Timeline of Solar System exploration
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.
- 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 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.
1950s
1957
Sputnik 1 – 4 October 1957 – First Earth orbiter Sputnik 2 – 3 November 1957 – Earth orbiter, first animal in orbit, a dog named Laika
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
1960s
1960
Pioneer 5 – 11 March 1960 – Interplanetary space investigations
1961
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 became the first spacecraft to hit the lunar farside and returned no data)[1] Mariner 2 – 27 August 1962 – First successful planetary encounter, First successful Venus flyby Ranger 5 – 18 October 1962 – Attempted lunar impact (missed Moon) Mars 1 – 1 November 1962 – Mars flyby (contact lost)
1963
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) 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 Ranger 9 – 21 March 1965 – Lunar impact Lincoln Calibration Sphere 1 - 6 May 1965 - Oldest spacecraft still in use 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 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 AS-201 – 26 February 1966 – Lunar programme test flight 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 – 4 May 1967 – Lunar orbiter Venera 4 – 12 June 1967 – First Venus atmospheric probe Mariner 5 – 14 June 1967 – Venus flyby 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 Apollo 4 – 9 November 1967 – Lunar programme test flight Pioneer 8 – 13 December 1967 – "Space weather" observations
1968
Surveyor 7 – 7 January 1968 – Lunar lander Apollo 5 – 22 January 1968 – Lunar programme test flight 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, first life forms to circle the moon Apollo 7 – 11 October 1968 – Lunar programme test flight (manned) 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 Apollo 12 – 14 November 1969 – Manned lunar landing
1970s
1970
Apollo 13 – 11 April 1970 – Manned lunar flyby and return to Earth (manned lunar landing aborted) Farthest from Earth a human has gone Venera 7 – 17 August 1970 – First Venus lander and the first spacecraft to land on another planet 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 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 Mariner 9 – 30 May 1971 – First Mars orbiter 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 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 flyby 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 (2018) about 142 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
1980s
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
1990s
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 (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 (completed 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
2000s
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 Express/Beagle 2 – 1 June 2003 – Mars orbiter/lander (lander failure) Mars Exploration Rover Spirit – 10 June 2003 – Mars rover Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity – 7 July 2003 – Mars rover SMART-1 – 27 September 2003 – Lunar orbiter Shenzhou 5 – 15 October 2003 – China's first manned Earth orbiter
2004
Rosetta/Philae – 2 March 2004 – First comet orbiter and lander (Landed in November 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 flyby (on 14 July 2015)[2] Hinode (Solar-B) – 22 September 2006 – Solar orbiter STEREO – 26 October 2006 – Two spacecraft, solar orbiters
2007
Phoenix – 4 August 2007 – Mars polar lander (Mars landing on 25 May 2008) SELENE (Kaguya) – 14 September 2007 – Lunar orbiters Dawn – 27 September 2007 – Asteroid Ceres and Vesta orbiter (Entered orbit around Vesta on 16 July 2011 and around Ceres on 6 March 2015) Chang'e 1 – 24 October 2007 – Lunar orbiter
2008
Chandrayaan-1 – 22 October 2008 – Lunar orbiter and impactor – Discovered water on the Moon
2009
Herschel Space Observatory – 14 May 2009 – Infrared space telescope Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS – 18 June 2009 – Lunar polar orbiter and lunar impactor
2010s
2010
Solar Dynamics Observatory – 11 February 2010 – Continuous solar monitoring Akatsuki (Planet-C) – 20 May 2010 – Venus orbiter (orbit insertion failed in 2010 / successful orbit insertion on 7 December 2015) 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[3] 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 – First Chinese lunar lander and rover (most recent lander since Russian Luna 24 in 1976)
2014
Chang'e 5-T1 – 23 October 2014 – Lunar flyby/orbiter and Earth reentry probe; technology demonstration to prepare for Chang'e 5 mission Hayabusa 2 / MASCOT – 3 December 2014 – Asteroid lander and sample return, First asteroid rover PROCYON - 3 December 2014 – Comet observer and failed asteroid flyby Exploration Flight Test 1 – 5 December 2014 – Unmanned Earth orbital test of Orion interplanetary vehicle.
2015
DSCOVR – 11 February 2015 – Solar observation Astrosat – 28 September 2015 – Space observatory LISA Pathfinder – 3 December 2015 – Test mission for proposed LISA gravitational wave observatory
2016
ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and EDM lander – 14 March 2016 – Mars orbiter and lander (lander failure) OSIRIS-REx – 8 September 2016 – Asteroid sample return mission
2018
InSight – 5 May 2018 – Mars lander Parker Solar Probe – 12 August 2018 – Solar corona probe, closest solar approach (0.04 AU)
Planned or scheduled
2018
BepiColombo – 19 October 2018[4] – two Mercury orbiters Chang'e 4 – 8 December 2018 – Lunar lander and rover, the first landing on the lunar far side
2019
Chandrayaan-2 – January-March 2019[5] – Lunar orbiter and rover Chang'e 5 – China's first lunar sample return mission (and first since Luna 24 in 1976) Moon Express Lunar Scout – Private Lunar lander PTScientists – Private Lunar lander and rover
2020
Exploration Mission 1 – 2020 – Unmanned lunar orbital test of Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System ExoMars rover – July 2020 – European carrier module, Russian lander and first non-American planetary rover Mars Hope – July 2020 – Emirati Mars orbiter[6][7] Mars 2020 – July 2020 – Mars rover Mars Global Remote Sensing Orbiter and Small Rover – July or August 2020 – Mars orbiter, lander and rover SolO – Solar Orbiter, moving as close as 0.28 AU of the Sun Mars Terahertz Microsatellite – Japanese Mars orbiter, first microsatellite to Mars[8][9] Astrobotic Technology – Private lunar lander and rover mission
2021
James Webb Space Telescope – March 2021 – Orbital space telescope Lucy – October 2021 – Flyby six Jupiter trojan asteroids Aditya-L1 – Solar observations SLIM – Lunar lander and rover Luna 25 – May 2021 – First mission of the Luna-Glob Moon exploration programme, lunar south pole lander
2022
ISRO Orbital Vehicle – First Indian manned orbiter Luna 26 – Lunar orbiter Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer – Mission to explore Jupiter's moons Ganymede, Callisto and Europa DESTINY+ – Multiple flyby of a rock comet and its separated objects Psyche – Orbit the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche Europa Clipper – 2022-2025 – Europa moon orbiter Intergelio-Zond – Solar orbiter[10]
2023
Exploration Mission 2 – Manned lunar flyby and return to Earth Luna 27 – Lunar south pole lander and rover Exploration Mission 3 – Manned lunar orbiter and return to Earth
2024
Chang'e 6 – Lunar sample return mission SpaceX BFR – first human mission to Mars MMX – Deimos flyby, Phobos lander and sample return
2025
Luna 28 – Lunar south pole lander, rover, and sample return Federation spacecraft – manned lunar orbit
2026
Venera-D – Venus orbiter and lander
2029
2030
Manned lunar landing and beginning of building of a human colony[11] Manned landing on the Moon (2020–30)[12]
2031
Mercury-P – First Mercury lander
2037
Lunnyj Poligon – Completion of robotic lunar base – First human mission to Mars by NASA
2040–60
Gallery
- Luna 16
First unmanned lunar sample return - Mariner 9
First Mars orbit - Pioneer 10
First Jupiter flyby - Pioneer 11
First Saturn flyby - Mariner 10
First Mercury flyby - Helios 2
Closest solar approach - International Cometary Explorer
First comet flyby - Galileo
First asteroid flyby
First asteroid moon discovery
First Jupiter orbiter
First Jupiter atmospheric probe - Mars Pathfinder
First successful Mars rover - Cassini–Huygens
First Saturn orbiter - Huygens probe
First Titan lander - Genesis
First solar wind sample return - Deep Impact
First comet impact - Rosetta/Philae
First comet orbiter and lander
See also
- Discovery and exploration of the Solar System
- List of missions to the Moon
- List of Solar System probes
- New Frontiers program
- Out of the Cradle (book) - scientific speculation on future missions.
- Space Race
- Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
- Timeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their moons
- Timeline of first orbital launches by country
- Timeline of space travel by nationality
References
- ↑ Williamson, Mark (1998). "Protecting the space environment: Are we doing enough?". Space Policy. 14 (1): 5–8. doi:10.1016/S0265-9646(97)00038-6.
- 1 2 Chang, Kenneth (18 July 2015). "The Long, Strange Trip to Pluto, and How NASA Nearly Missed It". New York Times. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
- ↑ "China's space program shoots for moon, Mars, Venus". The Guardian. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
- ↑ "BepiColombo gets green light for launch site". sci.esa.int.
- ↑ "Chandrayaan-2 launch postponed again". The Hindu. PTI. 2018-08-05. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
- ↑ "UAE plans to launch mission to Mars in 2021". Thenational.ae. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ↑ "UAE's names Mars probe Hope". Thenational.ae. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ↑ "惑星資源探査 ⼩型テラヘルツ探査機" (PDF) (in Japanese). National Institute of Information and Communications Technology. 25 January 2017. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
- ↑ Yamazaki, Keisuke (March 27, 2017). "Japan planning 2020 mission to put satellite in Martian orbit". The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
- ↑ "Space exploration in 2022". Russianspaceweb.com. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
- 1 2 "Russia's plan to conquer the moon: Nation will send 12 cosmonauts to lunar surface ahead of creating a permanent base by 2030". Dailymail.co.uk. 22 June 2016.
- ↑ "Moon may light man's future". China Daily. 15 August 2009.
- ↑ "中国嫦娥探月工程进展顺利 进度将有望加快--军事频道-中华网-中国最大职业人士门户". military.china.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ↑ Пилотируемый полет на Марс будет возможен после 2040 года – Роскосмос. versii.com (in Russian). Retrieved 22 August 2014.