Timeline of Solar System exploration

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Timeline of Solar System exploration

This is a timeline of Solar System exploration ordering events in the exploration of the Solar System 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.[vague]
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Charted timeline of Solar System exploration through December 2014

It does not include:

  • Centuries of terrestrial telescopic observation.
  • The great majority of Earth-orbiting satellites.
  • Space 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 laterin some cases, a considerable time later (for example, Voyager 2, launched 20 August 1977, did not reach Neptune until 1989).

1950s

Sputnik 1 – First Earth orbiter
More information Mission name, Launch date ...
Mission name Launch date Description Ref(s)
Soviet Union Sputnik 1 4 October 1957 First Earth orbiter [1][2]
Soviet Union Sputnik 2 3 November 1957 Earth orbiter, first animal in orbit, a dog named Laika [2][3][4]
United States Explorer 1 1 February 1958 Earth orbiter; discovered Van Allen radiation belts [5]
United States Vanguard 1 17 March 1958 Earth orbiter; oldest spacecraft still in Earth orbit [6]
Soviet Union Luna 1 2 January 1959 First lunar flyby (attempted lunar impact?); first artificial satellite in heliocentric orbit. [7][8][9][10]
United States Pioneer 4 3 March 1959 Lunar flyby [11][12]
Soviet Union Luna 2 12 September 1959 First extraterrestrial impact and lunar impact, First artificial object on Moon [10][13]
Soviet Union Luna 3 4 October 1959 Lunar flyby; First images of another celestial body taken from space, most notably, the far side of Moon [10][14]
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1960s

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Vostok 1 – First crewed Earth orbiter
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Mariner 2 – First successful Venus flyby
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Mariner 4 – First successful Mars flyby
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Luna 9 – First successful lunar lander
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Zond 5 – First lunar flyby and return to Earth, first terrestrials to circle the Moon
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Apollo 8 – First crewed lunar orbiter
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Apollo 11 – First crewed lunar landing
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1970s

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Mars 3 – First Mars lander
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Pioneer 10 – First Jupiter flyby
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Mariner 10 – First Mercury flyby
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Voyager 2 – First Uranus/first Neptune flyby
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1980s

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Galileo – Mission to Jupiter
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1990s

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Mars Pathfinder – Mars lander and the first successful Mars rover, Sojourner
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Cassini–Huygens – First Saturn orbiter and first Titan lander
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2000s

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Mars Express/Beagle 2 – First planetary mission by the ESA
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MESSENGER – First Mercury orbiter
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Chandrayaan-1 – Water Around Fresh Moon Crater
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2010s

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Mars Science Laboratory – Mars lander and large rover
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Mangalyaan – First Indian Mars orbiter
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Trace Gas Orbiter – ESA/Roscosmos Mars orbiter
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2020s

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NASA's Perseverance rover
More information Mission name, Launch date ...
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Planned or scheduled

See also

References

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