Timeline

Space Exploration Timeline: Landmark Missions

Seventy years of exploration in one scroll. These are the missions that changed what we know about our solar system. Dates are launch or key-event dates from NASA and ESA.

Model of a Voyager spacecraft with its large white dish antenna

A Voyager spacecraft: NASA/JPL, Public domain

1957
Sputnik 1
The Soviet Union launches the first artificial satellite on October 4.
1961
First human in space
Yuri Gagarin orbits Earth aboard Vostok 1 on April 12.
1962
Mariner 2 at Venus
The first successful flyby of another planet.
1969
Apollo 11
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the Moon on July 20.
1971
Mariner 9
The first spacecraft to orbit another planet, Mars.
1976
Viking landers
The first successful US landings on Mars.
1977
Voyager 1 and 2
The grand tour of the giant planets begins.
Source: science.nasa.gov
1990
Hubble Space Telescope
Launched in April; later repaired and upgraded by astronauts.
1997
Cassini-Huygens and Mars Pathfinder
Cassini heads for Saturn; Pathfinder lands the first Mars rover, Sojourner.
2004
Spirit and Opportunity
Twin rovers land on Mars; Opportunity drives for more than 14 years.
2005
Huygens lands on Titan
The most distant landing ever made.
2012
Curiosity and Voyager 1
Curiosity lands in Gale Crater; Voyager 1 enters interstellar space.
2014
Rosetta and Philae
The first landing on a comet.
2015
New Horizons at Pluto
The first close look at Pluto.
Source: science.nasa.gov
2016
Juno at Jupiter
Juno begins its polar orbits.
2021
Perseverance, Ingenuity and Webb
Perseverance lands; Ingenuity flies on Mars; JWST launches on December 25.
2022
Artemis I and DART
Orion flies around the Moon; DART changes an asteroid's orbit.
2023
OSIRIS-REx sample and JUICE
Bennu sample lands in Utah; ESA's JUICE launches to Jupiter.
2024
Europa Clipper and Parker record
Clipper launches; Parker Solar Probe makes its record close pass of the Sun.