of involved scientists flee on longshot colony expeditions.

2075: Stargazer project inaugurated as an UN-led exploration effort.

2077: Construction begins on General Secretary exploration constructor ships (some of the largest mass-produced starships even to the end of the 22nd century) along with several smaller designs, most notably the Galileo and Challenger classes.

2078: ‘Shortjump’ drive system demonstrated. While only capable of several short jumps before needing lengthy recycle times at fixed facilities, the much lower physical size of the ‘1.5th generation’ drive system opens up the immediate area around Sol and all further longshot colonies.

2080-2115: Great Exodus; Longshots taper off as static wormholes become the preferred method of colonization. Most transgenes leave Earth to found colonies.

2081: First static wormhole erected by the posthumans between linked elements delivered to Julia orbit (HIP 37853c) by the GenSec UNS Gladwyn Jebb, allowing the 49.6 ly distance to be crossed in just over two weeks. Over 50 erected over the next decade as far Nibiru, ~220 ly from Earth.

2082: Treaty of Shanghai; this organizes the primary axis of colonization into three primary 'arms'; one for the European Union, one for China (with an auxiliary arm for Russia) and one for the Americas and Pacific Rim nations.

2086: First Pacific Arm Colonization Treaty working draft broadly accepted. Generally seen as the start of the PACT.

2087: On the 10th anniversary of the Retroviral legal decision, Heron Stauss and Franz-Edward Kaser publish Principles of Responsible Transhumanism. Stauss-Kaserist philosophy soon takes hold in the EU and UNASUR.

2092: First commercial longjump exploration ships built by High Pusan Industries. Age of Exploitation begins.

2098: Static wormholes begin to show worrying signs of instability. Posthuman efforts to stabilize them begin to absorb a substantial portion of their processing and productive ability.

22nd Century

Golden Age of Space Exploration

2090-2150: EU and PACT lay out their primary catapult routes, connecting primary and secondary worlds and eventually replacing wormholes as primary transit routes.

2108: Instabilities in static wormholes officially announced, along with lifespans of 'one to two decades'. Timelines for phasing-out of wormhole transport put together over the next half-decade.

2114: Early collapse of wormhole to Shanxi. No fatalities due to several weeks forewarning that it was entering final destabilization, but confidence in the continued lifespan of wormholes is shaken.

2116: First static wormhole (to Nibiru) closed on schedule. All wormholes to the Rim are closed by the end of 2118.

2119: Eridanus campaign begins, first major engagement against hybridized feral xenodrones.

2121: Static wormholes to Kanon, Londenium and Neue Silesia closed.

2122: The second extinct xenosophonts are retroactively discovered, the Velans.

2127: Last static wormhole closed. Colonies outside of the immediate core region isolated save fartraders and local traffic.

2120-2150: China's 'golden era'.

The Breakdown

2152: A computer virus believed to be of posthuman or otherwise transcendal origin is released by separatists in the outer Chinese arm, leading to the Breakdown as all longjump drives burn out. The Great Firewall separates the Core/Expanse from the Rim, which already has limited communications with the inner worlds. Local trade continues via shortjump drives, but large sections of the Expanse are effectively cut off.

2155: Breakdown virus purged from Earth's drive kernels - but the damage is done.

2152-2160: The core's Lost Decade as economies contract violently, ushering in an era of economic stagnation.

2160: Magnates begin seizing nearby worlds as the expansionistic, pro-military hawks take political power.

2161: ZOCU founded at the Council of Londenium, tying together an unofficial local trade bloc.

2162: Cooperation negotiations begin among the future League nations.

2163: ConArm (Consolidated European Arm Exploration) formed by the nationalization and consolidation of various pre-Breakdown far trade companies in order to restart trade with the outer expanse worlds. ConArm fartrade fleet re-engined with 2nd generation jump drives.

2164: Magnate invasion of the League frontline worlds. Typically taken as the start of the 'Magnate War'.

2165: Shiva (aka Avan Gowadia) Conflict. Theta drives developed by ZOCU.

2170-2190: Second wave of catapult construction begins. Far traders are a heavy presence in the outer Expanse. General expansion of Core sovereignity into the outer Expanse.

2180: Solomon Armistice signed, suspending the Magnate war.

2181-2184: Increasing tensions between ZOCU and the EU/PACT. Several border clashes on New Mercia between Loyalist and Seperatist forces.

2182: Che forces seize Carabellas, rename it Malvinas.

2186: UN Resolution 11079 comes into effect, green-lighting the Japanese and Korean 'interventions' into ZOCU space.

2187: ZOCU removes core forces from their worlds, continued fighting in space.

2188: ZOCU war ends after an inconclusive year of space battles.

2195: Current Day; Turians invade the Sphere via the Tanhauser Gate.

Posthuman Psychology

The name of a posthuman often provides clues to its views or history as an entity - for example, Ishtar was a compund posthuman made up solely of female uploads and her name reflects this. Likewise Atlas is a mostly male entity, moreover, Atlas is joined under the concept of 'maintaining the world' - it should be unsurprising that Atlas is also almost entirely of American origin.