Luna 9
Martin Marietta was the principal contractor. The project was managed from Langley, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, Calif., was responsible for the orbiters and would later manage the science mission.
Yes, the Apollo 8 mission of December 1968 was a success. It had the first manned spacecraft to leave earth orbit, the first manned spacecraft to reach the moon and to orbit another celestial body; enabled the first direct views of the far side of the moon, and generated one of spaceflights most famous photographs, that of earthrise during lunar orbit. It paved the way for remaining missions in the Apollo program including the later lunar landing of Apollo 11. The three crew, Borman, Lovell and Anders, completed mission objectives and returned safely to Earth.
Dear Wiki Questioner, The first spacecraft that visited the planet Mars was the "Mariner 4". It was launched by NASA in 1964 and simply flew past Mars, taking pictures and gathering information as it passed! The first spacecraft to LAND ON Mars were the "Mars 2" and "Mars 3" probes launched by the USSR in 1971. Unfortunately, both of these probes stopped functioning not long after landing on Mars. NASA's "Viking 1" lander was the first spacecraft to land on Mars and function for an extended period of time (6 years in fact). You can Read more on this subject by visiting the following web page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars#Past_missions
The spacecraft that landed on Mars in the 1970s was the Viking 1 Lander. It was the first spacecraft to have landed on Mars on July 20, 1976.
The first spacecraft to visit Mercury was Mariner 10 in 1974 -> 1975
The first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the moon was the surveyor 1 spacecraft in 1966.
Eagle
The first successful manned landing was Apollo 11.
The spacecraft with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Micheal Collins on it.
The mariner spacecraft explored Mercury, Mars, and Venus. The first successful space probe and first spacecraft visit to a planet was Mariner 2.
The docking of the Gemini spacecraft.
Apollo 11 was the first successful landing, but hardly the first successful mission.
The first lunar landing was made by the Soviet Union in 1959 by the Luna 2 spacecraft. It was an intentionally destructive landing
The Surveyor 1 was the first U.S.A. spacecraft to perform a controlled landing on the moon on March 30,1966. It took 11,100 pictures (film not digital) over a six week mission. It was not a manned mission.
None. Apollo 11 was the first attempted (and first successful) manned lunar landing.
On February 3rd, 1966 the Soviet unmanned spacecraft Luna 9 was the first man-made probe to make a soft landing on the moon.
luna 1