Timeline of space exploration
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
(Redirected from Space exploration records)
This is for a timeline of space exploration including notable achievements and first accomplishments in humanity's exploration of outer space.
Contents
1610-1951
| Date | Event leading to space exploration | Country | Researcher(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1610 | First telescopic observation of the night sky: Discovery of Jupiter's moons, lunar craters and the phases of Venus. |  Republic of Venice |
Galileo Galilei |
| 1687 | Publication of the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica |  England |
Sir Isaac Newton |
| 1813 | First exposition of the rocket equation based on Newton's third law of motion: Treatise on the Motion of Rockets |  UK |
William Moore |
| 1840 | First clear telescopic photograph of another world: the Moon. |  United States |
John William Draper |
| 1865 | From the Earth to the Moon published. |  France |
Jules Verne |
| 1898 | The War of the Worlds published. This inspired Robert Goddard to investigate rocketry. | UK |
H. G. Wells |
| 1903 | Inspired by the writings of Jules Verne, first serious work published that showed physical space exploration was theoretically possible: Исследование мировых пространств реактивными приборами (The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices) |  Russia |
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky |
| 1914 | Goddard files for and is subsequently awarded U.S. patents on multistage and liquid-fueled rockets |  United States |
Robert H. Goddard |
| 1919 | Goddard's widely influential paper "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes" discussed solid- and liquid-fueled rocketry | United States |
Robert H. Goddard |
| 15 December 1923 | Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen ("By Rocket into Planetary Space") self-published after its rejection as a doctoral thesis. |  Germany |
Hermann Oberth |
| 1924 | Society for Studies of Interplanetary Travel founded | .svg){kind=small} USSR |
Members include Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Friedrich Zander, Yuri Kondratyuk |
| 16 March 1926 | Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket | United States |
Robert H. Goddard |
| 1927 | Verein für Raumschiffahrt (Society for Space Travel) formed; it includes many top European rocket scientists. | .svg){kind=small} Germany |
|
| 1927 | The Conquest of Interplanetary Space discusses rocket mechanics and orbital effects including the gravitational slingshot | USSR |
Yuri Kondratyuk |
| 1928 | Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums – der Raketen-Motor (The Problem of Space Travel – The Rocket Motor) discusses space travel and its potential uses for scientific experiments. | Germany |
Herman Potočnik |
| 1929 | Oberth, with students including Wernher von Braun, launches his first liquid-fueled rocket | Germany |
Hermann Oberth |
| 1931 | First German military liquid-fueled rocket engines developed | Germany |
Walter Riedel |
| 1933 | Work begins on the Aggregate series of rockets which leads to the V-2 rocket. | .svg){kind=small} Nazi Germany |
Wernher von Braun |
| 17 August 1933 | Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD) launches the first Soviet liquid-fueled rocket | USSR |
Sergey Korolev (group leader), Friedrich Zander (designer) |
| 1935 | Graduate student Frank Malina under his professor Theodore von Kármán begins work on a sounding rocket | United States |
Frank Malina |
| 20 June 1944 | V-2 Rocket (MW 18014): First man-made object to cross what would later be defined as the Kármán line and hence first spaceflight in history. | Nazi Germany |
Wehrmacht |
| 10 May 1946 | First space research flight (cosmic radiation experiments) | United States |
captured and improved V-2 rocket |
| 22 May 1946 | First U.S.-designed rocket to reach edge of space (80 km (49 mi)) | United States |
WAC Corporal |
| 24 October 1946 | First pictures of Earth from 105 km (65 mi) [1][2] | United States |
V-2 |
| 20 February 1947 | First animals in space (fruit flies) [1][3] | United States |
V-2 |
| 22 July 1951 | First dogs in space (Dezik and Tsygan) [4] | USSR |
R-1 |
1957–1959
| Date | Mission Achievements | Country/Organization | Mission Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 August 1957 | First intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) | .svg){kind=small} 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 |
| 31 January 1958 | Confirmed the existence of the Van Allen belts | USA (ABMA) |
Explorer 1 |
| 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 |
| 4 January 1959 | First artificial satellite to reach the Moon vicinity and first artificial satellite in heliocentric orbit | 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 another world from space: The far side of the Moon | USSR |
Luna 3 |
1960–1969
| Date | Mission Success | Country/Organization | Mission Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 1960 | First solar probe. |  USA (NASA) |
Pioneer 5 |
| 19 August 1960 | First plants and animals to return alive from Earth orbit | USSR |
Sputnik 5 |
| 10 October 1960 | First probe launched to Mars (failed to reach target) | USSR |
Mars 1M |
| 31 January 1961 | First Hominidae in space, first tasks performed in space; Ham (chimpanzee). | USA (NASA) |
M-R 2 |
| 12 February 1961 | First launch from Earth orbit of upper stage into a heliocentric orbit First mid-course corrections First spin-stabilisation |
USSR |
Venera 1 |
| 12 April 1961 | First human spaceflight–(Yuri Gagarin) First human-crewed orbital flight |
USSR |
Vostok 1 |
| 5 May 1961 | First human-piloted space flight–(Alan Shepard) First human-crewed suborbital flight First human space mission that landed with pilot still in spacecraft, thus the first complete human spaceflight by FAI definitions.[5] |
USA |
Freedom 7 |
| 19 May 1961 | First planetary flyby (within 100,000 km of Venus - no data returned) | USSR |
Venera 1 |
| 7 March 1962 | First orbital solar observatory | USA (NASA) |
OSO-1 |
| 26 April 1962 | First spacecraft to impact the far side of the Moon[6] | USA (NASA) |
Ranger 4 |
| November 1962 | First Mars flyby (11,000 km) but contact was lost | USSR |
Mars 1 |
| 14 December 1962 | First successful planetary flyby (Venus closest approach 34,773 kilometers) | USA (NASA) |
Mariner 2 |
| 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 |
| 18 March 1965 | First extra-vehicular activity-(Alexei Leonov) | USSR |
Voskhod 2 |
| March 1965 | First crewed spacecraft to change orbit | USA (NASA) |
Gemini 3 |
| 14 July 1965 | First Mars flyby (closest approach 9,846 kilometers; returned pictures) | USA (NASA) |
Mariner 4 |
| 14 July 1965 | First close-up photographs of another planet: Mars | USA (NASA) |
Mariner 4 |
| 15 December 1965 | First orbital rendezvous (parallel flight, no docking) | USA (NASA) |
Gemini 6A/Gemini 7 |
| 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 |
| 16 March 1966 | First orbital docking between two spacecraft | USA (NASA) |
Gemini 8/Agena target vehicle |
| 3 April 1966 | First artificial satellite around another world (the Moon) | USSR |
Luna 10 |
| August 1966 | First probe to map the Moon | USA |
Lunar Orbiter 1 |
| 30 October 1967 | First automated (crewless) docking | USSR |
Cosmos 186/Cosmos 188 |
| September 1968 | First animals and plants to orbit moon, and the first to return safely to Earth | USSR |
Zond 5 |
| 7 December 1968 | First orbital ultraviolet observatory | USA (NASA) |
OAO-2 |
| 21 December 1968 | First piloted orbital mission of another celestial body (Moon), First-ever Trans-Earth injection First human space mission to escape Earth's influence(25 December) |
USA (NASA) |
Apollo 8 |
| January 1969 | First docking between two crewed spacecraft in Earth orbit, also the first crew exchange in space | USSR |
Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 |
| January 1969 | First to parachute in Venus's atmosphere, lost contact before landing. | USSR |
Venera 5 |
| 20 July 1969 | First human on the Moon, and first space launch from a celestial body other than the Earth First sample return from the Moon |
USA (NASA) |
Apollo 11 |
| August 4, 1969 | First photograph of Phobos from Space | USA (NASA) |
Mariner 7 |
| 19 November 1969 | First rendezvous on the surface of a celestial body | USA (NASA) |
Apollo 12/Surveyor 3 |
1970–1980
| Date | Mission Success | Country/Organization | Mission Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 September 1970 | First automatic sample return from the Moon | USSR |
Luna 16 |
| 17 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 |
| 19 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 |
| 3 December 1973 | First Jupiter flyby (at 130,000 km) | USA (NASA) |
Pioneer 10 |
| 5 February 1974 | Venus flyby at 5768 kilometers, first gravitational assist manoeuvre
First photograph of Venus from Space |
USA (NASA) |
Mariner 10 |
| 29 March 1974 | First Mercury flyby at 703 kilometers | USA (NASA) |
Mariner 10 |
| 15 July 1975 | First multinational manned mission | USSR USA (NASA) |
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project |
| 20 October 1975 | First orbit around Venus | USSR |
Venera 9 |
| 22 October 1975 | First photos from the surface of another planet (Venus) | USSR |
Venera 9 |
| 17 April 1976 | Closest flyby of the Sun (43.432 million kilometers) Maximum speed record among spacecraft (252,792 km/h) |
USA (NASA) West Germany (DFVLR) |
Helios 2 |
| 20 July 1976 | First photos and soil samples from the surface of Mars | USA (NASA) |
Viking Lander |
| 26 January 1978 | First real time remotely operated ultraviolet orbital observatory | USA (NASA)  ESA UK (SERC) |
International Ultraviolet Explorer |
| 4 December 1978 | First extended (multi-year) orbital exploration of Venus from 1978 to 1992 | USA (NASA) |
Pioneer Venus Orbiter |
| 5 March 1979 | Jupiter flyby (closest approach 349,000 km) encounters with Five Jovian moons, discovery of volcanism on Io |
USA (NASA) |
Voyager 1 |
| 1 September 1979 | First Saturn flyby at 21,000 km, first photographs of Titan from Space | USA (NASA) |
Pioneer 11 |
| 12 November 1980 | Saturn flyby (closest approach 124,000 kilometers), close encounter of Titan and encounters with a dozen others. | USA (NASA) |
Voyager 1 |
1981–Present
| Date | Mission Success | Country/Organization | Mission Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 April 1981 | First Reusable manned spacecraft (orbital) | USA (NASA) |
STS-1 |
| 1 March 1982 | First Venus soil samples and 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 kilometers (44,000 nmi) | USA (NASA) |
Voyager 2 |
| 28 January 1986 | Challenger explosion with Christa McAuliffe (teacher at high school in Concord, New Hampshire) | USA (NASA) |
STS-51-L |
| 19 February 1986 | First consistently inhabited long-term research space station | USSR |
Mir |
| 8 August 1989 | First astrometric satellite | ESA |
Hipparcos |
| 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[7] | USA (NASA) |
Voyager 1 |
| 24 April 1990 | Optical orbital observatory | USA (NASA) ESA |
Hubble Space Telescope |
| 15 September 1990 | Extended (multi-year) orbital exploration of Venus | USA (NASA) |
Magellan |
| 21 October 1991 | First asteroid flyby (951 Gaspra closest approach 1,600 kilometers) | USA (NASA) |
Galileo |
| 8 February 1992 | First polar orbit around the Sun | USA (NASA) ESA |
Ulysses |
| 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 |
| 8 September 2004 | First sample return beyond lunar orbit (solar wind) | USA (NASA) |
Genesis |
| 14 January 2005 | First soft landing on Titan | ESA USA (NASA) Italy (ASI) |
Cassini–Huygens |
| 19 November 2005 | First asteroid ascent (25143 Itokawa) First interplanetary escape without undercarriage cutoff |
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[8] | 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 |
| 16 July 2011 | First orbit of giant asteroid Vesta | USA (NASA) |
Dawn |
| 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).[9] | ESA |
Rosetta |
| 6 March 2015 | First orbit of dwarf planet (Ceres). First spacecraft to orbit two separate celestial bodies. |
USA (NASA) |
Dawn |
| July 2015 | First flyby of dwarf planet (Pluto). Last original encounter with one of the nine major planets recognized in 1981. |
USA (NASA) |
New Horizons |
| 10 August 2015 | Lettuce was the first food eaten that was grown in space. | USA (NASA) Japan (JAXA) |
|
| 1 March 2016 | Astronaut Scott Kelly and Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko return to Earth after their 340-day space mission, longest recorded time in space for ISS crew members. | USA (NASA) Russia(FKA) |
ISS year long mission |
1Project Vanguard was transferred from the NRL to NASA in late 1958.
See also
- Discovery and exploration of the Solar System
- Timeline of Solar System exploration
- Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
- Timeline of space travel by nationality
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Asif Siddiqi, Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge, University Press of Florida, 2003, ISBN 081302627X, p. 96
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links
- Chronology of Space Exploration archive of important space exploration missions and events, including future planned and proposed endeavors
- Manned spaceflight 1961-1980
- Manned spaceflight chronology
- History of manned space missions
- Timeline of the Space Race/Moon Race
- Chronology: Moon Race at russianspaceweb.com
