Milestones in Space Exploration
|
Date
|
Mission Achievements
|
Country/ Organization
|
Mission Name
|
|
1931
|
First German military liquid-fuelled rocket engines developed
|
Germany
|
Walter Riedel
|
|
10 May 1946
|
First space research flight (cosmic radiation experiments)
|
United States
|
captured and improved V-2 rocket
|
|
20 February 1947
|
First animals in space (fruit flies)
|
United States
|
V-2
|
|
21 August 1957
|
First intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)
|
USSR
|
R-7 Semyorka/
SS-6 Sapwood
|
|
4 October 1957
|
First artificial satellite
First signals from space
|
USSR
|
Sputnik 1
|
|
3 November 1957
|
First animal in orbit, the dog Laika
|
USSR
|
Sputnik 2
|
|
2 January 1959
|
First firing of a rocket in Earth orbit
First reaching Earth escape velocity or Trans Lunar Injection
First detection of solar wind
|
USSR
|
Luna 1
|
|
7 August 1959
|
First photograph of Earth from orbit
|
USA (NASA)
|
Explorer 6
|
|
13 September 1959
|
First impact into another world (the Moon)
First delivery of national (USSR) pennants to a celestial body
|
USSR
|
Luna 2
|
|
4 October 1959
|
First photos of far side of the Moon
|
USSR
|
Luna 3
|
|
19 August 1960
|
First plants and animals to return alive from Earth orbit
|
USSR
|
Sputnik 5
|
|
31 January 1961
|
First Hominidae in space, first tasks performed in space; Ham (chimpanzee).
|
USA (NASA)
|
M-R 2
|
|
12 April 1961
|
First human spaceflight–(Yuri Gagarin)
First human-crewed orbital flight
|
USSR
|
Vostok 1
|
|
16 June 1963
|
First woman in space (Valentina Tereshkova)
|
USSR
|
Vostok 6
|
|
19 July 1963
|
First reusable crewed spacecraft (suborbital)
|
USA (NASA)
|
X-15 Flight 90
|
|
3 February 1966
|
First soft landing on another world (the Moon)
First photos from another world
|
USSR
|
Luna 9
|
|
1 March 1966
|
First impact into another planet (Venus)
|
USSR
|
Venera 3
|
|
3 April 1966
|
First artificial satellite around another world (the Moon)
|
USSR
|
Luna 10
|
|
2 June 1966
|
Soft landingon the Moon, photos from the Moon
|
USA (NASA)
|
Surveyor 1
|
|
21 July 1969
|
First human on the Moon and first space launch from a celestial body
|
USA (NASA)
|
Apollo 11
|
|
23 November 1970
|
First lunar rover
|
USSR
|
Lunokhod 1
|
|
12 December 1970
|
First X-ray orbital observatory
|
USA (NASA)
|
Uhuru(satellite)
|
|
15 December 1970
|
First soft landing on another planet (Venus)
First signals from another planet
|
USSR
|
Venera 7
|
|
23 April 1971
|
First space station
|
USSR
|
Salyut 1
|
|
June, 1971
|
First Manned orbital observatory
|
USSR
|
Orion 1
|
|
14 November 1971
|
First to maintain orbit around another planet (Mars)
|
USA (NASA)
|
Mariner 9
|
|
27 November 1971
|
First impact into Mars
|
USSR
|
Mars 2
|
|
2 December 1971
|
First soft Mars landing
First signals from Mars surface
|
USSR
|
Mars 3
|
|
3 March 1972
|
First human made object sent on escape trajectory away from the Sun
|
USA (NASA)
|
Pioneer 10
|
|
15 July 1972
|
First mission to enter the asteroid belt and leave inner Solar System
|
USA (NASA)
|
Pioneer 10
|
|
15 November 1972
|
First orbital gamma ray observatory
|
USA (NASA)
|
SAS 2
|
|
15 July 1975
|
First multinational manned mission
|
USSR
USA (NASA)
|
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
|
|
20 July 1976
|
First photos and soil samples from the surface of Mars
|
USA (NASA)
|
Viking Lander
|
|
12 April 1981
|
First Reusable manned spacecraft (orbital)
|
USA (NASA)
|
STS-1
|
|
1 March 1982
|
First Venus soil samples & sound recording of another world
|
USSR
|
Venera 13
|
|
25 January 1983
|
First Infrared orbital observatory
|
USA (NASA)
UK (SERC)
Netherlands (NIVR)
|
IRAS
|
|
13 June 1983
|
First spacecraft beyond the orbit of Neptune (first spacecraft to pass beyond all Solar System planets)
|
USA (NASA)
|
Pioneer 10
|
|
7 February 1984
|
First untethered spacewalk, Bruce McCandless II
|
USA (NASA)
|
STS-41-B
|
|
24 January 1986
|
First Uranus flyby (closest approach 81,500 kilometres)
|
USA (NASA)
|
Voyager 2
|
|
19 February 1986
|
First consistently inhabited long-term research space station
|
USSR
|
Mir
|
|
25 August 1989
|
First Neptune flyby (closest approach at 29,240 km)
|
USA (NASA)
|
Voyager 2
|
|
18 November 1989
|
First orbital cosmic microwave observatory
|
USA (NASA)
|
COBE
|
|
14 February 1990
|
First photograph of the whole Solar System
|
USA (NASA)
|
Voyager 1
|
|
24 April 1990
|
Optical orbital observatory
|
USA (NASA)
ESA
|
Hubble Space Telescope
|
|
22 March 1995
|
Record longest duration spaceflight (437.7 days) set by Valeri Polyakov
|
Russia (FKA)
|
Mir
|
|
7 December 1995
|
First orbit of Jupiter
|
USA (NASA)
|
Galileo
|
|
7 December 1995
|
First mission into the atmosphere of a gas giant (Jupiter)
|
USA (NASA)
|
Galileo’s atmospheric entry probe
|
|
12 February 1997
|
First orbital radio observatory
|
Japan (ISAS)
|
HALCA
|
|
4 July 1997
|
First operational rover on another planet (Mars)
|
USA (NASA)
|
Mars Pathfinder
|
|
20 November 1998
|
First multinational space station,
Largest man-made object built in space to date
|
Russia(FKA)
USA (NASA)
Europe (ESA)
Japan (JAXA)
Canada (CSA)
|
International Space Station
|
|
14 February 2000
|
First orbiting of an asteroid (433 Eros)
|
USA (NASA)
ESA
|
NEAR Shoemaker
|
|
12 February 2001
|
First landing on an asteroid (433 Eros)
|
USA (NASA)
|
NEAR Shoemaker
|
|
1 July 2004
|
First orbit of Saturn
|
USA (NASA)
ESA
Italy (ASI)
|
Cassini–Huygens
|
|
19 November 2005
|
First asteroid ascent (25143 Itokawa).
First interplanetary escape without undercarriage cut-off.
|
Japan (JAXA)
|
Hayabusa
|
|
15 January 2006
|
First sample return from comet (81P/Wild)
|
USA (NASA)
|
Stardust
|
|
6 March 2009
|
Kepler Mission is launched, first space telescope designated to search for Earth-like exoplanets
|
USA (NASA)
|
Kepler Mission
|
|
13 June 2010
|
First sample return from asteroid (25143 Itokawa)
|
Japan (JAXA)
|
Hayabusa
|
|
18 March 2011
|
First orbit of Mercury
|
USA (NASA)
|
MESSENGER
|
|
25 August 2012
|
First manmade probe in interstellar space.
|
USA (NASA)
|
Voyager 1
|
|
12 November 2014
|
First man-made probe to make a planned and soft landing on a comet (67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko).
|
ESA
|
Rosetta
|
