Timeline of space exploration

It has been suggested that List of space exploration milestones, 1957-1969 be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

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This is a Space Exploration Timeline including notable achievements and first accomplishments in humanity's physical exploration of space.

Prior to 1942

Date	Event leading to space exploration	Country	Researcher(s)
1686	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
1903	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)[1]	Russia	Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
1913	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 in Soviet Union	Soviet Union	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.	Germany
1927	"The Conquest of Interplanetary Space" discusses rocket mechanics and orbital effects including the gravitational slingshot	Soviet Union	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.	Austria	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 V2 rocket.	Germany	Wernher von Braun
25 November 1933	Russian Group of Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD) launches the first Russian liquid-fueled rocket	Soviet Union	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

1942-1957

Date	Mission Achievements	Country/Organization	Mission Name
1942[citation needed]	First rocket to reach 62 mi(100 km) from the Earth's surface (boundary of space)	Germany	V2 rocket, military program
10 May 1946	First space research flight (cosmic radiation experiments)	United States	captured and improved V2 rocket
22 May 1946	First U.S.-designed rocket to reach edge of space (80 km (49 mi))	United States	Wac Corporal
10 October 1946	First pictures of earth from 62 mi(100 km)[2][3]	United States	V2
1947	First animals in space (fruit flies)[4][5]	USA (ABMA)	V2
21 August 1957	First intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)	USSR	R-7 Semyorka/SS-6 Sapwood

1957-1961

Date	Mission Achievements	Country/Organization	Mission Name
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
17 March 1958	First solar powered satellite	USA (NRL)	Vanguard 1
18 December 1958	First communications satellite	USA (ABMA)	Project SCORE
2 January 1959	First firing of a rocket in Earth orbit First reaching Earth escape velocity First detection of solar wind	USSR	Luna 1
4 January 1959	First man-made object in heliocentric orbit	USSR	Luna 1
17 February 1959	First weather satellite	USA (NRL → NASA)1	Vanguard 2
28 February 1959	First satellite in a Polar orbit	USA (DARPA)	Discoverer 1
7 August 1959	First photograph of Earth from orbit	USA (NASA)	Explorer 6
13 September 1959	First impact into another world (the Moon)	USSR	Luna 2
4 October 1959	First photos of far side of the Moon	USSR	Luna 3
1 April 1960	First Imaging weather satellite	USA (NASA)	TIROS-1
5 July 1960	First reconnaissance satellite	USA (NRL)	GRAB-1
11 August 1960	First satellite recovered intact from orbit	USA (Air Force)	Discoverer 13
12 August 1960	First passive communications satellite	USA (NASA)	Echo 1A
18 August 1960	First photo reconnaissance satellite	USA (Air Force)	Discoverer 14
August 19, 1960	First plants and animals to return alive from Earth orbit	USSR	Sputnik 5
1961	First launch from orbit[clarification needed] First mid-course corrections First spin-stabilisation	USSR	Venera 1

1961-1969

Date	Mission Success	Country/Organization	Mission Name
12 April 1961	First manned spaceflight (Yuri Gagarin) First manned orbital flight	USSR	Vostok 1
5 May 1961	Second nation to achieve manned spaceflight	USA (NASA)	Mercury-Redstone 3
7 March 1962	First orbital solar observatory	USA (NASA)	OSO-1
29 September 1962	First artificial satellite by a non-superpower	Canada	Alouette 1
14 December 1962	First 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 manned spacecraft (suborbital)	USA (NASA)	X-15 Flight 90
26 July 1963	First geosynchronous communications satellite	USA (NASA)	Syncom 2
5 December 1963	First satellite navigation system	USA (Navy)	NAVSAT
19 August 1964	First geostationary communications satellite	USA (NASA)	Syncom 3
12 October 1964	First multi-man crew (three members)	USSR	Voskhod 1
18 March 1965	First extra-vehicular activity	USSR	Voskhod 2
6 April 1965	First commercial communications satellite	Intelsat, Ltd.	Intelsat 1
14 July 1965	First Mars flyby (closest approach 9,846 kilometers)	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 rendezvous (docking)	USA (NASA)	Gemini 8/Agena target vehicle
3 April 1966	First artificial satellite around another world (the Moon)	USSR	Luna 10
2 June 1966	soft landing on the Moon photos from the Moon	USA (NASA)	Surveyor 1
23 April 1967	First spaceflight casualty	USSR	Soyuz 1
30 October 1967	First unmanned rendezvous with docking	USSR	Cosmos 186/Cosmos 188
7 December 1968	First orbital ultraviolet observatory	USA (NASA)	OAO-2
21 December 1968	First human orbiting of another celestial body (Moon)	USA (NASA)	Apollo 8
16 January 1969	First manned docking and exchange of crew	USSR	Soyuz 4/Soyuz 5
21 July 1969	First human on the Moon and first space launch from a celestial body	USA (NASA)	Apollo 11
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
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 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
9 November 1972	First Canadian geostationary communications satellite	Canada	Anik A1
15 November 1972	First orbital gamma ray observatory	USA (NASA)	SAS 2
3 December 1973	First travel through the asteroid belt and Jupiter flyby (at 130,000 km)	USA (NASA)	Pioneer 10
5 February 1974	Venus flyby at 5768 kilometers, first gravitational assist manoeuvre	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
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
2 March 1978	First Non-American and non-Soviet in space (Vladimír Remek)	USSR Czechoslovakia	Soyuz 28
5 March 1979	Jupiter flyby (closest approach 349,000 km)	USA (NASA)	Voyager 1
1 September 1979,	First Saturn flyby at 21,000 km	USA (NASA)	Pioneer 11
12 November 1980	Saturn flyby (closest approach 124,000 kilometers)	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 & sound recording of another world	USSR	Venera 13
25 January 1983	First Infrared orbital observatory	USA (NASA) UK-SERC Netherlands-NIVR	IRAS
23 March 1983	Ultraviolet orbital observatory	USSR France	Astron
13 June 1983	First spacecraft beyond the orbit of Neptune (first spacecraft to pass beyond all Solar System planets)	USA (NASA)	Pioneer 10
25 July 1984	First extra-vehicular activity by a woman	USSR	Salyut 7
24 January 1986	First Uranus flyby (closest approach 81,500 kilometers)	USA (NASA)	Voyager 2
19 February 1986	First consistently inhabited long-term research space station	USSR	Mir
25 August 1989	First Neptune flyby	USA (NASA)	Voyager 2
18 November 1989	First orbital cosmic microwave observatory	USA (NASA)	COBE
1 December 1989	Ultraviolet to gamma ray spectrum orbital observatory	USSR France Denmark Bulgaria	Granat
14 February 1990	First photograph of the whole solar system [2]	USA (NASA)	Voyager 1
24 April 1990	Optical orbital observatory	USA (NASA) ESA	Hubble Space Telescope
2 December 1990	First commercial manned-spaceflight	USSR Japan	Soyuz TM-11
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
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
7 July 1998	First submarine-launched spacecraft (K-407)	Russia	Tubsat-N
14 February 2000	First orbiting of an asteroid (433 Eros)	USA (NASA)	NEAR Shoemaker
2 November 2000	First resident crew	International Space Station	Expedition 1
12 February 2001	First landing on an asteroid (433 Eros)	USA (NASA)	NEAR Shoemaker
28 April 2001	First space tourist	Russia USA	Soyuz TM-32
15 October 2003	Third nation to achieve manned spaceflight	China	Shenzhou 5
4 January 2004	Free ranging Mars rover	USA (NASA)	Spirit rover
25 January 2004	Free ranging Mars rover	USA (NASA)	Opportunity rover
21 June 2004	First private human spaceflight / spacecraft (suborbital)	USA (MAV)	SpaceShipOne 15P
1 July 2004	First orbit of Saturn	USA (NASA) ESA ASI	Cassini–Huygens
14 January 2005	First soft landing on Titan	ESA USA (NASA) ASI	Cassini–Huygens

¹Project Vanguard was transferred from the NRL to NASA in late 1958.

In addition, virtually all manned duration records have been set by the USSR, due largely to their Salyut and Mir series of space stations.

References

1. ^ Tsiolkovsky's Исследование мировых пространств реактивными приборами - The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices (Russian paper)^{[dead link]}
2. ^ See [1] under "Extended Mission"