Sputnik 1 – First Earth orbiter
This is a timeline of Solar System exploration ordered by date of spacecraft launch. It includes:
- All spacecraft that have left Earth orbit for the purposes of Solar System exploration (or were launched with that intention but failed), including lunar probes.
- A small number of pioneering or notable Earth-orbiting craft.
It does not include:
- The great majority of Earth-orbiting satellites.
- Probes leaving Earth orbit that are not concerned with Solar System exploration (such as space telescopes targeted at distant galaxies, cosmic background radiation observatories, and so on).
- Probes that failed at launch.
The dates listed are launch dates, but the achievements noted may have occurred some time later—in some cases, a considerable time later (for example, Voyager 2, launched 20 August 1977, did not reach Neptune until 1989).
Missions in italics are unfinished, i.e. have not yet been designated as successes or failures. Some unitalicised missions are nevertheless still operational, some in mission extension phases.
1957
Laika was found as a stray wandering the streets of Moscow. Soviet scientists chose to use Moscow strays since they assumed that such animals had already learned to endure conditions of extreme cold and hunger. As little was known about the impact of spaceflight on living creatures at the time of Laika’s mission, and as the technology to de-orbit had not yet been developed, there was no expectation of Laika’s survival. Laika died within hours after launch from overheating
1958
Explorer 1 – 1 February 1958 – Earth orbiter; first American orbiter, discovered Van Allen radiation belts- Vanguard 1 – 17 March 1958 – Earth orbiter; oldest spacecraft still in Earth orbit
1959
Luna 1 – 2 January 1959 – First lunar flyby (attempted lunar impact?)- Pioneer 4 – 3 March 1959 – Lunar flyby
- Luna 2 – 12 September 1959 – First lunar impact
- Luna 3 – 4 October 1959 – Lunar flyby; First images of far side of Moon
Vostok 1 – First manned Earth orbiter
Mariner 2 – First Venus flyby
Mariner 4 – First Mars flyby
Luna 9 – First lunar lander
Venera 4 – First Venus atmospheric probe
Apollo 8 – First manned lunar orbiter
Apollo 11 – First manned lunar landing
1960
- Pioneer 5 – 11 March 1960 – Interplanetary space investigations
1961
- Sputnik 7 – 4 February 1961 – Attempted Venus impact (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Venera 1 – 12 February 1961 – Venus flyby (contact lost before flyby)
- Vostok 1 – 12 April 1961 – First manned Earth orbiter
- Mercury-Redstone 3 – 5 May 1961 – First American in space
- Ranger 1 – 23 August 1961 – Attempted lunar test flight
- Ranger 2 – 18 November 1961 – Attempted lunar test flight
1962
- Ranger 3 – 26 January 1962 – Attempted lunar impact (missed Moon)
- Mercury-Atlas 6 – 20 February 1962 – First American manned Earth orbiter
- Ranger 4 – 23 April 1962 – Lunar impact (but unintentionally hit lunar farside and returned no data)
- Sputnik 19 – 25 August 1962 – Attempted Venus lander (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Mariner 2 – 27 August 1962 – First successful planetary encounter, First successful Venus flyby
- Sputnik 20 – 1 September 1962 – Attempted Venus lander (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Sputnik 21 – 12 September 1962 – Attempted Venus flyby (exploded)
- Ranger 5 – 18 October 1962 – Attempted lunar impact (missed Moon)
- Sputnik 22 – 24 October 1962 – Attempted Mars flyby (exploded)
- Mars 1 – 1 November 1962 – Mars flyby (contact lost)
- Sputnik 24 – 4 November 1962 – Attempted Mars lander (broke up)
1963
- Sputnik 25 – 4 January 1963 – Attempted lunar lander (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Luna 4 – 2 April 1963 – Attempted lunar lander (missed Moon)
- Cosmos 21 – 11 November 1963 – Attempted Venera test flight?
1964
- Ranger 6 – 30 January 1964 – Lunar impact (cameras failed)
- Cosmos 27 – 27 March 1964 – Attempted Venus flyby (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Zond 1 – 2 April 1964 – Venus flyby (contact lost)
- Ranger 7 – 28 July 1964 – Lunar impact
- Mariner 3 – 5 November 1964 – Attempted Mars flyby (failed to attain correct trajectory)
- Mariner 4 – 28 November 1964 – First Mars flyby
- Zond 2 – 30 November 1964 – Mars flyby (contact lost)
1965
- Ranger 8 – 17 February 1965 – Lunar impact
- Cosmos 60 – 12 March 1965 – Attempted lunar lander (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Ranger 9 – 21 March 1965 – Lunar impact
- Luna 5 – 9 May 1965 – Lunar impact (attempted soft landing)
- Luna 6 – 8 June 1965 – Attempted lunar lander (missed Moon)
- Zond 3 – 18 July 1965 – Lunar flyby
- Luna 7 – 4 October 1965 – Lunar impact (attempted soft landing)
- Venera 2 – 12 November 1965 – Venus flyby (contact lost)
- Venera 3 – 16 November 1965 – Venus lander (contact lost) – First spacecraft to reach another planet’s surface,First Venus impact
- Cosmos 96 – 23 November 1965 – Attempted Venus lander (stayed in Earth orbit due to launch failure)
- Luna 8 – 3 December 1965 – Lunar impact (attempted soft landing?)
- Pioneer 6 – 16 December 1965 – “Space weather” observations
1966
- Luna 9 – 31 January 1966 – First lunar lander
- Cosmos 111 – 1 March 1966 – Attempted lunar orbiter? (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Luna 10 – 31 March 1966 – First lunar orbiter
- Surveyor 1 – 30 May 1966 – Lunar lander
- Explorer 33 – 1 July 1966 – Attempted lunar orbiter (failed to attain lunar orbit)
- Lunar Orbiter 1 – 10 August 1966 – Lunar orbiter
- Pioneer 7 – 17 August 1966 – “Space weather” observations
- Luna 11 – 24 August 1966 – Lunar orbiter
- Surveyor 2 – 20 September 1966 – Attempted lunar lander (crashed into Moon)
- Luna 12 – 22 October 1966 – Lunar orbiter
- Lunar Orbiter 2 – 6 November 1966 – Lunar orbiter
- Luna 13 – 21 December 1966 – Lunar lander
1967
- Lunar Orbiter 3 – 4 February 1967 – Lunar orbiter
- Surveyor 3 – 17 April 1967 – Lunar lander
- Lunar Orbiter 4 – 8 May 1967 – Lunar orbiter
- Venera 4 – 12 June 1967 – First Venus atmospheric probe
- Mariner 5 – 14 June 1967 – Venus flyby
- Cosmos 167 – 17 June 1967 – Attempted Venus probe (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Surveyor 4 – 14 July 1967 – Attempted lunar lander (crashed into Moon)
- Explorer 35 (IMP-E) – 19 July 1967 – Lunar orbiter
- Lunar Orbiter 5 – 1 August 1967 – Lunar orbiter
- Surveyor 5 – 8 September 1967 – Lunar lander
- Surveyor 6 – 7 November 1967 – Lunar lander
- Pioneer 8 – 13 December 1967 – “Space weather” observations
1968
- Surveyor 7 – 7 January 1968 – Lunar lander
- Zond 4 – 2 March 1968 – Lunar programme test flight
- Luna 14 – 7 April 1968 – Lunar orbiter
- Zond 5 – 15 September 1968 – First lunar flyby and return to Earth
- Pioneer 9 – 8 November 1968 – “Space weather” observations
- Zond 6 – 10 November 1968 – Lunar flyby and return to Earth
- Apollo 8 – 21 December 1968 – First manned lunar orbiter
1969
- Venera 5 – 5 January 1969 – Venus atmospheric probe
- Venera 6 – 10 January 1969 – Venus atmospheric probe
- Mariner 6 – 25 February 1969 – Mars flyby
- Apollo 9 – 3 March 1969 – Manned lunar lander (LEM) flight test
- Mariner 7 – 27 March 1969 – Mars flyby
- Apollo 10 – 18 May 1969 – Manned lunar orbiter
- Luna E-8-5 No.402 – 14 June 1969 – Attempted lunar sample return, first attempted sample return mission
- Luna 15 – 13 July 1969 – Second attempted lunar sample return
- Apollo 11 – 16 July 1969 – First manned lunar landing and first successful sample return mission
- Zond 7 – 7 August 1969 – Lunar flyby and return to Earth
- Cosmos 300 – 23 September 1969 – Attempted lunar sample return? (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Cosmos 305 – 22 October 1969 – Attempted lunar sample return? (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Apollo 12 – 14 November 1969 – Manned lunar landing
1970
- Apollo 13 – 11 April 1970 – Manned lunar flyby and return to Earth (manned lunar landing aborted)
- Venera 7 – 17 August 1970 – First Venus lander
- Cosmos 359 – 22 August 1970 – Attempted Venus probe (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Luna 16 – 12 September 1970 – First robotic lunar sample return
- Zond 8 – 20 October 1970 – Lunar flyby and return to Earth
- Luna 17/Lunokhod 1 – 10 November 1970 – First lunar rover
1971
- Apollo 14 – 31 January 1971 – Manned lunar landing
- Salyut 1 – 19 April 1971 – First space station
- Cosmos 419 – 10 May 1971 – Attempted Mars orbiter (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Mariner 9 – 30 May 1971 – First Mars orbiter
- Mars 2 – 19 May 1971 – Mars orbiter and attempted lander; First Mars impact
- Mars 3 – 28 May 1971 – Mars orbiter, First Mars lander (lost contact after 14.5s) and First Mars atmospheric probe
- Apollo 15 – 26 July 1971 – Manned lunar landing; First manned lunar rover
- Luna 18 – 2 September 1971 – Attempted lunar sample return (crashed into Moon)
- Luna 19 – 28 September 1971 – Lunar orbiter
1972
- Luna 20 – 14 February 1972 – Lunar robotic sample return
- Pioneer 10 – 3 March 1972 – First Jupiter flyby
- Venera 8 – 27 March 1972 – Venus lander
- Cosmos 482 – 31 March 1972 – Attempted Venus probe (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Apollo 16 – 16 April 1972 – Manned lunar landing
- Apollo 17 – 7 December 1972 – Last manned lunar landing
1973
- Luna 21/Lunokhod 2 – 8 January 1973 – Lunar rover
- Pioneer 11 – 5 April 1973 – Jupiter flyby and First Saturn flyby
- Skylab – 14 May 1973 – First American space station
- Explorer 49 (RAE-B) – 10 June 1973 – Lunar orbiter/radio astronomy
- Mars 4 – 21 July 1973 – Mars flyby (attempted Mars orbiter)
- Mars 5 – 25 July 1973 – Mars orbiter
- Mars 6 – 5 August 1973 – Mars orbiter and attempted lander (failed due to damage on Mars landing)
- Mars 7 – 9 August 1973 – Mars flyby and attempted lander (missed Mars)
- Mariner 10 – 4 November 1973 – Venus flyby and First Mercury flyby
1974
- Luna 22 – 2 June 1974 – Lunar orbiter
- Luna 23 – 28 October 1974 – Attempted lunar sample return (failed due to damage on lunar landing)
-
Helios-A – 10 December 1974 – Solar observations
1975
- Venera 9 – 8 June 1975 – First Venus orbiter and lander; First images from surface of Venus
- Venera 10 – 14 June 1975 – Venus orbiter and lander
- Viking 1 – 20 August 1975 – Mars orbiter and lander; First lander returning data and First pictures from Martian surface
- Viking 2 – 9 September 1975 – Mars orbiter and lander
1976
- Helios-B – 15 January 1976 – Solar observations, Closest solar approach (0.29 AU)
- Luna 24 – 9 August 1976 – Lunar robotic sample return
1977
- Voyager 2 – 20 August 1977 – Jupiter/Saturn/first Uranus/first Neptune flyby
- Voyager 1 – 5 September 1977 – Jupiter/Saturn flyby, Farthest human-made object – currently (2013) over 125 AU
1978
- Pioneer Venus 1 – 20 May 1978 – Venus orbiter
- Pioneer Venus 2 – 8 August 1978 – Venus atmospheric probes
-
ISEE-3 – 12 August 1978 – Solar wind investigations; later redesignated International Cometary Explorer and performed Comet Giacobini-Zinner and Comet Halley flybys – First comet flyby - Venera 11 – 9 September 1978 – Venus flyby and lander
- Venera 12 – 14 September 1978 – Venus flyby and lander
Lunokhod 1 – First lunar rover
Pioneer 10 – First Jupiter flyby
Mariner 10 – First Mercury flyby
Voyager 2 – First Uranus/first Neptune flyby
1981
- Venera 13 – 30 October 1981 – Venus flyby and lander
- Venera 14 – 4 November 1981 – Venus flyby and lander
1983
1984
- Vega 1 – 15 December 1984 – Venus flyby, lander and first balloon; continued on to Comet Halley flyby
- Vega 2 – 21 December 1984 – Venus flyby, lander and balloon; continued on to Comet Halley flyby
1985
Sakigake – 7 January 1985 – Comet Halley flyby- Giotto – 2 July 1985 – Comet Halley flyby
- Suisei (Planet-A) – 18 August 1985 – Comet Halley flyby
1986
- Mir – 20 February 1986 – First modular space station (completion 1996)
1988
- Phobos 1 – 7 July 1988 – Attempted Mars orbiter/Phobos landers (contact lost)
- Phobos 2 – 12 July 1988 – Mars orbiter/attempted Phobos landers (contact lost)
1989
- Magellan – 4 May 1989 – Venus orbiter
- Galileo – 18 October 1989 – Venus flyby, first Asteroid flyby, first Asteroid moon discovery, first Jupiter orbiter/atmospheric probe
1990
- Hiten (Muses-A) – 24 January 1990 – Lunar flyby and orbiter
- Hubble Space Telescope – Orbital space telescope
- Ulysses – 6 October 1990 – Solar polar orbiter
1991
-
Yohkoh (Solar-A) – 30 August 1991 – Solar observations
1992
- Mars Observer – 25 September 1992 – Attempted Mars orbiter (contact lost)
1994
- Clementine – 25 January 1994 – Lunar orbiter/attempted asteroid flyby
- WIND – 1 November 1994 – Solar wind observations
1995
- SOHO – 2 December 1995 – Solar observatory
1996
- NEAR Shoemaker – 17 February 1996 – Eros orbiter, first near-Earth asteroid flyby, first asteroid orbit and first asteroid landing
- Mars Global Surveyor – 7 November 1996 – Mars orbiter
Mars 96 – 16 November 1996 – Attempted Mars orbiter/landers (failed to escape Earth orbit)- Mars Pathfinder – 4 December 1996 – Mars lander and first planetary rover
1997
- ACE – 25 August 1997 – Solar wind and “space weather” observations
-
Cassini–Huygens – 15 October 1997 – First Saturn orbiter and first outer planet lander 
AsiaSat 3/HGS-1 – 24 December 1997 – Lunar flyby
1998
- Lunar Prospector – 7 January 1998 – Lunar orbiter
- Nozomi (probe) (also known as Planet-B) – 3 July 1998 – Attempted Mars orbiter (failed to enter Mars orbit)
- Deep Space 1 (DS1) – 24 October 1998 – Asteroid and comet flyby
-
– 20 November 1998 – International Space Station (planned completion 2013) - Mars Climate Orbiter – 11 December 1998 – Attempted Mars orbiter (orbit insertion failed)
1999
- Mars Polar Lander/Deep Space 2 (DS2) – 3 January 1999 – Attempted Mars lander/penetrators (contact lost)
- Stardust – 7 February 1999 – First comet coma sample return – returned 15 January 2006
2001
- 2001 Mars Odyssey – 7 April 2001 – Mars orbiter
- Genesis – 8 August 2001 – First solar wind sample return
2002
- CONTOUR – 3 July 2002 – Attempted flyby of three comet nuclei (lost in space)
2003
- Hayabusa (Muses-C) – 9 May 2003 – Asteroid lander and First sample return from asteroid
- Mars Exploration Rovers – 10 June/7 July 2003 – Two Mars rovers (“Spirit” and “Opportunity”)
- Mars Express/Beagle 2 – 1 June 2003 – Mars orbiter/lander (lander failure)
- SMART-1 – 27 September 2003 – Lunar orbiter
- Shenzhou 5 – 15 October 2003 – China’s first manned Earth orbiter
2004
- Rosetta – 2 March 2004 – Comet orbiter and lander (expected arrival 2014)
- MESSENGER – 3 August 2004 – First Mercury orbiter (achieved orbit 18 March 2011)
2005
- Deep Impact – 12 January 2005 – First comet impact
- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – 12 August 2005 – Mars orbiter
- Venus Express – 9 November 2005 – Venus polar orbiter
2006
- New Horizons – 19 January 2006 – First Pluto/Charon and Kuiper Belt flyby (expected arrival 14 July 2015)
- Hinode (Solar-B) – 22 September 2006 – Solar orbiter
- STEREO – 26 October 2006 – Two spacecraft, solar orbiters
2007
- Phoenix – 4 August 2007 – Mars polar lander
- SELENE (Kaguya) – 14 September 2007 – Lunar orbiters
- Dawn – 27 September 2007 – Asteroid Ceres and Vesta orbiter (entered orbit around Vesta on 16 July 2011)
- Chang’e 1 – 24 October 2007 – Lunar orbiter
2008
Chandrayaan-1 – 22 October 2008 – Lunar orbiter and impactor – Discovered water on the moon
2009
- Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS – 18 June 2009 – Lunar polar orbiter and lunar impactor
2010
- Solar Dynamics Observatory – 11 February 2010 – Continuous solar monitoring
- Akatsuki (Planet-C) – 20 May 2010 – Venus orbiter (orbit insertion failed in 2010 / postponed to 2016–17)
PICARD – 15 June 2010 – Solar monitoring- Chang’e 2 – 1 October 2010 – Lunar orbiter, Asteroid 4179 Toutatis flyby
2011
- Juno – 5 August 2011 – Jupiter orbiter
- GRAIL – 10 September 2011 – Two spacecraft, Lunar orbiters
- Tiangong (Project 921-2) – 29 September 2011 – First Chinese space station (planned completion around 2020)
- Fobos-Grunt and Yinghuo-1 – 8 November 2011 – Phobos orbiter, lander and sample return (Russia), Mars orbiter (China) – failed to escape Earth orbit
- Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity Rover) – 26 November 2011 – large Mars 900 kg Rover (landed 6 August 2012)
2012
- Van Allen Probes (RBSP) – 30 August 2012 – Earth Van Allen radiation belts study
2013
- IRIS – 27 June 2013 – Solar observations
- LADEE – 6 September 2013 – Lunar orbiter
- Hisaki – 14 September 2013 – Planetary atmosphere observatory
- Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) – 5 November 2013 – Mars orbiter
- MAVEN – 18 November 2013 – Mars orbiter
- Chang’e 3 – 1 December 2013 – Lunar lander and rover (most recent lander since Russian Luna 24 in 1976)
Giotto – Comet Halley flyby
Galileo – Mission to Jupiter
Mars Pathfinder – Mars lander and first Mars rover
Cassini–Huygens – First Saturn orbiter and first Titan lander
Mars Express/Beagle 2 – First planetary mission by the ESA
MESSENGER – First Mercury orbiter
New Horizons – First Pluto flyby
Mars Science Laboratory – Mars lander and large rover
Mangalyaan – First Indian Mars orbiter
Planned or scheduled
2014
- Hayabusa 2 – July 2014 – Asteroid lander and sample return
2015
- Astrosat – Space observatory
- BepiColombo – August 2015 – Mercury orbiters
- ISRO Extraterrestrial Exploration – May 2015 – Venus orbiter
Astrobotic Technology – October 2015 – First private lunar lander and rover mission- Don Quijote – 2013 or 2015 – Asteroid orbiter, impactor
- Chang’e 4 – Lunar lander and rover
- Aditya – 2015/2016 – Solar observations
2016
- InSight – March 2016 – Mars lander
- ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and EDM lander – Mars orbiter and lander
- OSIRIS-REx – Asteroid sample return mission
- ISRO Orbital Vehicle – First Indian manned orbiter
- Luna-Glob 1 – Lunar orbiter, lander and penetrators
- Chandrayaan-2 – Lunar orbiter and rover
2017
- SOLO – January 2017 – Solar Orbiter
- Chang’e 5 – Lunar sample return mission
- SELENE-2 – Lunar lander and penetrator
2018
- Solar Probe Plus – 30 July 2018 – Solar Orbiter, Closest solar approach (0.04 AU)
- ExoMars rover and Russian static lander – Mars rover and lander
- MoonNext – Lunar Lander
- International Lunar Network – Lunar lander
- Luna-Glob 2 – Lunar lander
2019
- Chang’e 6 – Lunar sample return mission
2020
- Luna-Grunt 1 – Lunar orbiter, lander and rover
- MarcoPolo-R – Asteroid sample return mission
- Manned landing on Moon
- Mars 2020 rover mission
- Mars sample return mission
- Lunnyj Poligon – Russian robotic lunar base
2021
- Luna-Grunt 2 – Lunar lander and sample return
2022
- Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer – Mission to explore Jupiter and its icy moons.
2024
- Venera-D – Venus orbiter
2025
- Manned landing on an Asteroid
- Manned landing on Moon (2020–30)
- Manned lunar mission
2035
2040-60
- Crewed phase of the Chinese Mars exploration program
Courtesy : Wikipedia
