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This is for a timeline of space exploration including notable achievements and first accomplishments in humanity's exploration of outer space.

1610-1951

Date	Event leading to space exploration	Country	Researcher(s)
1610	First telescopic observation of the night sky: Discovery of Jupiter's moons, lunar craters and the phases of Venus.	Republic of Venice	Galileo Galilei
1687	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
1840	First clear telescopic photograph of another world: the Moon.	United States	John William Draper
1865	From the Earth to the Moon published.	France	Jules Verne
1898	The War of the Worlds published. This inspired Robert Goddard to investigate rocketry.	UK	H. G. Wells
1903	Inspired by the writings of Jules Verne, 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)	Russia	Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
1914	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	Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) ("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	USSR	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	USSR	Yuri Kondratyuk
1928	Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (The Problem of Space Travel – The Rocket Motor) discusses space travel and its potential uses for scientific experiments.	Germany	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 V-2 rocket.	Nazi Germany	Wernher von Braun
17 August 1933	Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD) launches the first Soviet liquid-fueled rocket	USSR	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
20 June 1944	V-2 Rocket (MW 18014): First man-made object to cross what would later be defined as the Kármán line and hence first spaceflight in history.	Nazi Germany	Wehrmacht
10 May 1946	First space research flight (cosmic radiation experiments)	United States	captured and improved V-2 rocket
22 May 1946	First U.S.-designed rocket to reach edge of space (80 km (49 mi))	United States	WAC Corporal
24 October 1946	First pictures of Earth from 105 km (65 mi)	United States	V-2
20 February 1947	First animals in space (fruit flies)	United States	V-2
22 July 1951	First dogs in space (Dezik and Tsygan)	USSR	R-1

1957–1959

Date	Mission Achievements	Country/Organization	Mission Name
21 August 1957	First intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)	USSR	R-7 Semyorka/SS-6 Sapwood
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
2 January 1959	First firing of a rocket in Earth orbit First reaching Earth escape velocity or Trans Lunar Injection First detection of solar wind	USSR	Luna 1
4 January 1959	First artificial satellite to reach the Moon vicinity and first artificial satellite in heliocentric orbit	USSR	Luna 1
7 August 1959	First photograph of Earth from orbit	USA (NASA)	Explorer 6
13 September 1959	First impact into another world (the Moon) First delivery of national (USSR) pennants to a celestial body	USSR	Luna 2
4 October 1959	First photos of another world from space: The far side of the Moon	USSR	Luna 3

1960–1969

Date	Mission Success	Country/Organization	Mission Name
19 August 1960	First plants and animals to return alive from Earth orbit	USSR	Sputnik 5
March 1960	First solar probe.	USA (NASA)	Pioneer 5
10 October 1960	First probe launched to Mars (failed to reach target)	USSR	Mars 1M
31 January 1961	First Hominidae in space, first tasks performed in space; Ham (chimpanzee).	USA (NASA)	M-R 2
12 February 1961	First launch from Earth orbit of upper stage into a heliocentric orbit First mid-course corrections First spin-stabilisation	USSR	Venera 1
12 April 1961	First human spaceflight–(Yuri Gagarin) First human-crewed orbital flight	USSR	Vostok 1
5 May 1961	First human-piloted space flight–(Alan Shepard) First human-crewed suborbital flight First human space mission that landed with pilot still in spacecraft, thus the first complete human spaceflight by FAI definitions.	USA	Freedom 7
19 May 1961	First planetary flyby (within 100,000 km of Venus - no data returned)	USSR	Venera 1
7 March 1962	First orbital solar observatory	USA (NASA)	OSO-1
November 1962	First Mars flyby (11,000 km) but contact was lost	USSR	Mars 1
14 December 1962	First successful 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 crewed spacecraft (suborbital)	USA (NASA)	X-15 Flight 90
18 March 1965	First extra-vehicular activity-(Alexei Leonov)	USSR	Voskhod 2
March 1965	First crewed spacecraft to change orbit	USA (NASA)	Gemini 3
14 July 1965	First Mars flyby (closest approach 9,846 kilometers; returned pictures)	USA (NASA)	Mariner 4
14 July 1965	First close-up photographs of another planet: Mars	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 docking between two spacecraft	USA (NASA)	Gemini 8/Agena target vehicle
3 April 1966	First artificial satellite around another world (the Moon)	USSR	Luna 10
August 1966	First probe to map the Moon	USA	Lunar Orbiter 1
30 October 1967	First automated (crewless) docking	USSR	Cosmos 186/Cosmos 188
September 1968	First animals and plants to orbit moon, and the first to return safely to Earth	USSR	Zond 5
7 December 1968	First orbital ultraviolet observatory	USA (NASA)	OAO-2
21 December 1968	First piloted orbital mission of another celestial body (Moon), First-ever Trans-Earth injection First human space mission to escape Earth's influence(25 December)	USA (NASA)	Apollo 8
January 1969	First docking between two crewed spacecraft in Earth orbit, also the first crew exchange in space	USSR	Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5
January 1969	First to parachute in Venus's atmosphere, lost contact before landing.	USSR	Venera 5
20 July 1969	First human on the Moon and first space launch from a celestial body First sample return from the Moon	USA (NASA)	Apollo 11
August 4, 1969	First photograph of Phobos from Space	USA (NASA)	Mariner 7
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
17 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
19 April 1971	First space station	USSR	Salyut 1
June 1971	First Manned orbital observatory	USSR	Orion 1
14 November 1971	First to maintain 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
15 November 1972	First orbital gamma ray observatory	USA (NASA)	SAS 2
3 December 1973	First Jupiter flyby (at 130,000 km)	USA (NASA)	Pioneer 10
5 February 1974	Venus flyby at 5768 kilometers, first gravitational assist manoeuvre First photograph of Venus from Space	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
17 April 1976	Closest flyby of the Sun (43.432 million kilometers) Maximum speed record among spacecraft (252,792 km/h)	USA (NASA) West Germany (DFVLR)	Helios 2
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
4 December 1978	First extended (multi-year) orbital exploration of Venus from 1978 to 1992	USA (NASA)	Pioneer Venus Orbiter
5 March 1979	Jupiter flyby (closest approach 349,000 km) encounters with Five Jovian moons, discovery of volcanism on Io	USA (NASA)	Voyager 1
1 September 1979	First Saturn flyby at 21,000 km, first photographs of Titan from Space	USA (NASA)	Pioneer 11
12 November 1980	Saturn flyby (closest approach 124,000 kilometers), close encounter of Titan and encounters with a dozen others.	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 and sound recording of another world	USSR	Venera 13
25 January 1983	First Infrared orbital observatory	USA (NASA) UK (SERC) Netherlands (NIVR)	IRAS
13 June 1983	First spacecraft beyond the orbit of Neptune (first spacecraft to pass beyond all Solar System planets)	USA (NASA)	Pioneer 10
7 February 1984	First untethered spacewalk, Bruce McCandless II	USA (NASA)	STS-41-B
24 January 1986	First Uranus flyby (closest approach 81,500 kilometers (44,000 nmi)	USA (NASA)	Voyager 2
28 January 1986	Challenger explosion with Christa McAuliffe (teacher at high school in Concord, New Hampshire)	USA (NASA)	STS-51-L
19 February 1986	First consistently inhabited long-term research space station	USSR	Mir
8 August 1989	First astrometric satellite	ESA	Hipparcos
25 August 1989	First Neptune flyby (closest approach at 29,240 km)	USA (NASA)	Voyager 2
18 November 1989	First orbital cosmic microwave observatory	USA (NASA)	COBE
14 February 1990	First photograph of the whole Solar System	USA (NASA)	Voyager 1
24 April 1990	Optical orbital observatory	USA (NASA) ESA	Hubble Space Telescope
15 September 1990	Extended (multi-year) orbital exploration of Venus	USA (NASA)	Magellan
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
22 March 1995	Record longest duration spaceflight (437.7 days) set by Valeri Polyakov	Russia (FKA)	Mir
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
12 February 1997	First orbital radio observatory	Japan (ISAS)	HALCA
4 July 1997	First operational rover on another planet (Mars)	USA (NASA)	Mars Pathfinder
20 November 1998	First multinational space station, Largest man-made object built in space to date	Russia(FKA) USA (NASA) Europe (ESA) Japan (JAXA) Canada (CSA)	International Space Station
14 February 2000	First orbiting of an asteroid (433 Eros)	USA (NASA) ESA	NEAR Shoemaker
12 February 2001	First landing on an asteroid (433 Eros)	USA (NASA)	NEAR Shoemaker
1 July 2004	First orbit of Saturn	USA (NASA) ESA Italy (ASI)	Cassini–Huygens
8 September 2004	First sample return beyond lunar orbit (solar wind)	USA (NASA)	Genesis
14 January 2005	First soft landing on Titan	ESA USA (NASA) Italy (ASI)	Cassini–Huygens
19 November 2005	First asteroid ascent (25143 Itokawa) First interplanetary escape without undercarriage cutoff	Japan (JAXA)	Hayabusa
15 January 2006	First sample return from comet (81P/Wild)	USA (NASA)	Stardust
6 March 2009	Kepler Mission is launched, first space telescope designated to search for Earth-like exoplanets	USA (NASA)	Kepler Mission
13 June 2010	First sample return from asteroid (25143 Itokawa)	Japan (JAXA)	Hayabusa
18 March 2011	First orbit of Mercury	USA (NASA)	MESSENGER
16 July 2011	First orbit of giant asteroid Vesta	USA (NASA)	Dawn
25 August 2012	First manmade probe in interstellar space.	USA (NASA)	Voyager 1
12 November 2014	First man-made probe to make a planned and soft landing on a comet (67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko).	ESA	Rosetta
6 March 2015	First orbit of dwarf planet (Ceres). First spacecraft to orbit two separate celestial bodies.	USA (NASA)	Dawn
July 2015	First flyby of dwarf planet (Pluto). Last original encounter with one of the nine major planets recognized in 1981.	USA (NASA)	New Horizons
10 August 2015	Lettuce was the first food eaten that was grown in space.	USA (NASA) Japan (JAXA)
1 March 2016	Astronaut Scott Kelly and Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko return to Earth after their 340-day space mission, longest recorded time in space for ISS crew members.	USA (NASA) Russia(FKA)	ISS year long mission

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

See also

• Discovery and exploration of the Solar System
• Timeline of Solar System exploration
• Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
• Timeline of space travel by nationality

References

4. History of Research in Space Biology and Biodynamics
5. Asif Siddiqi, Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge, University Press of Florida, 2003, ISBN 081302627X, p. 96
6. "Geek Trivia: A leap of fakes". Retrieved 18 August 2016.
7. See under "Extended Mission"
8. NASA launches Kepler Mission: Search for Earth-like worlds
9. Chang, Kenneth (Nov 12, 2014). "European Space Agency's Spacecraft Lands on Comet's Surface". The New York Times. Retrieved Nov 12, 2014. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

External links

• Chronology of Space Exploration archive of important space exploration missions and events, including future planned and proposed endeavors
• Manned spaceflight 1961-1980
• Manned spaceflight chronology
• History of manned space missions
• Timeline of the Space Race/Moon Race
• Chronology: Moon Race at russianspaceweb.com

• Spaceflight
• Spaceflight timelines
• Space exploration