Timeline of Space Exploration (Listed by Destination) - Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System

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THE SUN	MERCURY	VENUS	EARTH	THE MOON	MARS	View Timeline by time period
JUPITER	SATURN	URANUS	NEPTUNE	DWARF PLANETS	COMETS/ASTEROIDS	View Timeline by time period

Timeline of Space Exploration

At the centre of the Solar System is the Sun. A giant ball of gas, generating light and heat and essential for the existence of life on Earth. By examining the Sun, we can find out more about how it formed, how it will die and how it actually works!

LAUNCH DATE	NAME	COUNTRY	MISSION DETAILS	ADDITIONAL INFO	CURRENT STATUS
10th November 1974	Helios 1	USA and (West) Germany	A joint mission with NASA and Germany. The space craft was built by Germany and launched by NASA. It orbited the Sun in an elliptical orbit from as far away as Earth orbits the Sun to as close as 47 million kilometres away from it (within Mercury's orbit). It span every second to ensure that the craft received an equal amount of heat from the Sun (Germans like an all-over tan!). It discovered that at that within Mercury's orbit there were 15 times as many small meteorites (micro-meteorites) than near Earth. It continued to send back information until late 1982.	Helios 1 was one of the first cooperative missions between two nations.	Helios 1 stopped transmitting in 1982 but remains in an orbit around the Sun.
15th January 1976	Helios 2	USA and (West) Germany	Almost identical to Helios 1, Helios 2 was a cooperative mission between Germany and the USA. Built by Germany and launched by NASA, the craft entered an elliptical orbit of the Sun, orbiting as far away as Earth to closer than Mercury's orbit.		Helios 2's mission ended in April 1976 but remains in solar orbit.
14th February 1980	SolarMax (or Solar Maximum Mission)	USA	SolarMax stayed in orbit around Earth while observing the Sun, recording information about sunspots and solar flares. Mid-way through its mission, SolarMax was visited by space shuttle Challenger in 1984. Astronauts brought the craft into the shuttle's payload bay for maintenance and repair work before placing it back into orbit.		SolarMax's mission ended on 2nd December 1989 when it re-entered Earth's atmosphere and burnt up.
October 1990	Ulysses	USA and Europe	Mission to observe the Sun by orbiting over its poles. The mission was planned in the early 1980s and was due to launched from the Space Shuttle Challenger. The Challenger disaster in 1986 delayed the launch of Ulysses which would have been launched later that year from the same space shuttle. It was launched in October 1990 and sent to Jupiter. It used Jupiter's gravity to push it into an orbit taking the probe above and below the Sun, enabling it to observe the Sun's polar regions. Although primarily a mission to study the Sun, the craft has also made observations of Jupiter and, as an unplanned part of its mission, crossed the tail Comet Hyakutake in 1996.	.	Craft is still in operation, orbiting the Sun from a distance as far away as Jupiter. The craft is expected to remain operational until 2008.
2nd December 1995	SOHO (Solar and Heliospehric Observatory)	USA and Europe	Orbiting the Sun at a distance of 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, SOHO was designed to observe the Sun. it analyses information about the internal make-up of the Sun, the outer layers of its atmosphere and the solar wind. It has also discovered half of all known comets in the Solar System. SOHO was only intended to last for two years but still operates to this day. It was very nearly lost in 1998 but scientists found ways to keep it working.		SOHO is still in operation.
26th October 2006	STEREO	USA	Two identical spacecraft were launched into Earth orbit to analyse and image the Sun. They send back images of the Sun which can be "fused" together to create stereo, or 3D, images of the Sun.		STEREO is expected to operate for at least two year from launch.
April 2008	Solar Dynamics Observatory Mission	USA	Orbiter which will observe solar dynamics! It will observe the Sun's activity cycle (the Sun appears to have 11-year cycles), how the Sun's atmosphere evolves over different timescales, from minutes to centuries, and how radiation from the Sun affects the different planets in the Solar System.		In development. Link to mission website

The closest planet to the Sun has so far had only one visitor. Mariner 10 visited this tiny world in 1974, passing Venus on the way. It revealed Mercury's surface to be heavily cratered and with shock waves from an earlier impact. However, over the next decade, Mercury should prepare itself for two more visits from Earth!

LAUNCH DATE	NAME	COUNTRY	MISSION DETAILS	ADDITIONAL INFO	CURRENT STATUS
3rd November 1973	Mariner 10	USA	The first mission to use the gravity of one planet to get to another. Before reaching Mercury in March 1974, Mariner 10 visited Venus. It was captured by Venus' gravity and built up velocity as it orbited the Sun with Venus. It was then released from Venus' gravity and flung to Mercury. The space craft was actually put into orbit around the Sun and completed three flybys of Mercury, the first from 29th March 1974, the 2nd from 21st September 1974 and the final one from 16th March 1975.	First spacecraft to visit Mercury, first spacecraft to use Gravity Assist.	Transmissions stopped on 24th March 1975, spacecraft is currently most likely to be in orbit around the Sun.
2nd August 2004	Messenger	USA	On course to Mercury to discover more about the formation of the planet. The spacecraft has completed a flyby of Earth and is on its way to Venus where it will fly by the planet twice, then go to Mercury, flying by Mercury twice before being entered into orbit around the planet, estimated at around March 2011.		En route to Mercury.
2011	BepiColombo	Europe	This spacecraft will search for signs of possible water ice in the craters of Mercury which never receive light from the Sun, and examine the planet's magnetic field and density.	First European visit to Mercury	Under development

The very first planet to be visited by spacecrafts from Earth, Venus didn't give up its secrets easily. The Russians succeeded in landed a probe on the planet and even managed to take pictures, the Americans have favoured a less direct approach, viewing the planet from a distance and mapping its surface using radar technology.

LAUNCH DATE	NAME	COUNTRY	MISSION DETAILS	ADDITIONAL INFO	CURRENT STATUS
1961	Sputnik 7	USSR	First attempt to launch a probe to Venus. Sputnik 7 successfully entered Earth orbit, but the Venera probe which was to be released from Sputnik 7 failed to ignite.	First attempt to send a manmade object to another planet.	Now In Earth orbit
12th February 1961	Venera 1 (Venus 1)	USSR	First space craft to be sent to another planet. Information was sent back from the probe on 19th February 1961 but nothing was heard from it afterwards. The probe travelled to Venus and came within 100,000 km of the planet at about 19th/20th May 1961. However, because its onboard systems weren't working, it couldn't tell Earth it was there!	First manmade object to get to another planet.	Last communication from Venera 1 was on 19th February 1961. The Jodrell bank telescope in Britain may have picked up weak signals from it in June 1961. Mariner 1 is now in orbit around the Sun.
22nd July 1962	Mariner 1	USA	First American attempt to launch a probe to Venus, intending it to fly by the planet. A problem at launch meant the rocket veered off course and the instruction to destruct the rocket had to be given by the Range Safety Officer.	First US attempt to go to Venus	Spacecraft was remotely destructed shortly after launch.
27th August 1962	Mariner 2	USA	Second American attempt to reach Venus. The spacecraft reached the planet and successfully completed a flyby, sending back data about Venus' atmosphere.	First successful mission to Venus	Last communication from Mariner 2 was 3rd January 1963. Mariner 2 is now in orbit around the Sun.
4th April 1964	Zond 1	USSR	Soviet attempt to land on Venus and analyse the planets atmosphere as it descending through the clouds and surface rocks when it landed. It was even designed to survive if it landed in water on Venus! Communications failed by 14th May, the probe came within 100,000km of Venus on 14th July, never landing on the planet.	First attempt to land on Venus	Communications failed after 14th May, Zond 1 is now in orbit around the Sun.
12th November 1965	Venera 2 (Venus 2)	USSR	Soviet flyby attempt of Venus. Onboard systems failed so no communication to Earth was possible. Venera 2 came within 24,000 km of Venus.		Now in orbit around the Sun.
16th November 1965	Venera 3 (Venus 3)	USSR	Soviet attempt to land a spacecraft on Venus. On board systems failed before the space craft reached its destination so no communication with Earth could be made, although Venera 3 did successfully crash land on Venus on 1st March 1966.	First manmade object to land on another planet's surface.	The inactive Venera 3 now rests on the surface of Venus, possibly around coordinates -20º to 20º N, 60º to 80º E
12th June 1967	Venera 4 (Venus 4)	USSR	Soviet mission to land a space probe on Venus. The mission lasted longer than previous missions, sending back information while descending through the planet's clouds and atmosphere on 18th October 1967. However, it stopped communicating when it was about 24 kilometres from the surface, most likely due to the intense heat and pressure of Venus.	First mission to send back information about Venus from inside its atmosphere and clouds.	The inactive Venera 4 probe now rests on the surface of Venus at coordinates latitude 19° N, longitude 38° E.
14th June 1967	Mariner 5	USA	Completed a fly by of Venus on 19th October 1967, confirming presence of Carbon Dioxide in the planet's atmosphere.		Mariner 5 stopped operating in November 1967, is now in orbit around the Sun.
5th January 1969	Venera 5 (Venus 5)	USSR	Venera 5 had a similar design to the earlier Venera 4. Like Venera 4, on 16th May 1969, it sent back information about Venus' atmosphere as the probe descended through the atmosphere, but stopped working before impacting the surface.		The inactive Venera 5 probe now rests on the surface of Venus at coordinates 3° S, 18° E.
10th January 1969	Venera 6 (Venus 6)	USSR	Almost identical to Venera 5, the probe descending through Venus' clouds and atmosphere on 17th May 1969 and sent back information. It stopped transmitting before reaching the planet's surface, most probably "crushed" by Venus' atmospheric pressure.		The inactive Venera 6 now rests on the surface of Venus. Coordinates of landing location is 5° S, 23° E.
17th August 1970	Venera 7 (Venus 7)	USSR	First mission to send back information from another planet's surface. Venera 7 landed on Venus' surface on 15th December 1970 and operated for 23 minutes after doing so. It confirmed the high temperatures and pressure at the surface of Venus.	First space craft ever to send information back from another planet's surface.	The inactive Venera 7 now rests on the surface of Venus at coordinates 5° S, 351° E
27th March 1972	Venera 8 (Venus 8)	USSR	Lander probe which sent back signals from Venus' surface, using a refrigeration system to keep cool during its descent. Venera 8 measured the level of light on the planet, revealing that it is about the same as on Earth on an overcast day. It sent back data for 50 minutes, 11 seconds.		The inactive Venera 8 now rests on the surface of Venus at coordinates 10.70° S, 335.25° E
3rd November 1973	Mariner 10	USA	The first mission to use the gravity of one planet to get to another. Before reaching Mercury in March 1974, Mariner 10 visited Venus. It was captured by Venus' gravity and built up velocity as it orbited the Sun with Venus. It was then released from Venus' gravity and flung to Mercury. The space craft was actually put into orbit around the Sun and completed three flybys of Mercury, the first from 29th March 1974, the 2nd from 21st September 1974 and the final one from 16th March 1975.	First mission to use gravity assist to visit two destinations in one mission. NASA's final Mariner mission.	Contact with the spacecraft stopped on 24th March 1975. The spacecraft is currently in orbit around the Sun.
8th June 1975	Venera 9 (Venus 9)	USSR	Soviet lander. Landed on the surface of Venus on 22nd October and sent back the first images of the planet's surface. The probe operated for 53 minutes after landing on Venus.	First space craft to send back images of another planet's surface.	The inactive Venera 9 probe now rests on the surface of Venus at coordinates 31.01° N, 291.64° E
14th June 1975	Venera 10 (Venus 10)	USSR	Twin probe of Venera 9, also sent back images of Venus' surface after landing there on 25th October 1975. Operated for 65 minutes after landing.	Second space probe to send back images from another planet.	The inactive Venera 10 probe now rests on the surface of Venus at coordinates 15.42° N, 291.51° E
20th May 1978	Pioneer 12 (Pioneer Venus Orbiter)	USA	Venus orbiter. It reached the planet on 4th December 1978, conducting experiments to examine Venus' atmosphere, its surface through radar imaging, its magnetic field and gravity field. Images of Venus were sent from Pioneer 12 while in orbit. Pioneer 12 also observed comets while in orbit around Venus between 1984 and 1987 and was reactivated in 1991 while orbiting Venus' southern hemisphere to find out more information. The mission ended in May 1992.	Longest running Venus mission, starting from 1978 and ending in 1992.	Pioneer 12 ran out of fuel in May 1992 and descended into Venus' atmosphere, burning up as it did so.
8th August 1978	Pioneer 13 (Pioneer Venus Multiprobe)	USA	A space craft which launched four probes (one large and three small) into the atmosphere of Venus to send back information. The "bus" carrying the four space probes was also sent into the planet's atmosphere. All probes and the bus entered the atmosphere on 9th December 1978. They weren't designed to survive after landing on the surface, although one of the small probes continued to send back information for 67 minutes after landing on the surface of Venus until its battery ran out.	First American mission to land a probe on Venus which successfully sent back data.	The "Day Probe" was the last probe of the 4 probes and bus to transmit. Signal loss was at 20.55 UT on 9th December 1978. All probes rest inactive on Venus' surface, the large probe at 4.4° N, 304° E, the North probe at 59.3° N, 4.8° E, the Day probe at 31.3° S, 317° E, the Night probe at 28.7° S, 56.7° E and the Bus at approx 37.9° S, 290.9° E.
9th September 1978	Venera 11 (Venus 11)	USSR	Soviet probe which reached Venus and entered its atmosphere on Christmas Day 1978. The probe was equipped with cameras, but the robotic probe didn't remove the cover of the lens so the pictures couldn't be taken (even space probes millions of miles away forget to remove the lens cap before taking a picture!!). Venera 11 detected evidence of thunder and lightening and low altitude carbon monoxide.	First evidence of thunder and lightening on a planet other than Earth.	Venera 11's flight platform continued operating until February 1980. It lost communication with the Venera 11 lander 95 minutes after landing but continued to send back other information about Venus. The lander rests inactive at 14° S 299° E
14th September 1978	Venera 12 (Venus 12)	USSR	Twin mission with Venera 11. The lander was released from the flight platform on 19th December and descended through Venus' atmosphere and landed on its surface two days later. Like Venera 11, Venera 12 was equipped with a colour camera which couldn't send back images because the lens cover failed to be removed.		Venera 12's lander transmitted with the flight platform orbiting Venus for 110 minutes after landing. it now rests inactive at 7° S 294° E. The orbiter went on to study Comet Bradfield in February 1980 before ceasing communication in April 1980.
30th October 1981	Venera 13 (Venus 13)	USSR	Launched as a twin mission with Venera 14. Venera 13 landed on Venus on 1st March 1982. It sent back the first colour images of Venus and transmitted to the Venera 13 orbiter for 127 minutes; it was expected to survive for 32 minutes. It was also the first probe to record sound on another world.	Took the first colour images of Venus, first space craft to record sound on another planet.	Venera 13's lander rests inactive at coordinates 7° 30′ S, 303° E. The orbiter transmitted to Earth until March 1983
4th November 1981	Venera 14 (Venus 14)	USSR	Twin mission of Venera 13. Landed on Venus on 5th March 1982, Sent back colour images of Venus. Equipped with a spring-loaded arm which would reach out and analyse surrounding soil. However, it ended up analysing the lens cap which was released from the camera. It travelled millions of miles to analyse something from Earth!		Venera 14's lander rests inactive at coordinates 13° 15′ S, 310° E. The orbiter transmitted to Earth until March 1983
2nd June 1983	Venera 15 (Venus 15)	USSR	Soviet orbiter which entered Venus orbit on 10th October 1983. Combined with Venera 16, it mapped 25% of Venus' surface.		Mapping of Venus continued for 8 months. Now remains inactive in orbit around Venus.
2nd June 1983	Venera 16 (Venus 16)	USSR	Soviet orbiter which entered Venus orbit on 14th October 1983. Along with Venera 15, it mapped 25% of Venus; surface over a period of eight months	Final Venera mission	Mapping of Venus continued for 8 months after entering Venus orbit. Now inactive in orbit around Venus.
15th December 1984	Vega 1	USSR	Soviet mission which would have been a Venera mission but was modified to study Halley's Comet in 1986. Vega 1 reached Venus on 11th June 1985. It featured a lander but failed to transmit data from the planet's surface because its lander experiments were activated while the probe was still descending through the atmosphere. Aerobots were also launched into the planet's high atmosphere to measure pressure, temperature and wind speeds. Vega 1 used gravity assist to propel it to Halley's Comet.	Hurricane speed winds were measured by the Aerobots of Vega 1.	Vega 1's mission ended in 1986 after its encounter with Halley's Comet. It is now in orbit around the Sun.
21st December 1984	Vega 2	USSR	The twin mission of Vega 1. Vega 2 was almost identical. It successfully sent back information from Venus' surface for 56 minutes after landing on 15th June 1985. It used gravity assist to propel to Halley's Comet.		Vega 2's mission ended in 1986 after it encounter with Halley's comet. it is now in orbit around the Sun.
4th May 1989	Magellan 4	USA	Highly successful mapping mission to produce high resolution images of the entire surface of Venus. Radar imaging allowed the space craft to "see" through Venus' thick cloud cover and revealed a mountainous, volcanic planet.	First probe to be launched from a Space Shuttle (Atlantis)	Radio contact ended on 12th October 1994, Magellan was dropped into Venus' atmosphere and vapourised. Some parts of the space craft may have landed on the planet's surface.
9th November 2005	Venus Express	Europe	Based on the European Space Agency's previous Mars Express spacecraft. The space craft reached Venus on 11th April 2006 and from 7th May 2006 was positioned to complete an orbit of Venus every 24 hours. It will study Venus' clouds and atmosphere and measure the planet's temperature globally. The mission is expected to last for between 500 and 1000 days (Earth days).	First European space craft to Venus.	Venus Express is currently in Science Operations Orbit. Basically means it is watching the planet and analysing it. The mission has recently been lengthened so that its primary mission will now end in May 2009.
Planned to launch in June 2010	Planet-C	Japan	Proposed two year mission to Venus to analyse the planet's climate, observe the surface using infrared cameras and detect current or recent volcanic activity and lightning.	First Japanese space craft to visit Venus.	Still in planning stages.

In 1957, a small satellite called Sputnik became the first manmade object to be launched out of Earth's atmosphere and into orbit around your planet. Nowadays, there are hundreds of objects orbiting Earth; some examine the planet, others provide useful services, others look into outer space. There are laboratories in space and even the possibility of taking holidays in space!

LAUNCH DATE	NAME	COUNTRY	MISSION DETAILS	ADDITIONAL INFO	CURRENT STATUS
4th October 1957	Sputnik 1	USSR	Sputnik 1 was the first man-made object to be launched into space. It circled the Earth at a distance of about 250 km (150 miles), completing approximately 1,400 orbits. This launch caused panic in the USA who believed that Soviet satellites could carry weapons which could be aimed at America from space.	First artificial satellite to orbit Earth	Burned up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on 3rd January 1958
3rd November 1957	Sputnik 2	USSR	The second artificial satellite to orbit Earth, Sputnik 2 was the Soviet Union's second attempt to launch a man-made object into space, and the first to contain a living animal: Laika, the first space dog! Sadly, Laika didn't survive his trip into space and it is believed that he died from the heat inside the space craft. Sputnik 2's mission lasted for 162 and orbited Earth about 2,000 times.	Laika became the first living being to enter space.	Burned up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on 14th April 1958.
6th December 1957	Vanguard TV3	USA	First American attempt to launch a satellite to orbit Earth.. It got about 4 feet from the Earth's surface then sank back to the launch pad and exploded! The satellite that should have gone into space is now on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.	First American attempt to launch a satellite.	Launch failure.
31st January 1958	Explorer 1	USA	America's first satellite. It contained a Geiger counter which found high levels of radiation about 2,000 km above Earth. This became known as the Van Allen radiation belt. The mission lasted for 111 days when the batteries failed, but the space craft remained in orbit around Earth until 1970.	First US satellite	Burned up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on 31st March 1970.
5th March 1958	Explorer 2	USA	Similar to Explorer 1 but failed to launch.		Launch failure
26th March 1958	Explorer 3	USA	Almost identical to Explorer 1 and 2. Successfully launched and confirmed the existence of an area of high radiation surrounding Earth.	Second US satellite	Burned up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on 27th June 1958
29th July 1958	NASA	USA	The US government organisation responsible for American space exploration was founded when President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act. on 29th July 1958. NASA began operations from 1st October 1958.	NASA has made the greatest contribution in increasing knowledge of space. Its main achievement was putting the first man on the Moon.	Still operating
17th March 1958	Vanguard 1	USA	Earth satellite. Stopped transmitting to Earth in May 1964 when its solar powered transmitter stopped communicating. Was originally planned to remain in Earth orbit for 2,000 years, but its orbital lifetime is now estimated at about 240 years.	Oldest satellite to remain in orbit around Earth.	Still orbiting Earth, no longer communicating.
26th July 1958	Explorer 4	USA	Sent to explore the Van Allen radiation belts as discovered by Explorer 1 and 3. Two missions were planned but only one was launched.		Burned up on re-entry, 23rd October 1958
11th October 1958	Pioneer 1	USA	Intended to study cosmic rays, magnetic fields and radiation between Earth and around the Moon. The spacecraft left Earth, but never reached the Moon. It still sent back useful information about Earth	First mission launched by NASA.	Burned up over the Pacific when re-entering Earth atmosphere on 13th October 1958.
1st April 1960	Tiros 1	USA	Weather satellite containing television cameras sending back views of clouds above Earth. It only worked for 78 days, but demonstrated that satellites could be used to observe and monitor the weather from space.	First weather satellite
12th April 1961	Vostok 1	USSR	The first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, was taken into orbit by Vostok 1. He made one complete orbit around Earth before returning, spending 108 minutes in space.	First man in space	Yuri Gagarin will always be remembered as the first man in space. He died on 27th March 1968 in a flying accident.
5th May 1961	Mercury-Redstone 3	USA	Alan Shepard became the first American to be taken into space onboard Mercury. Unlike his Soviet predecessor Yuri Gagarin who had entered orbit less than a month earlier and spent almost two hours in orbit, Shepard's mission lasted 15 minutes, during which Shepard experienced only 5 minutes of weightlessness. Twenty days after this mission, President Kennedy famously addressed congress requesting funding to send an American to the Moon.	First American in space	The Mercury missions were intended to test human space flight and ended in 1963 when they were succeeded by Gemini and then Apollo. Alan Shepard returned to space on Apollo 14 and became the fifth man to walk on the Moon. He died on 21st July 1998.
20th February 1962	Mercury-Atlas 6	USA	John Glenn became the first American to enter orbit around Earth. Whereas Shepard had remained in a sub-orbital position during his mission, Glenn actually entered orbit and completed 3 orbits of Earth before returning.	First American in Earth orbit.	John Glenn is the oldest living person to have flown in space when he flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998 aged 77.
10th July 1962	Telstar 1	USA, UK, France	Telstar was the first transatlantic communications satellite. It was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA. It was used to carry telephone calls and radio and television signals across the Atlantic and successfully transmitted the first television signals from the USA to Great Britain and France. The satellite was developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories for AT&T with the cooperation of the British General Post Office and the French National Post, Telegraph and Telecom Office. Television signals sent from America were received at Goonhilly Downs Earth station in Cornwall, England, where they were transmitted by the BBC. Telstar paved the way for international communication, meaning that events like the Olympic Games, the World Cup, the Superbowl, international news events and global concerts could be broadcast across the planet. Since Telstar 1, there have been many more Telstar launches, many of which still carry television and radio broadcasts today. Goonhilly Downs in Cornwall which received the first transmission is now the world's largest satellite station and the satellite that received that first transmission is still active today!	First transatlantic television transmission.	Telstar 1 went out of service in December 1962 after being overwhelmed by radiation. It was successfully restarted in January 1963 but went out of service again on 21st February. It is believed to remain in orbit around Earth.
16th June 1963	Vostok 5	USSR	Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova became the first woman to enter space when she took off from Earth on 16th June 1963. This achievement was another in a series of space firsts by the Soviet Union, although it took the Americans over twenty years to achieve the same goal when Sally K. Ride became the first American in space in 1984. Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova spent almost three days in space and completed 48 orbits around Earth.	First woman in space.	Vostok 5 returned to Earth on 19th June 1963. Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova never flew in space again after this mission. Her husband was another cosmonaut (Andrian Nikolayev) and their child (Elena Andrionovna) became the first to have parents that had both been into space.
12th October 1964	Voskhod 1	USSR	The first mission to fly more than one cosmonaut/astronaut into space. In fact, there were three cosmonauts involved in this mission. Added to that, they weren't wearing spacesuits. An aim of the mission was to test how people could work together in space, and was also another space first for the Soviet Union.	First non-solo manned space flight. First mission without space suits.	Returned to Earth after 1 day and 17 minutes.
18th March 1965	Voskhod 2	USSR	Two Soviet cosmonauts (Pavel I. Belyayeu and Alexei A. Leonov) were taken into Earth orbit. While in orbit, Leonov left the space craft (maybe Belyayeu wasn't very good company) and made the first space walk. He remained attached to the spacecraft so that he wouldn't float away. This first space walk lasted 12 minutes.	First space walk	Voskhod 2 returned to Earth after 1 day, 2 hours and 2 minutes.
19th April 1971	Salyut 1	USSR	Salyut became the first space station to be placed in Earth orbit. Unlike a satellite or a spacecraft, a space station is like a laboratory/docking station in space. They are an important stage in the possibility of man one day living in space. The first residents of Salyut 1 were Soviet cosmonauts G.T. Dobrovolsky, V.N. Volkov, and V.I. Patsayev who were taken there on 6th June 1971. Sadly, they were killed during their return to Earth on 29th June 1971.	First space station	Salyut 1 re-entered Earth's atmosphere and was mostly burned up on 11th October 1971.
14th May 1973	Skylab	USA	Skylab became the first American space station to be placed into orbit. The first astronauts were sent to Skylab on 25th May 1973. Two further manned crews were sent to Skylab to July and November 1973.	First American space station.	Skylab gradually lost its position in orbit. Missions to place it higher in orbit failed to receive funding and the space station fell into Earth's atmosphere in 1979. Most of its parts burned up during re-entry although some debris did reach the surface. Some parts landed in the Australian town of Esperance. The town fined the United Stated $400 for littering! (a fine which has not yet been paid!).
17th July 1975	Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (Apollo 18/Soyuz 19)	USA/USSR	The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was the first joint American/Soviet space mission. Referred to as a test project, it was used to test whether American and Soviet technology could work together in preparation for a future joint space station mission. The mission involved the American Apollo spacecraft docking with the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft. The two crafts were linked together for 44 hours. The mission had political significance as it symbolised the easing of relations between the two opposite superpowers.	First American-Soviet co-mission. Final flight of the Apollo spacecraft (sometimes referred to as Apollo 18). Final manned space flight until the launch of the Space Shuttle in 1981.	The Soyuz craft returned to Earth on 21st July 1975. The Apollo craft returned on 24th July 1975.
12th April 1981	Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-1)	USA	Space Shuttle Columbia became the first launch of a reusable vehicle to travel from Earth to space and back. It was designed to reduce the cost of space travel and to increase the regularity of space missions. The first mission spent two days and six hours in low-Earth orbit and was the first of about 120 Space Shuttle missions over the next 30 years.	First launch of a reusable manned space vehicle.	The first Space Shuttle mission lasted over 2 days. Columbia remained in service until it was destroyed on its 28th mission in 2003 during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
4th April 1983	Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-6)	USA	Challenger was the second of NASA's fleet of Space Shuttles. Its first launch was on 4th April 1983. During its 5 day mission, Challenger launched a tracking and data relay satellite into Earth orbit.	First launch of Challenger.	Challenger completed nine missions before exploding shortly after the launch of its tenth mission in January 1986, destroying the space shuttle and killing all seven astronauts.
19th June 1983	Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-7)	USA	Challenger's second mission is special because it took the first American woman into space. She was Sally K. Ride, who also flew on a later shuttle mission (again in Challenger). She has spent over 343 hours in space. She is now involved in science education, being involved in websites and writing books about space exploration.	First American woman in space	Challenger's second mission returned to Earth on 24th June 1983.
3rd February 1984	Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-41-B)	USA	Challenger's fourth mission and the first to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida (all previous shuttle missions landed at Edwards Air Force airbase in California). The mission lasted for almost 8 days but is most notable as the first mission to include an untethered space walk. Astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert L. Stewart used a manned manoeuvring unit (a jetpack) which meant they could control their movement in space.	First space flight to land at its launch site. First untethered space walk.	Challenger returned on 11th February 1984. The Manned Manoeuvring Unit was used for two further missions before being discontinued with NASA returning to tethered space walks.
30th August 1984	Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-41-D)	USA	Discovery's maiden flight. Several communications satellites were launched from this mission which lasted exactly 6 days.	First launch of Discovery.	Discovery's first mission ended on 5th September 1984. There have been more Space Shuttle flights using Discovery than any of the other Space Shuttles. After both shuttle disasters (Challenger in 1986, Columbia in 2003), Discovery was the shuttle launched afterwards. Discovery is the oldest shuttle still in service.
3rd October 1984	Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-51-J)	USA	The maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The craft contained a payload for the US Department of Defence. This was the second mission to contain a classified payload, meaning that the general public are not allowed to know what was actually launched during it.	First flight of Atlantis.	This mission returned to Earth after four days. Atlantis is still in service.
28th January 1986	Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-51-L)	USA	The mission would have been the first to have a civilian on board (teacher Sharon Christa McAuliffe). It was the 25th Space Shuttle Mission but shortly after launch, the spacecraft exploded. The shuttle broke up and the seven astronauts onboard lost their lives.	First space shuttle disaster.	Space craft broke up after 73 seconds resulting in the destruction of the space shuttle and the loss of lives of the seven astronauts.
20th February 1986	Mir Space Station	USSR/Russia	Soviet Space Station Mir was launched into orbit. The Space Station was built in modules with parts still being added up to 1996. The space station was continuously occupied for almost ten years with crews being rotated regularly. The Soviet/Russian Soyuz spacecraft and American Space Shuttles took supplies and new crew to the space station. Mir was eventually taken out of orbit in 2001 as Russia committed itself to assisting in the development of the International Space Station, unable to get funding to maintain and repair the aging Mir space station.	Maintains the record for supporting human life in space for the longest period of time (8 days short of ten years).	Mir was taken out of orbit on 23rd March 2001. Most of the space station burned up during re-entry but some fragments fell into the South Pacific.
24th April 1990	Hubble Space Telescope	USA	The Hubble Space Telescope was launched from the space shuttle Discovery. Named after astronomer Edwin Hubble, it was designed to observe space from outside the Earth's atmosphere. However, the telescope had a faulty primary mirror which resulted in faulty images. Astronauts returned to the telescope while in orbit around Earth in 1993 and fixed the fault and since then, the telescope has been a fundamental part of modern astronomy. Another three servicing missions to the telescope have taken place since with a fifth and final one planned for 2008.	Hubble is the first (and so far only) telescope to observe space while in orbit around Earth.	Hubble is still operational in Earth orbit and is expected to continue to operate until at least 2013 when the superior James Webb Space Telescope gets launched.
2nd May 1992	Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-49)	USA	Launch of NASA's newest space shuttle, designed to replace Challenger which was lost 6 years earlier. The mission lasted almost nine days, during which astronauts captured a communications satellite (INTELSAT V1) which had been launched two months earlier but couldn't operate in its orbit. They added a new motor to it and placed in into its correct orbit.	First launch of Endeavour, the last shuttle to be added to the Space Shuttle fleet.	Endeavour's first mission ended on 16th May 1992. Endeavour is still in operation and is due to be retired, along with the other space shuttles, in 2010.
20th November 1998	International Space Station	USA, Russia, Japan, Canada, Europe	The first component of the International Space Station was launched. The Zarya Control Module was launched from Kazakhstan and was built by Russia. America's first module was taken to the International Space Station by space shuttle Endeavour on 4th December 1998. Since then many more modules have been added to the space station with work due to be completed by 2010.	The International Space Station is visible from Earth and can be the brightest object after the Sun and the Moon.	The International Space Station is now operational but not yet complete. Work was postponed after the Columbia shuttle disaster in 2003 although it is expected that ISS will be completed in 2010 when the space shuttles are retired. ISS itself is expected to remain operational until at least 2016.
1at February 2003	Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107)	USA	Columbia's 28th mission was to be its last when, after completing a 15 day mission in Earth orbit, the craft disintegrated during re-entry through the Earth's atmosphere. The seven crew members all lost their lives and NASA's shuttle program was placed on hold for two years. During launch, a piece of insulating foam broke off, meaning that the craft wasn't properly insulated during re-entry. The build up of heat caused the craft to break up.		This was Columbia's last mission. The shuttle program still continues, although with less regular launches. The remaining four shuttles are expected to be retired in 2010.

Earth's only natural satellite is a popular destination for exploration. Shortly after scientists were able to launch rockets out of Earth's atmosphere, they began sending them to the Moon. Early spacecraft simply flew past or were intentionally crashed into the Moon. Getting a man to the Moon became a major aim in the Space Race between America and the Soviet Union, an aim which was eventually achieved in 1969. Future missions will return people to the Moon to set up a permanent lunar base.

LAUNCH DATE	NAME	COUNTRY	MISSION DETAILS	MAIN ACHIEVEMENT	CURRENT STATUS
17th August 1958	Pioneer 0 / Thor-Able 1	USA	First satellite designed to orbit the Moon. 77 seconds after take-off, at a height of 16km, its booster exploded and the spacecraft landed in the Atlantic. If successful, it would have orbited the Moon for about 2 weeks.	First attempt at a mission to the Moon	Landed in the Atlantic shortly after launch.
23rd September 1958	Luna 1958A	USSR	First Soviet attempt at a lunar mission. It was intended to impact with the moon's surface by crashing into it! Only succeeded in taking off for 93 seconds and crashing back to Earth's surface in bits!	First Soviet lunar mission attempt.	Launch failure
11th October 1958	Pioneer 1	USA	Intended to study cosmic rays, magnetic fields and radiation between Earth and around the Moon. The spacecraft left Earth, but never reached the Moon. It still sent back useful information about Earth	First mission launched by NASA.	Burned up over the Pacific when re-entering Earth atmosphere on 13th October 1958.
12th October 1958	Luna 1958B	USSR	Second attempt by the Soviet Union to crash a spacecraft into the Moon. Failed to leave Earth, exploding 104 seconds after launch.	Second Soviet attempt to reach the Moon.	Launch failure
8th November 1958	Pioneer 2	USA	Like Pioneer 1, this spacecraft should have gone into orbit around the Moon. The spacecraft got as far as 1550 km from Earth's surface, when the launch vehicle which should have gone to the Moon separated but failed to ignite. The spacecraft fell into Earth's atmosphere and burned up over Africa.	Second American attempt to reach the Moon.	Launch failure.
4th December 1958	Luna 1958C	USSR	Another Soviet attempt to crash into the Moon. Once again, it exploded, this time after 245 seconds.	Third Soviet attempt to reach the Moon	Launch failure
6th December 1958	Pioneer 3	USA	If successful, Pioneer 3 would have flown past the Moon and then gone into an orbit around the Sun. The mission was only 3.7 seconds short of being successful when an engine shut down earlier than it should have meaning that the spacecraft couldn't escape the gravitational pull of Earth (it couldn't attain escape velocity) and at an altitude of 102,360 km, was brought back down to Earth.	Third American attempt to reach the Moon (notice a pattern developing!) Discovered a second belt of radiation surrounding Earth.	Burned up in Earth's atmosphere over Africa on 7th December 1958.
2nd January 1959	Luna 1 (Lunik 1)	USSR	Another attempt to crash into the Moon. This failed because the spacecraft missed the Moon. By doing this though, it became the first successful Moon flyby. The Moon's gravity flung the spacecraft into space and it then became the first man-made object to orbit the Sun.	First object to reach escape velocity from Earth, first Lunar Flyby, first man-made object to achieve Solar orbit. Discovered the Solar Wind.	In an orbit of the Sun between Earth and Mars.
3rd March 1959	Pioneer 4	USA	First American spacecraft to reach escape velocity. Similar to Luna 1 in that it flew by the Moon and then got entered into an orbit around the Sun.	First American Lunar Flyby	Last known to be in a Solar orbit in 1969.
12th September 1959	Luna 2 (Lunik 2)	USSR	This was the first man-made object to land on the Moon. The spacecraft crashed into the Moon's surface and suddenly stopped communicating, confirming the impact. The spacecraft was sterilized to prevent any bacterial contamination on the Moon, and contained pendants with symbols of the USSR.	First Lunar Impact. Confirmation of the impact was by Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope in Britain which tracked the craft throughout its mission. It lost communication at exactly the same time as the craft would have hit the Moon.	Mission ended on Lunar impact at 22:02:24 UTC. It now lies inactive at 29.1° N, 0° W.
4th October 1959	Luna 3 (Lunik 3)	USSR	Successful flyby mission of the Moon. This mission also sent back the very first images of the far side of the Moon, a side of the Moon that up to that point, had never been seen by people on Earth. It photographed 70% of the Moon's far side.	First pictures of far side of Moon.	Re-entered Earth's atmosphere and burned up, probably 29th April 1960.
26th November 1959	Pioneer P-3	USA	Should have gone into orbit around the Moon, but failed shortly after launch.	.	Launch failure
26th January 1962	Ranger 3	USA	Space craft designed to fly to the Moon and send back television images of the Moon for 10 minutes before crashing into its surface. As it was going too fast and had its course changed incorrectly, the craft missed the Moon by 36,800 km on 28th January, sending back no useful TV images (but provided information about interplanetary gamma-ray flux, whatever that is!).	First American attempt to impact the Moon.	Failed to impact the Moon or send back useful television images. Now inactive but in orbit around the Sun.
23rd April 1962	Ranger 4	USA	Similar to Ranger 3, Ranger 4 was designed to go to the Moon and send back television images for 10 minutes before crashing into its surface. Power would have been supplied by the Sun through solar panels but these failed to be extended. The craft's instruments ceased operating 10 hours into its mission. However, Ranger 4 did impact the Moon on its far side (the side that is never visible from Earth) but no scientific information was provided.	First American Lunar impact	Although its instruments weren't operating, Ranger 4 crashed onto the surface of the Moon on 26th April 1962 at 15.30° S, 130.42° W.
18th October 1962	Ranger 5	USA	Like Ranger 3 and 4, Ranger 5 should have gone to the Moon to send back television images of it for 10 minutes before crashing into its surface. Ranger 3 missed the Moon. Ranger 4 hit the Moon but had ceased operating over 50 hours earlier. Ranger 5 both missed the Moon and ceased operating too early! The craft's instruments should have operated by solar power at a certain point in its mission, but a fault caused the power to come from the craft's battery instead. This caused the battery to deplete and all instruments to switch off. The craft went as close as 724 km from the Moon on 21st October but sent back no information.	.	Ranger 5 missed the Moon and entered an orbit around the Sun.
2nd April 1963	Luna 4 (Lunik 4)	USSR	Luna 4 was sent to the Moon and completed a flyby of it on 5th April 1963. However, it is thought that Luna 4 should have landed on the surface of the Moon but missed its target. A programme scheduled to have been broadcast on Radio Moscow on 5th April called "Hitting the Moon" was cancelled since Luna 4 didn't actually hit the Moon!	.	Inactive but in orbit around Earth.
30th January 1964	Ranger 6	USA	Ranger 6 was the first of a new build of Ranger space crafts (Rangers 3, 4 and 5 all failed their missions). It was equipped with 6 television cameras to transmit high quality images of the Moon before impacting its surface. It did impact the surface at precisely the right time on 2nd February 1964, but the power supply for the cameras had short-circuited not long after launch so no images were sent back.	First American mission to successfully land as intended on the Moon.	Ranger 6 now lies inactive on the Moon on the eastern edge of Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquillity) at 9.24° N, 21.30° east.
28th July 1964	Ranger 7	USA	Similar to Ranger 6, Ranger 7 was sent to the Moon to transmit images back to Earth using 6 television cameras before crashing into its surface. For 17 minutes before hitting the Moon, Ranger 7 sent back 4,308 images of the Moon's surface. It impacted the Moon on 31st July as planned.	Ranger 7 sent back the first American close-up images of the Moon.	Ranger 7 now lies inactive on the Moon at Mare Cognitum at 10.35° S, 339.42° E.
17th February 1965	Ranger 8	USA	Like its predecessors, Ranger 6 and 7, Ranger 8 was equipped with 6 television cameras to send back images of the Moon before crashing into its surface. For 23 minutes before hitting the Moon, Ranger 8 sent back 7,137 images of the surface of the Moon. It impacted the Moon on 20th February 1965.	.	Ranger 8 now lies inactive on the Moon in Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquillity) at 2.67° N, 24.65° E.
21st March 1965	Ranger 9	USA	Like Ranger 6, 7 and 8, Ranger 9 was sent to the Moon to send back images of its surface using 6 television cameras before impacting it. For 19 minutes before impact, Ranger 9 sent back 5,814 images.	Live television images of Ranger 9's descent and impact were shown across America.	Ranger 9 now lies inactive on the Moon in the crater Alphonsus at coordinates 12.83° S, 357.63° E.
9th May 1965	Luna 5 (Lunik 5)	USSR	Thought to be an attempt at a soft landing on the Moon to enable tests to be carried out from the lunar surface. The spacecraft went out of control on it way to the Moon and crashed into the Moon on 12th May 1965.	Second soviet craft to land on the Moon.	Luna 5 now lies inactive at coordinates 31° south, 8° west.
8th June 1965	Luna 6 (Lunik 6)	USSR	Another Soviet attempt at a soft landing on the surface of the Moon, this space craft missed its target completely! The space craft was sent on the wrong trajectory, the closest it got to the Moon as it flew past it was 159,612 km.	.	Although the craft failed to land on the Moon, all instruments on Luna 6 performed well. Communication with Earth was maintained up to a distance of 600,000 km from the planet. Luna 6 is now inactive in orbit around the Sun.
18th July 1965	Zond 3	USSR	Thought to be a twin mission with Zond 2 to go to Mars, the launch window to send Zond 3 to the red planet was missed, so it was sent to the Moon instead. It was a flyby mission and sent back high quality images of the Moon. Its closest approach to the Moon was 9,200 km. Communications with the craft were still possible at 31,500,000 km from Earth, the same distance as Mars is from Earth, proving the craft's capability for long-distance communication.	First successful Zond mission.	Zond 3 is now inactive in orbit around the Sun.
4th October 1965	Luna 7 (Lunik 7)	USSR	Soviet attempt at a soft landing on the Moon. On its approach to the Moon, control over the spacecraft's descent was lost and the craft ending up crashing into the surface (although not far from where it was actually meant to land).	.	Luna 7 lies inactive at 9° north, 49° west, west of the Kepler crater.
3rd December 1965	Luna 8 (Lunik 8)	USSR	Another Soviet attempt to land softly on the Moon. Luna 8 very nearly made it but when trying to inflate the airbags to cushion the landing, it became clear that something had pierced one of the two airbags. This caused the craft to spin and to crash on the Moon's surface on 6th December.	.	Luna 8 lies inactive at 9.8° N, 63.18° W, west of the Kepler crater.
31st January 1966	Luna 9 (Lunik 9)	USSR	After many attempts, Luna 9 became the first craft to complete a soft landing on the surface of the Moon. Luna 9 landed on 3rd February 1966 and transmitted radio and visual signals back to Earth. The first images from the surface of the Moon were received by Jodrell Bank Observatory in the United Kingdom and published internationally. The landing was also significant in that it proved that an object landing on the Moon wouldn't sink into the lunar dust.	First soft landing on the Moon. A major space first for the Soviet Union in the Space Race with the United States.	Last communication from Luna 9 was on 6th February 1966. The craft now lies inactive at 7.13° N, 64.37° W in the Ocean of Storms.
31st March 1966	Luna 10 (Lunik 10)	USSR	Luna 10 became the first artificial satellite of the Moon (or any other celestial body). It entered lunar orbit on 3rd April 1966 and 3 hours later completed its first orbit. Luna 10 conducted many experiments while in orbit and was also able to play music! It played a song called the Internationale to a meeting of the Communist Party on 4th April. The version that people at the meeting heard was actually a recording of a rehearsal from the previous day since the craft was unable to play one of the notes for what should have been the live performance! They were still led to believe it was a live performance from space!	First artificial satellite of the Moon.	After completing 460 orbits, communications ended on 30th May 1966. It is likely that Luna 10 has dropped out of orbit at some point although nobody is sure of when and where on the Moon it would have landed.
30th April 1966	Surveyor 1	USA	First American attempt to complete a soft landing on the surface of the Moon in preparation for later manned landings on the Moon. Surveyor 1 successfully landed on the Moon on 2nd June 1966 and sent back images of the landscape back to Earth.	First American soft landing on the Moon. Unlike the Soviets, the Americans succeeded on their first attempt.	The final images from Surveyor 1 were sent back to Earth on 14th July 1966. The craft now lies inactive at 2.45 S, 43.22 W
10th August 1966	Lunar Orbiter 1	USA	Before sending a man to the Moon, NASA had to decide where to land him. Lunar Orbiter 1 was the first of a series of missions to map the surface of the Moon and find ideal landing sites. It would also obtain information about other hazards like radiation and impacts from small meteorites. Lunar Orbiter 1 entered orbit around the Moon on 14th August 1966 and sent 229 images of the Moon back to Earth from 18th August to 29th August. It also observed that the Moon was slightly pear-shaped and sent back the first images of Earth from the distance of the Moon. No micrometeorites were detected to have hit the space craft.	Sent back the first images of Earth from the distance of the Moon.	Communications with Lunar Orbiter 1 continued up to 20th October 1966 when it was dropped out of orbit and impacted the Moon. In now lies inactive at 7º N, 161º E.
24th August 1966	Luna 11 (Lunik 11)	USSR	Orbiter sent to the Moon to take images of the surface of the Moon, fuelling rumours that the Soviet Union, like the USA, were looking for landing sites for a manned lunar mission (Luna 11 launched only two weeks after America's Lunar Orbiter 1). The craft entered orbit around the Moon, but its TV camera failed to send back any useful images as it was pointed the wrong way! It did provide scientific data and information about whether there were small meteorites in the vicinity of the Moon which could cause a risk to any manned mission to the Moon.	.	Communications with Luna 11 ended on 1st October 1966. By that time the craft had completed 277 orbits of the Moon.
20th September 1966	Surveyor 2	USA	Surveyor 2 was sent to the Moon to complete a soft landing on the surface in preparation for later manned lunar landings. A thruster failed to ignite for a mid-course correction on its way to the Moon, causing the craft to start spinning. Scientists were unable to restart the engine to stabilise the craft and it eventually crashed into the Moon.	.	Surveyor 2 crashed into the Moon on 23rd September 1966. It now lies inactive at 5º30' N 12º W.
22nd October 1966	Luna 12 (Lunik 12)	USSR	Orbiter sent to the Moon to take photographs of its surface. It entered lunar orbit on 25th October 1966 and started sending back images from 27th October 1966. These first images were released to Soviet newspapers on 29th October and made available to the public. For some reason, no further images were published.	.	Contact with Luna 12 ended on 19th January 1967. The craft's current location is unknown.
6th November 1966	Lunar Orbiter 2	USA	Orbiter sent to the Moon to image the surface for potential landing sites and record data about radiation and micrometeorite impacts. It successfully sent back 817 photographs of the Moon and recorded three micrometeorite impacts.	.	Communications continued until the craft impacted the Moon as scheduled on 11th October 1967. It now lies inactive at 3.0º N, 119.1º E.
21st December 1966	Luna 13 (Lunik 13)	USSR	Luna 13 was sent to the Moon to complete a soft landing on its surface. It landed on 24th December 1966 and sent back 5 panoramic views of the lunar landscape. The craft also carried equipment to measure the strength of the surface of the Moon to find out how easy it would be to penetrate the surface. It also measured the temperature and radiation levels at the Moon's surface to establish whether they would be hazardous to humans.	.	Communications ended on 28th December 1966 when the batteries ran out. Luna 13 is now inactive at 18º52' N, 62º3' W in the Ocean of Storms.
5th February 1967	Lunar Orbiter 3	USA	Orbiter sent to analyse data for future manned missions to the Moon. It took pictures of the Moon's surface to locate potential landing sites, measured radiation levels, the presence of micrometeorites around the Moon and other information about the Moon. It sent back 626 images of the Moon including images of Surveyor 1's landing site.	Obtained the first image of a previously-launched spacecraft on the surface of the Moon.	Communications continued with Lunar Orbiter 3 until 9th October when it was commanded to impact the Moon. It now lies inactive at 14.3º N, 97.7º W.
17th April 1967	Surveyor 3	USA	Surveyor 3 completed a soft landing on the surface of the Moon on 20th April 1967. As well as sending back over 6,000 images, it was also equipped with instruments to dig small trenches and collect soil samples. The lander was switched off when night fell at Surveyor's location on the Moon on 3rd May 1967. A lunar night lasts 14 days, and the craft was due to be switched back on when it started receiving sunlight again but it could not be reactivated. Surveyor 3's landing site was chosen for the Apollo 12 mission. Apollo 12 astronauts landed close enough to be able to walk to Surveyor 3 and took parts of the craft with them to return them to Earth to observe the effects of long term exposure of manmade objects on the surface of the Moon.	Bacteria unintentially taken onboard Surveyor 3 survived for two and a half years on the craft's camera before being returned to Earth by Apollo 12 astronauts. Surveyor 3 became the first spacecraft to be visited by humans at its landing site.	Communications with Surveyor 3 ended when the craft was switched off on 3rd May 1967 and could not be reactivated 14 days later. It now lies inactive at 2.94º S, 336.66º E. 10kg of parts from the craft were brought back to Earth by Apollo 12 astronauts, including the camera which is now on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.
4th May 1967	Lunar Orbiter 4	USA	Orbiter sent to take photographs of and obtain data about the Moon while in lunar orbit in preparation for later manned missions. It sent back 546 images of the Moon from 11th May to 26th May.	.	Communications ended when Lunar Orbiter 4 dropped out its orbit to impact the Moon on 31st October 1967.
14th July 1967	Surveyor 4	USA	Surveyor 4 was sent to the Moon to complete a soft landing on its surface. After a completely successful trip to the Moon, two and a half minutes before landing, communications were lost. The craft may have exploded at that point, with its remnants hitting the Moon on 17th July 1967.	.	Communication was lost, possibly due to an explosion, 2.5 minutes before landing. Surveyor 4 now lies inactive at 0.45º N, -1.39 W.
19th July 1967	Explorer 35	USA	Explorer 35 was placed into an orbit of the Moon to conduct experiments of interplanetary space from the distance of the Moon. The craft's different instruments operated for varying lengths of time until the whole craft was switched off in 1973.	.	Communications ended when the craft was switched off on 24th June 1973 while still in lunar orbit.
1st August 1967	Lunar Orbiter 5	USA	Lunar Orbiter 5 was sent to the Moon to send back images and data primarily in preparation for future manned missions to the Moon. As the final Lunar Orbiter mission, it sent back 844 images of the Moon. Over the five Lunar Orbiter missions, 99% of the Moon's surface was mapped.	.	Communications ended when the craft was commanded to impact the Moon on 31st January 1968 at 2.79º S, -83º W.
8th September 1967	Surveyor 5	USA	Lander sent to the Moon to obtain images and conduct experiments at surface level. Over 19,000 images were sent back with experiments confirming lunar surface soil was made of basaltic rock. The craft was deactivated on three separate occasions when it entered darkness during lunar night (which lasts 14 days). It was reactivated successfully each time although image quality was poor after the first lunar night.	Apollo 11 astronauts landed in walking distance of Surveyor 5 but didn't visit the craft.	The final transmission with Surveyor 5 took place on 17th December 1967. Surveyor 5 now lies inactive at 1.41º N, 23.18º E.
7th November 1967	Surveyor 6	USA	Almost identical to Surveyor 5 launched two months earlier, Surveyor 6 completed a soft landing on the Moon on 10th November, sent back images (over 30,000) and conducted experiments. Unlike Surveyor 5, it was also programmed to "hop". The thrust caused the craft to lift 4 metres off the surface of the Moon and travelled 2.5 metres. After landing, the craft still functioned.	First lift-off from the Moon.	Last contact with Surveyor 6 was on 14th December 1967. The craft now lies inactive at 0.49° N, 1.40° W in Sinus Medii.
7th January 1968	Surveyor 7	USA	Final mission of the 7 Surveyor missions and the fifth to land successfully on the Moon. Surveyor landed near the crater Tycho on 10th January 1968 (Tycho is actually visible from Earth with the naked eye). The craft sent back 21,091 images and conducted several experiments on the Moon. The craft was switched off for 14 days from 26th January during a lunar night, and reactivated on 12th February. Contact ended on 20th February.	.	Contact with Surveyor 7 ended on 20th February 1968. The craft now lies inactive near the Tycho crater at 41.01° S, 348.59° E.
7th April 1968	Luna 14 (Lunik 14)	USSR	Entered orbit around the Moon and provided scientific information about the mass of the Moon (and how it interacts with Earth), the Moon's gravity, and how radio communications could be maintained if the craft was put into different positions. The craft also recorded information about cosmic rays and particles from the Sun.	Final flight of the second generation of the Luna series of craft.	No information is available about the end of the mission and Luna 14's current location.
14th September 1968	Zond 5	USSR	Zond 5 completed a trip around the Moon and back to Earth. Taken onboard were living matter including turtles, wine flies, meal worms, plants, seeds and bacteria. The craft completed a flyby of the Moon and took some high quality images before returning to Earth. It splashed down on 21st September 1968. The turtles onboard were still alive. They had lost about 10% of their body weight but showed no loss of appetite. The success of this mission caused NASA to schedule Apollo 8 as a manned mission to orbit the Moon as they thought that's what the Soviet Union would do next (Apollo 8 was originally planned as an manned Earth-orbital mission).	First craft to fly to the Moon, around it and back to Earth. First living beings to be taken around the Moon.	Splashdown was at on 21st September 1968 in the Indian Ocean.
10th November 1968	Zond 6	USSR	The follow-up mission to Zond 5, Zond 6 was also sent to orbit the Moon and return to Earth. Like Zond 5, it also contained a biological payload. The craft successfully orbited the Moon on 14th November, but on its return to Earth, a fault cause the cabin to lose pressure, killing all living matter onboard. The parachutes were also deployed too early and the craft crashed in the Soviet Union. This failure (although the Soviet Union still claimed it to be a successful mission) meant that any manned Soviet flight would be delayed, giving the USA the chance to send men to the Moon first.	Had Zond 6 been successful, it is likely that a Soviet manned launch to orbit the Moon would have taken place before the end of the year.	Zond 6 crashed in the Soviet Union on 16th November 1968.
21st December 1968	Apollo 8	USA	First manned mission to orbit the Moon and a major step in America's objective to land a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders were launched from Earth using a Saturn V rocket (the most powerful rocket in existence at the time) and entered orbit around the Moon on 24th December. As the craft went behind the Moon, communications were lost with Earth (as expected) but successfully regained when Earth came back into view. During their 20 hour orbit of the Moon, the astronauts read a passage from the Bible and wished the people of Earth a happy Christmas! Apollo 8 returned to Earth on 27th December.	Astronauts on board Apollo 8 became the first humans to orbit the Moon.	Apollo 8 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on 27th December. The Apollo 8 command module, some personal items and Frank Borman's spacesuit are now on display at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Jim Lovell's spacesuit is on display at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Jim Lovell later flew on Apollo 13.
18th May 1969	Apollo 10	USA	Second manned mission to orbit the Moon and a "dress rehearsal" for a real Moon landing. Astronauts Thomas Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan orbited the Moon on 22nd May. They returned to Earth on 26th May 1969.	The Lunar Module was detached from the Command Module during this mission, taking humans to the closest point to the Moon's surface to that date.	Apollo 10 splashed down on 26th May 1969. The Command Module is now on display in London's Science Museum. The Lunar Module remains in space. Only Eugene Cernan went back to the Moon on a later mission (Apollo 17), being the last person to this date to walk on the Moon's surface.
13th July 1969	Luna 15	USSR	Having given up with their aim of taking a man to the Moon, the Soviet Union sent the unmanned Luna 15 probe to the Moon. NASA's Apollo 11 was due to launch 3 days later. The Soviets wanted to steal some of Apollo 11's glory by sending Luna 15 to the Moon to collect a sample of rock and soil and return in to Earth before the American astronauts returned with samples that they had collected. On 21st July, after astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had taken their first steps on the Moon as part of their Apollo 11 mission, Luna 15 was about to land on the Moon. At about 3 kilometres above the surface of the Moon, transmissions stopped and Luna 15's mission ended. It is thought that the craft crashed into the side of a mountain.	First attempt to return soil from the Moon back to Earth.	Luna 15 crashed on 21st July 1969 in Mare Crisium (the "sea of crisis") at coordinates 17° N, 60° E.
16th July 1969	Apollo 11	USA	Perhaps the most famous mission in the history of space exploration, Apollo 11 sent the first humans to the surface of the Moon. Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins set off for the Moon on 16th July 1969. They entered orbit on 20th July and Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the surface in the Lunar Module, landing in the Sea of Tranquillity. Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the Moon, images of which were shown live around Earth. Buzz Aldrin followed shortly afterwards. After about two and a half hours walking on the Moon, and a rest of seven hours in the Lunar Module, Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the Command Module for the flight back to Earth. They splashed down on 24th July 1969.	First manned lunar landing.	Apollo 11 splashed down on 24th July 1969. The Command Module (Columbia) is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. The Lunar Module (Eagle) was jettisoned and is thought to have fell back to the surface of the Moon. 21.5 kg of samples of the Lunar soil were brought to Earth.
8th August 1969	Zond 7	USSR	Zond 7 was an unmanned flyby mission of the Moon. It was sent to take colour images of the Moon and Earth during its journey. It flew past the Moon on 11th August and returned to Earth, completing a soft landing on the surface, on 14th August 1969.	First craft to fly to the Moon, return to Earth and complete a soft-landing on Earth's surface (most other craft splashed down in the sea to be recovered).	Zond 7 returned to Earth on 14th August 1969, landing south of Kustania in Kazakhstan.
14th November 1969	Apollo 12	USA	Second manned lunar landing. Astronauts Pete Conrad, Alan Bean and Richard Gordon were sent to the Moon with Conrad and Bean being the astronauts lucky enough to walk on the Moon. They landed close enough to Surveyor 3, a space craft that had landed on the Moon over two years earlier, in the Ocean of Storms.	First mission to recover parts of a space craft from the Moon from an earlier mission.	Apollo 12 splashed down on 24th November 1969. Its Command Module (Yankee Clipper) is on display at Virginia Air and Space Center.
11th April 1970	Apollo 13	USA	Apollo 13 was the third attempt to send humans to the surface to the Moon. An explosion onboard during the journey to the Moon meant that the Moon landing had to be aborted and the space craft had to return to Earth. Power had to be conserved in the Command Module and the Lunar Module was used as a lifeboat to support the crew. A combination of skill and ingenuity meant that the crew returned to Earth safely, with Apollo 13 being referred to as a successful failure.	.	Apollo 13's Command Module (Odyssey) splashed down on 17th April 1970. The Lunar Module (Aquarius) was jettisoned and re-entered Earth's atmosphere, burning up as it descended.
12th September 1970	Luna 16 (Lunik 16)	USSR	Luna 16 completed a soft landing on the surface of the Moon on 20th September 1970, took soil samples and returned them to Earth. This was the first Soviet mission to do this, and the first mission to do it robotically.	First unmanned launch of a craft from the Moon back to Earth. First fully automatic sample return mission.	Luna 16's lower stage of its lander communicated data but now lies inactive in the Sea of Fertility at 0.41° S, 56.18° E. The soil and rock samples returned were shared with French and American scientists.
20th October 1970	Zond 8	USSR	Flyby mission of the Moon. Zond 8 took images of the Moon and Earth during its journey, flying past the Moon on 24th October 1970.	.	Zond 8 splashed down in the Indian Ocean on 27th October 1970.
10th November 1970	Luna 17 (Lunik 17)	USSR	Luna 17 completed a soft landing on the Moon. Part of its payload was a robotic rover (Lunokhod 1), the first of its kind, which drove off the lander and explored the surface, taking soil samples and images. It travelled just over 10 kilometres and operated for 322 Earth days.	First use of a rover on an extra-terrestrial surface.	Last communication with the rover was on 14th September 1971. Attempts to regain contact ended on 4th October 1971. Luna 17 and Lunokhod 1 both lie inactive in the Sea of Rains at 38.17° N, -35° W.
31st January 1971	Apollo 14	USA	Third manned landing on the Moon. Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa were sent to the Moon with Shepard and Mitchell being the astronauts that descended to the surface, landing in the planned landing site of Apollo 13.	Astronauts smuggled a golf club and two balls onto Apollo 14.	Apollo 14 splashed down on 9th February 1971. The Command Module (Kitty Hawk) is on display at the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, Florida. Lunar Module (Antares) crashed back onto the Moon after being jettisoned, lying at coordinates 3.72° south, 19.67° west.
26th July 1971	Apollo 15	USA	Fourth manned landing on the Moon. David Scott, Alfred Worden and James Irwin were the astronauts that went to the Moon with Scott and Worden landing on its surface. They used the first Lunar Rover during this mission, enabling them to explore a greater area while on the Moon.	First use of a manned wheeled vehicle in space.	Apollo 15 splashed down on 7th August 1971. The Command Module (Endeavour) is now on display at National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The Lunar Module would have crashed back to the surface of the Moon. The Lunar Rover was parked up on the Moon at coordinates 26°13' N, 158°13' W.
2nd September 1971	Luna 18 (Lunik 18)	USSR	Luna 18 was intended to be a sample return mission to the Moon and back to Earth. The mission went well right up to landing. As the very moment that the craft should have landed on the Moon's surface on 11th September 1971, contact was lost. The Soviets put this down to the complexity of the landing terrain.	.	Luna 18 lies inactive on the Moon at 3°34' north, -56°30' east.
28th September 1971	Luna 19 (Lunik 19)	USSR	Luna 19 was an orbiter that was sent to the Moon and entered orbit on 3rd October 1971. It completed about 4,315 orbits of the Moon, sending back information about the Moon and data about charged particles from the solar wind. It also sent back images of a mountainous region on the Moon's surface.	Longest lasting mission to that date of a Luna series space craft.	The last communication with Luna 19 was on 20th October 1972. The inactive craft may still be in an orbit of the Moon.
14th February 1972	Luna 20 (Lunik 20)	USSR	After the failure of Luna 18, Luna 20 was sent to the Moon to land on its surface, obtain soil samples, and return them to Earth. The craft landed on the Moon on 21st February 1972, took some photographs and scooped up some Moon soil. The following day, it launched from the Moon's surface to return to Earth, landing in the Soviet Union on 25th February 1972.	.	Luna 20 landed on Earth on 25th February 1972. Samples of Moon soil and rocks were recovered the next day. Some of the samples were shared with scientists in America and France. The lower stage of Luna 20's lander remains on the Moon's surface at 3° 32' north, -56° 33' east.
16th April 1972	Apollo 16	USA	Apollo's penultimate manned mission to the Moon. Astronauts John Young, Charles Duke and Ken Mattingly successfully arrived at the Moon with Young and Duke walking on its surface from 21st April 1972. Like Apollo 15, they used a Lunar Rover to explore the mountainous area of their landing.	.	Apollo 16 returned to Earth on 27th April 1972. The landing site on the Moon was 8° 58' south, 15° 30' east in the Descartes Highlands. Command Module Casper is now on display at the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The Lunar Module will have impacted the Moon at an unknown location.
7th December 1972	Apollo 17	USA	Final manned mission to the surface of the Moon. Astronauts Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt and Ron Evans flew onboard Apollo 17 with Cernan and Schmitt walking on the Moon's surface. Eugene Cernan took the last steps to this date on the Moon on 14th December 1972.	Final manned mission to the Moon. Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt hold the record for the longest length of time for humans to be present on the Moon.	Apollo 17 returned to Earth on 19th December 1972. Command Module America is on display at Space Center Houston in Texas. Lunar Module Challenger would have crashed back to the Moon's surface.
8th January 1973	Luna 21 (Lunik 21)	USSR	A lander rover was sent to the Moon to conduct experiments and send back images at surface level. On its travels, the rover Lunokhod 2 sent back over 80,000 images. However, on 9th May 1973, it fell into a crater. Its solar panels were covered by dust which prevented them from receiving sunlight. The rover lost its power and the Soviet Union announced the end of the mission on 3rd June 1973.	Lunokhod 2 was helped in its navigation using images of the Moon's surface that were provided to a Soviet engineer by an American scientist.	Contact was lost with Luna 21 and the end of its mission was announced on 3rd June 1973. In is now inactive at 25°51' N, – 30° 27' E.
29th May 1974	Luna 22 (Lunik 22)	USSR	Soviet orbiter of the Moon. It entered lunar orbit on 2nd June 1974 and recorded information about the Moon's magnetic field, gamma ray emissions, rock composition and gravitational field. It also sent back images of the Moon.	Luna 22 was the Soviet Union and Russia's last orbiter of the Moon.	Luna 22 ran out of propellant used to maneuveur on 2nd September. The mission was ended on 1st November 1975 after 521 days and 3,875 orbits. The inactive craft may still be in orbit around the Moon.
28th October 1974	Luna 23 (Lunik 23)	USSR	Soviet lander designed to return a sample of Moon rock and soil back to Earth. It was designed to dig deeper than the previous Luna 16 and Luna 20 missions that also returned soil. However, during landing on 6th November, the equipment used to drill was damaged so Luna 23 conducted experiments while on the Moon's surface instead of returning to Earth.	.	Communications ended with Luna 23 on 9th November 1974. The inactive craft now rests at coordinates ~12° north - ~62° east.
9th August 1976	Luna 24	USSR	Final mission of the Soviet Union's Luna series. Luna 24 was a sample return mission. It landed on the surface of the Moon on 18th August 1976 and took images and collected samples of Moon rock and soil. It was launched from the Moon on 19th August 1976 and returned to Earth on 22nd August 1976.	Final mission of the Luna program. Final Soviet or Russian mission to the Moon. Final mission to complete a soft landing on the Moon. Final mission to return a sample of the Moon's soil to Earth.	Luna 24's lower landing stage remains on the Moon at coordinates 12° 45' north, 62° 12' east. The rest of Luna 24 returned to Earth on 22nd August 1976 landing in western Siberia. A small amount of the 200g of the lunar soil retrieved were shared with NASA.
24th January 1990	Hiten (Muses-A)	Japan	Spacecraft launched to enter lunar orbit and measure dust (?!) in between Earth and the Moon and while in orbit around the Moon (specifically at points where a satellite could orbit at a stationary point in between the Earth and the Moon, using the opposing gravities of the two bodies). Hiten entered lunar orbit on 2nd October 1990 and conducted dust experiments while in Earth orbit. Hiten didn't discover anything spectacularly exciting, but it was the first Japanese mission to the Moon, and also the first mission to the Moon for over two decades.	First mission to the Moon from a country that wasn't the United States or the Soviet Union..	Hiten began losing its orbital position (decaying) after two months in orbit around the Moon. It was intentionally dropped to crash to the Moon's surface on 10th April 1993.
25th January 1994	Clementine	USA	First American mission to the Moon in over twenty years. Clementine examined the Moon from orbit. It imaged the Moon's surface using ultraviolet and infrared cameras as well as the standard ones they had been using for years. Clementine's main discovery was the possible presence of water in craters in the polar regions of the Moon. This would be enough water to support a human base on the Moon and fuel for rockets stopping by on journeys to other planets (a possible way to get to Mars would be for a rocket to go the Moon, refuel there and take off again. A Moon launch would require a lot less fuel than a launch from Earth).	First American mission to the Moon in over two decades.	Clementine's mission ended in June 1994 when telemetry data from the space craft became unusable.
6th January 1998	Lunar Prospector	USA	Orbiter sent to enter a polar orbit of the Moon, mainly to try to find evidence of water in its craters. It entered orbit on 11th January and spent 570 days orbiting the Moon before being deliberately crashed into its surface on 31st July 1999 in a crater in the Moon's South Pole. It didn't find any evidence of water. However, information from Lunar Prospector did suggest that Earth and the Moon may have once been one object which was split into two by a collision with an object the size of Mars.	Lunar Prospector's website claims this mission was the first NASA mission to the Moon in over 20 years, despite the launch of Clementine 4 years earlier!	Lunar Prospector's mission ended when it was deliberately crashed into the Moon's surface on 31st July 1999.
27th September 2003	SMART 1	Europe	A Swedish-designed (meaning it came flat-packed and had to be assembled!) European orbiter of the Moon. The craft was actually put into an orbit of Earth, getting more distant as it completed each orbit until it eventually got close enough to the Moon to be able enter Lunar orbit in early November 2004. The mission was designed to test new equipment in space and also to examine the Moon for signs of water. On 3rd September 2006, it was deliberately crashed into the Moon, kind of simulating a small meteor impact. The plume of dust that was thrown up from the impact could be seen by Earth-based telescopes. It is hoped that the impact also exposed materials that would usually be buried under the Moon's surface.	SMART 1 was the first European mission to the Moon.	SMART 1's mission ended when the craft impacted the Moon's surface on command on 3rd September 2006. Data from the mission is still being analysed.
14th September 2007	SELENE (also known as Kaguya)	Japan	SELENE is due to launch to the Moon and enter orbit. It will conduct experiments on the Moon to return information back to Earth about the origins of the Moon, the Moon's surface and will conduct experiments on radio science (sending communications through space).	.	Space craft launched 14th September 2007.
October 2007	Chang'e 1	China	China aims to explore the Moon, initially by sending orbiters there, but will later send landers to its surface and then space craft to obtain soil samples and return them to Earth.	Chang'e 1 will be China's first attempt at a mission to the Moon.	In pre-launch stage.
April 2008	Chandrayaan	India	Chandrayaan is an Indian orbiter of the Moon. It is expected to be launched in April 2008 and will go into a polar orbit of the Moon. Amongst its experiments, it will search for the presence of water and look for potential Moon base sites for a future manned lunar base for NASA. The mission is proposed to last for two years.	India's first mission to the Moon.	In final development stage.
October 2008	Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter	USA	Orbiter to be launched to analyse the surface of the Moon in preparation for future manned lunar missions. The craft will also search for the presence of water. Scientists will be looking to identify landing sites and potential sites for a Moon base. The orbiter will spend about a year in orbit around the Moon, orbiting its poles (going up and under the Moon).	First stage of the next step in manned exploration of the Moon.	In development stages
2010	Moonlight	UK	Proposed British orbiter and lander to the Moon. Four landers will be sent to the Moon, crashing on both the near side (the side visible from Earth) and the far side (never visible from Earth). They will crash into the surface at 400 mph, hopefully landing up to 2 metres below the surface.	First British mission to the Moon.	In proposal stages
2010/2011	Chandrayaan-II	India	Chandrayaan-II is planned to be an orbiter and lander to the Moon. The lander will be a rover which will be able to travel across the surface of the Moon. Information will be sent to the orbiter which can then be relayed back to Earth (this is easier than having to send the information directly to Earth from the lander). The rover is expected to operate for up to 3 months. A two-legged robot (?) is also planned to be sent on this mission, named SmartNav (sounds like something you'd have in your car to stop you from getting lost!). It will have high-resolution cameras and lasers coming from its eyes!	.	In planning stages.
2012	Luna-Glob	Russia	Russian orbiter and lander to the Moon. Luna-Glob will land on the South Pole of the Moon to look for water in its craters.	First non-Soviet mission to the Moon by Russia.	In planning stages.
2012	LEO (Lunarer Erkundungsorbiter - Lunar Exploration Orbiter)	Germany	This proposed mission will orbit the Moon, taking the most detailed images of the entire surface of the Moon using the best cameras available.	First German mission to the Moon	In proposal stages.
2012	Selene 2	Japan	Proposed Moon lander. This mission will investigate the Moon's origin and may dig into the surface of the Moon.	.	In proposal stages.
2008-2020	Project Constellation	USA	Series of missions to prepare for and eventually land man on the Moon. Initial missions will test flight and docking procedures of the craft in space. Orion is the name of the craft that will take man to the Moon, Ares is the craft that will launch Orion on its route to the Moon. While in orbit, Orion will meet up with the already-launched LSAM (Lunar Surface Access Module). While in orbit around the Moon, LSAM will be detached from Orion and descend to the Moon's surface. The first manned lunar landing of Project Constellation is expected to be Orion 13 in December 2019. Orion 14 is expected to launch in August 2020.	First human landings on the Moon since the Apollo program which ended in 1972.	In planning stages
2024	Aurora Programme	Europe	Europe is planning on sending robots and humans and its next stage of space exploration. Whereas robots are expected to go to Mars, humans are expected to land on the Moon by the year 2024.	First non-American manned missions to the Moon.	In planning and proposal stages.
2024	Chang'e	China	As part of China's exploration of the Moon, it is proposed to land astronauts on its surface by 2024.	First Chinese manned lunar landings.	In planning and proposal stages.

Previous to being explored by spacecraft in the late 1960s, many astronomers believed they could see complex canals on Mars' surface. Spacecraft orbiting Mars soon revealed it to be a dry, cratered planet, with no signs of canals or life, but with volcanoes and deep canyons. Mars is currently a popular choice for space exploration and will be the next place to be visited by people from Earth!

LAUNCH DATE	NAME	COUNTRY	MISSION DETAILS	ADDITIONAL INFO	CURRENT STATUS
10th October 1960	Marsnik 1 (also called Mars 1960A)	USSR	The first attempt to visit another planet in the Solar System was made by the Soviets. The mission was apparently designed to explore the space in between Mars and Earth, complete a flyby of Mars and send back images. However, at an altitude of 120km, the thrusters failed and the spacecraft re-entered Earth's atmosphere. There is some debate about whether this actually was a mission to go to Mars, with some Soviet scientists claiming that Marsnik 2 (below) was their first attempt!	First attempt to reach another planet. Or was it?	Launch failure
14th October 1960	Marsnik 2 (also called Mars 1960B)	USSR	This mission was either the first or second attempt to send a spacecraft to Mars (depending on whether Marsnik 1 above was actually designed to go there). It failed to achieve Earth orbit because of a thrust failure and re-entered Earth's atmosphere after reaching an altitude of 120km.	2nd attempt to reach another planet. Or was it the first??.	Launch failure
24th October 1962	Sputnik 22 (also called Mars 1962A)	USSR	This should have been a mission to fly past Mars, but actually nearly started a nuclear war! The spacecraft broke up when trying to get into Earth orbit or during its burn to enter its trajectory to Mars. The debris from the spacecraft remained in orbit around Earth. Because this was during the Cuban Missile Crisis, an Early Warning system in Alaska detected the debris and it was feared that it was the start of a Soviet nuclear attack.	Could have started a war!	Broke up after launch.
1st November 1962	Mars 1	USSR	Originally intended to fly by Mars and send back data and information, a leak in one of the valves controlling the probe's orientation system meant that it didn't quite make it. It sent back information at first every 2 days, and then every 5 days. On 21st March 1963, at a distance of 106,760,000 km from Earth, communications stopped. Information about small meteorite impacts, radiation around Earth and the solar wind was provided. The Spacecraft actually came as close as 193,000 km to Mars in June 1963.	Sent back a large amount of information about the interplanetary space between Earth and Mars.	Contact lost in 1963. Now In an orbit around the Sun, between Mars and Jupiter.
5th November 1964	Mariner 3	USA	This probe was sent to Mars to take measurements (it must have had a tape-measure on it!) and send back surface images. On its way, a protective shield failed to eject, so the solar panels which were used to collect energy for the spacecrafts batteries couldn't operate. The batteries ran out. If only they'd packed Durecell......	First American attempt to go to Mars	In Solar orbit.
28th November 1964	Mariner 4	USA	Mariner 3's sister mission was much more successful than its predecessor. It reached Mars and sent back the first close up images of the planet, revealing a cratered and presumably geologically and biologically dead planet. In other words, no earthquakes, volcanoes or life. This slightly disappointed scientists who were hoping to find evidence of ancient alien civilisations.	First successful images of Mars.	Communications terminated on
30th November 1964	Zond 2	USSR	Attempted flyby mission of Mars. Contained a camera to produce images of Mars. Communications were lost in March 1965. Zond 2 continued operating without one of its solar panels as it passed by Mars on 6th August 1965	.	Communications terminated in March 1965, now floating around space.
24th February 1969	Mariner 6	USA	Twinned with Mariner 7, Mariner 6 was a flyby mission of Mars. It successfully reached the planet and with Mariner 7 mapped 20% of the planet's surface, although missed its famous volcanoes and canyon. It disappointingly revealed a cratered surface like the Moon's.	.	Now inactive in orbit around the Sun.
27th March 1969	Mariner 7	USA	Twinned with Mariner 6. Mariner 7 suffered an explosion during its mission but successfully sent back more information than Mariner 6. Mariner 6 and 7's closest approaches to Mars were on 5th August 1969 at a distance of 2130 miles.	.	Now inactive in orbit around the Sun.
27th March 1969	Mars 1969A	USSR	Soviet orbiter intended to film the surface of Mars and send the encoded images back to Earth for television transmission. Exploded about seven minutes of launch. Soviets had to watch something else on TV instead!	This mission and Mars 1969B were never officially announced by the Soviet government.	Debris from the explosion was strewn over the Altai mountains
2nd April 1969	Mars 1969B	USSR	Twin mission of Mars 1969A, failed to launch correctly (went sideways instead of up!) and crashed 3km away from take off after about 41 seconds.	.	Launch Failure
8th May 1971	Mariner 8	USA	Failed mission to orbit Mars. Successfully launched from Earth but control was lost before the craft to go to Mars separated from the booster. The craft fell back into Earth's atmosphere and crashed in the Atlantic about 560km north of Puerto Rico.	First attempt at a Mars orbiter	Launch Failure
10th May 1971	Cosmos 419	USSR	Possible intended Mars orbiter, aimed at getting there before the USA's Mariner 8. Successfully launched into Earth orbit from where the probe would be launched to Mars. This launch failed because the timer which was to launch the probe to Mars was set to ignite it after 1.5 years instead of 1.5 hours! The probe eventually fell back to Earth and was named Cosmos 419 (any Soviet mission which remained in Earth orbit instead of going to its destination was designated as a Cosmos mission).	If successful, would probably have overtaken Mariner 8 (above) on its route to Mars to become the first Mars orbiter. Mariner 8 also failed to launch.	Failed to leave Earth orbit and re-entered Earth's atmosphere on 12th May 1971.
19th May 1971	Mars 2	USSR	Mars orbiter, lander and rover, twinned with Mars 3. Mars 2 successfully entered into an orbit around Mars on 27th November 1971 and from December 1971 to March 1972, completing an orbit every 18 hours and operated for 30 minutes during each orbit. It sent back data about the Red Planet (that's Mars!), including 60 images and information about the planet's gravity, magnetic field, chemical makeup, surface temperature and pressure. It continued transmitting until August 1962 after completing 362 orbits. Its lander should have provided data and images from the surface of Mars, but its parachute failed to deploy and the lander crashed to the surface. A Rover on board would have been released to explore the planet on skis (!?) while attached to the lander.	The Mars 2 lander was the first manmade object to land on Mars (despite being in pieces when it got there!)	Orbiter inactive but still in orbit around Mars. Lander lies inactive (and in pieces!) at 45 deg S, 313 deg W
28th May 1971	Mars 3	USSR	Twinned with Mars 2 and almost identical in design and purpose. Mars 3 lost fuel, so couldn't be entered into its planned orbit around the planet. Instead of taking 25 hours to orbit Mars as planned, it took over 12 days to complete an orbit. It still sent back information and images similar to that provided by Mars 2. When the mission ended in August 1972, it had completed about 20 orbits. Mars 3's lander completed a soft landing on the planet and sent back information but for only 20 seconds. This may have been due to a technical failure on the lander or the orbiter receiving its signals, or a strong Martian dust storm. A partial image revealed nothing apart from poor surface light (again, this could have been from the dust storm).	First mission to send signals from the surface of Mars.	Orbiter still inactive but in orbit around Mars. Lander lies inactive at
30th May 1971	Mariner 9	USA	Mars orbiter. Launched after Mars 2 and 3 of the Soviet Union but got there first! The mission was intended to map 80% of the surface of Mars and analyse data from the planet's two moons, Phobos and Deimos. When Mariner 9 arrived, there was a massive dust storm on Mars, so the probe was programmed from Earth to delay imaging of the planet for two months. Previous missions to Mars had revealed a cratered surface like the Moon's, but Mariner 9 revealed huge canyons (e.g. Vallis Marineris) massive extinct volcanoes (e.g. Olympus Mons), dried river beds and water erosion, confirming the existence of water in the planet's history, weather systems like fog and wind. This got scientists very excited! Photographs of Phobos and Deimos were also taken.	First spacecraft to enter the orbit of another planet. Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the Solar System, was discovered by Mariner 9. Vallis Marineris was named in honour of this Mariner mission.	Inactive but still in orbit around Mars.
21st July 1973	Mars 4	USSR	Mars 4, 5, 6 and 7 were a quadruple attempt to reach Mars before the Americans with their Viking orbiters and landers in 1975. Mars 4 and 5 didn't have landers but would have been placed in orbit around Mars to receive signals back from the Mars 6 and 7 landers as well as make their own observations. A technical fault prevented the craft from being able to slow down to enter orbit around Mars once it reached the planet on 10th February 1974, so it flew straight past, sending back some images and data.	.	Now inactive but in orbit around the Sun.
25th July 1973	Mars 5	USSR	Twin orbiter with Mars 4. It reached Mars on 12th February 1974 and was placed into an orbit around the planet. It completed 22 orbits over 9 days before transmissions stopped due to the loss of pressurisation in the transmitter housing (or something broke!).	.	Inactive in orbit around Mars.
5th August 1973	Mars 6	USSR	Mars 6 successfully reached Mars on 12th March 1974 and a lander was deployed from the "bus" to descend to the planet's surface. Communications from the lander lasted for about 224 seconds before coming to a sudden stop, probably when the lander reached Mars' surface. The information send back about the planet's atmosphere during the landers descent was unreadable because of a problem with the computer chip on board the "bus" still in space. .	First data from the atmosphere of Mars, despite most of it being useless by being unreadable.	The Mars 6 bus is inactive in orbit around the Sun. The lander lies inactive at 23.90° S, 19.42° W on the surface of Mars.
9th August 1973	Mars 7	USSR	Mars 7 reached Mars but the lander was released 4 hours too early meaning that it missed Mars. Both the bus and the lander went into orbits around the Sun. All Mars missions from 4 to 7 suffered from a computer chip flaw which meant that during the journey to Mars, the operation of the spacecraft's systems degraded. This meant that all of the missions were doomed from the start and none succeeded in their aim.	.	Bus and lander are in orbit around the Sun.
20th August 1975	Viking 1	USA	Hugely successful mission to explore Mars both from a distance with the Viking 1 orbiter, and from the planet's surface with its lander. The orbiter entered Mars orbit on 19th June 1976 and the lander safely landed on the planet's surface on 20th July. The orbiter's primary mission was completed on 5th November 1976 and entered an extended mission from 14th December, including making a close approach to Phobos. Its orbit was lifted on 7th August 1980 to prevent it from landing on Mars and operations ended on 17th August 1980. It will remain in this orbit until 2019. The Viking 1 lander began transmitting images from Mars' surface only 25 seconds after landing and over the next few years continued to send panoramic views of the planet's surface giving people on Earth the first view of what it might look like to be on another planet. Communications continued until 13th November 1982 when an incorrect signal from Earth which was meant to send battery charging software to the lander accidentally overwrote other data which changed the antenna position and ended transmissions!	Viking 1 sent back the first images from Mars' surface.	The orbiter will remain inactive but in its current orbit until 2019. The lander lies inactive at its landing spot in Chryse Planitia (Gold Field) at coordinates 22.697° N latitude and 48.222° W
9th September 1975	Viking 2	USA	Twin mission of Viking 1 also utilised an orbiter and lander. Viking 2 entered Mars orbit on 7th August 1976, with its lander safely reaching the surface on 3rd September 1976. The orbiter's primary mission ended on 8th November 1976 and entered extended mission phase from 14th December, one of its missions being to approach Deimos. It completed 706 orbits of Mars and was turned off on 25th July 1978. The lander reached the surface on 3rd September 1976 and started taking pictures almost immediately. It operated until 11th April 1980 when it was switched off after the batteries ran down.	Viking 2 sent back the first images of "weather" on a different planet, when early morning frost could be seen in the lander's surrounding area.	Viking 2's orbiter is still in orbit around Mars but inactive. Its lander is inactive at its landing spot in Utopia Planitia at coordinates 48.269 ºN 225.990º W
7th July 1988	Phobos 1	USSR, with cooperation from 14 other nations including the USA	Thirteen years after the last mission to Mars, the Soviets tried again to visit the Red Planet and its moons. Phobos 1 and 2 used the location of the Sun and stars to orient itself. While on its way to Mars, the software on the probe suffered an error which caused it to lose its lock on the Sun. This meant that the sunlight failed to reach the solar panels which kept the batteries charged and the craft lost the power to continue with its mission.	Phobos 1 was an early sign of future international cooperation in space missions.	Contact lost late August/early September 1988.
12th July 1988	Phobos 2	USSR	Twin mission of Phobos 1. The craft successfully entered Mars orbit on 29th January 1989 but contact was lost just before two landers were about to be released to land on Mars' moon, Phobos. The instruction to release the landers couldn't be communicated and the missions ended on 27th March 1989. Phobos 2 did however send some data and information back about Mars and its moons, the Sun, and the interplanetary space between Earth and Mars.	Final Soviet mission to Mars.	Contact lost 27th March 1989. The craft remains in orbit around Mars.
25th September 1992	Mars Observer	USA	Attempted orbiter of Mars equipped with instruments to study the geology, geophysics and climate of Mars. Mission ended in failure when contact was lost with the spacecraft on 22nd August 1993, just before it was due to enter Mars orbit.	First American mission to Mars in 17 years.	It is not known whether the craft did achieve Mars orbit or whether it flew by the planet to go into an orbit around the Sun.
7th November 1996	Mars Global Surveyor	USA	Mars Global Surveyor is an orbiter which reached Mars on 12th September 1997. After gradually trimming its orbit to put it in a low level circular orbit around Mars, Global Surveyor began mapping the entire surface of the planet from March 1999. It has studied the weather on Mars and has revealed regular weather patterns. The atmosphere, temperature, magnetic fields have all been analysed by Mars Global Surveyor, providing essential information for future missions to Mars. Up to the loss of contact with it at the end of 2006, Mars Global Surveyor has also operated as a communications satellite for more recent landers and rovers on Mars.	First successful mission to Mars in over 20 years.	Mars Global Surveyor completed its primary mission in January 2001. After several extended missions, contact with the space craft was lost in November 2006 after the craft received incorrect instructions from computers on Earth, causing it to position itself so that one of its batteries became exposed to the Sun, causing it to overheat and its power to deplete, therefore preventing any further operation of the space craft.
16th November 1996	Mars 96 (also unofficially called Mars 8)	Russia	First Russian attempt to reach Mars after the collapse of the USSR. Based on the Phobos missions of the 1980s, Mars 96 was an ambitious mission which would have analysed the evolutionary history of Mars' surface (it other words, how it developed into the planet it is now). The probe separated from the rocket it was to launch from while in Earth orbit, but accelerated into Earth's atmosphere instead of on its way to Mars. This was due to the failure of an earlier rocket burn which would have pointed the probe in the right direction. The mission was a complete failure, although equipment designed for it has been used on more recent missions.	First Russian attempt to get to Mars. The country had cooperation from other nations, including France, Germany and the USA.	The probe burnt up during descent through Earth's atmosphere.
4th December 1996	Mars Pathfinder	USA	Originally designed as a demonstration of cheap(er) space exploration and the technology needed to successfully land a lander and rover on Mars. Pathfinder exceeded all expectations and paved the way for a flood of visits to Mars in the early 21st Century. The lander reached Mars' surface on 4th July 1997 using a system of parachutes and giant airbags to ensure a safe, soft landing. It landed in Ares Vallis, an ancient flood plane in the Northern Hemisphere. The lander (named the Carl Sagan Memorial Station) and rover (named Sojourner) spent their time taken pictures and analysing rock and soil samples, as any tourist on a new planet would do! They confirmed that Mars was once a warm, wet planet, which probably had liquid water and a thicker atmosphere. It didn't find any signs of life however although it did prove that successful space exploration could be done "on the cheap"!	NASA's Pathfinder website was the first internet site to achieve 1 million hits! Both the lander and rover lasted much longer than expected.	Communications were lost with the lander and rover on 27th September 1997, much later than originally anticipated. If communications with Pathfinder were lost, the rover was programmed to circle it to allow scientists to locate the lander. The final resting place of the rover and how long it operated for is not known. It could be circling the lander even now! The last communications attempt was on 10th March 1998.
4th July 1998	Nozomi (Planet B)	Japan	Japan's first attempt at space exploration was an orbiter sent to Mars. During its five year journey, Nozomi experienced several problems, most of which were overcome. On arrival at Mars, it would examine the planet's upper atmosphere and explore its relationship with the solar wind. Early in the mission, as additional burn was done to put the spacecraft on the correct trajectory to Mars. This used up a large amount of fuel and, despite a change to the trajectory which saved some fuel consumption, there was simply not enough left to place it into an orbit around Mars. The craft was instead diverted away from Mars to prevent it from crashing (to avoid possible contamination) and into an orbit around the Sun.	Japan became the third Space Nation with the launch of Nozomi, its first attempt at space exploration.	FAILED MISSION: Mission cancelled on 9th December 2003. Now in orbit around the Sun.
11th December 1998	Mars Climate Orbiter	USA	Mars Climate Orbiter was sent to explore the atmosphere and surface of Mars while in orbit. Unfortunately, the wrong units of measurement (English units instead of metric) were used and the spacecraft fell into the planet's atmosphere and burnt up. Contact was lost on 23rd September 1999. That's what happens when you get inches and centimetres mixed up!	Not an achievement, but I suppose it proves that even highly intelligent scientists are human!	FAILED MISSION: Craft burnt up in Mars' atmosphere. Some parts may have reached the surface.
3rd January 1999	Mars Polar Lander	USA	American lander which was to be the first to land in a polar region of Mars (the South Pole) where it would analyse the soil and take pictures. Everything seemed to be going to plan until contact was suddenly lost as the craft started its descent onto Mars on 3rd December 1999. It is assumed that the craft crashed on Mars, but its location is not known.	.	FAILED MISSION: Crashed somewhere on Mars.
3rd January 1999	Deep Space 2	USA	A separate mission to Mars Polar Lander, but the 2 microprobes of Deep Space 2, hitched a ride on the Polar Lander. They were to search for water ice in the South Pole of Mars, but because Mars Polar Lander mysteriously went missing before landing on Mars, so too did the Deep Space 2 probes.	.	FAILED MISSION: Crashed on Mars with Mars Polar Lander.
4th April 2001	Mars Odyssey	USA	Similar to the Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey entered orbit around Mars on 24th October 2001 after a six month journey. It began imaging Mars from February 2002 and is now in its extended mission phase. It is also used as a communications satellite for rovers on Mars (such as the Mars Exploration Rovers) and for future missions.	The name Odyssey was chosen after the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.	Operational in orbit around Mars.
2nd June 2003	Mars Express	Europe	The European Space Agency's first attempt at planetary exploration. Mars Express consisted of two parts, an orbiter (named Mars Express Orbiter) and a lander (named Beagle 2). Many of the instruments on Mars Express were designed for the failed Mars 96 mission. Mars Express arrived at Mars on 25th December 2003 and Beagle 2 was released into the planet's atmosphere on the same day. However, contact was lost with Beagle 2 and attempts to locate it have been unsuccessful. It was eventually declared lost on 6th February 2004.The Mars Express orbiter has been extremely successful and is still sending back information about the planet, including evidence of underground water-ice.	The first European attempt at planetary exploration.	Lander lies inactive somewhere on the surface of Mars. The orbiter is still operational in Mars orbit.
10th June 2003	Spirit (Mars Exploration Rover A)	USA	Spirit is one of two American rovers that arrived on Mars in January 2004, just after Europe's Beagle 2 should have landed there. Originally intended to last for 91 Martian days (a day on Mars is about 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth), Spirit has operated for over 1000 Martian days and is still going strong. It completed its primary mission on 28th April 2004 and is now in extended mission phase. Spirit successfully landed on Mars on 4th January 2004 in the Gusev Crater, an area once thought to be a lake. Spirit has been examining the effects that the presence of water many millions of years ago would have had on Mars. Spirit (and Opportunity) took DVDs to Mars containing the names of 4 million people from Earth. Let's hope the Martians have a DVD player to view them!	.	Still active on the surface of Mars
7th July 2003	Opportunity (Mars Exploration Rover B)	USA	Opportunity reached Mars about 3 weeks after its twin rover, Spirit. It landed on the opposite side of the planet in an area called Meridiani Planum on 25th July 2004. The rover landed in a crater, getting scientists extremely excited! Seeing this as being like a good golf shot, they named the crater the "Eagle Crater". Primary mission objectives were completed in the 90 Mars days the rover was set to last for, and it is now in extended mission phase. At one point, its mission nearly ended because it got stuck in a sand dune, but it was successfully freed and, as of October 2006, it has travelled nearly six miles.	.	Still active on the surface of Mars.
12th August 2005	Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter	USA	Orbiter which reached Mars on 10th March 2006. It has since spent its time imaging the planet and using aerobraking, placed itself into a regular orbit around the planet. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will begin its primary mission from November 2006, which will include mapping the planet's surface in high resolution to find suitable landing sites for future missions, and observe Mars' atmosphere, geology, climate and weather. It will also have a look for Mars Polar Lander and Beagle 2, two landers which were lost in previous missions. It has already managed to locate the Opportunity Rover near the Victoria Crater. After completing its scientific experiments in about two years, it will be used as a communications satellite to relay data from objects on Mars back to Earth.	.	Operational in orbit around Mars.
May 2008	Phoenix	USA	Planned to land on Mars in May 2008, Phoenix will land in an arctic region on Mars and dig into the soil. It will examine the history of water on the planet and look for places where basic life might have once been possible.	.	In development.
2009	Mars Science Laboratory	USA	As its name suggests, the Mars Science Laboratory will be a science lab set up on Mars! It will land on Mars and travel around its surface to study the geology of the planet and look for potential signs of life, either now or in the planet's history.	.	This mission is currently under study.
2011	Mars Scout 2	USA	A follow-up to the Phoenix mission planned for launch in 2008, its design will be decided by the success of missions over the next few years.	.	.
October 2011	Mars Sample Return Lander	USA	One problem that has plagued missions to Mars is that all experiments have to take place on the planet by robots operated millions of miles away on Earth. So, instead of sending people from Earth to Mars, another option is to bring Mars to the people on Earth. Or rather, bring a bit of Mars. The Mars Sample Return Lander aims to do that by landing on the planet, collecting a sample of Martian rocks and soil, and sending them back to Earth to be analysed. Although current plans look to launch the mission in 2014, studies are under way to bring the launch date forward to 2011, meaning that by September 2014, the samples could be on Earth.	.	In development
2013	ExoMars	Europe	Lander and rover to Mars. They are expected to get there by 2015. The lander will image and analyse Mars at surface-level for up to 6 years. The rover will travel across the surface and is expected to operate for 6 months. No craft will need be placed in orbit for this mission as ExoMars will relay data to NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (already at Mars) or Europe's Mars Express.	.	In development.
2016	Mars Astrobiology Field Lab Rover	USA	Lander which will look for "signatures" of life on Mars, conducting biological tests rather than geological tests..	.	In planning stages

The largest planet in the Solar System first received a visitor in 1972 when two Pioneer spacecrafts passed by the planet. These were followed a few years later by Voyager 1 and 2 as part of their "Grand Tour" (between them, they visited all four Gas Giants). More recently, Jupiter has been visited by craft which have entered its atmosphere and visited its Moons.

LAUNCH DATE	NAME	COUNTRY	MISSION DETAILS	ADDITIONAL INFO	CURRENT STATUS
3rd March 1973	Pioneer 10	USA	First spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt and make close-up observations of Jupiter when it reached the planet on 3rd November 1973. Designed as a "rehearsal" for later Voyager missions, Pioneer was used to test to see whether a spacecraft could make it through the Asteroid Belt and survive the radiation around Jupiter. After visiting Jupiter, it continued its journey through the Solar System. It passed Neptune's orbit in 1983 and has since sent back information from the outer edges of the Solar System. Information was used until 1997 until its signal could only be used as a aid to train flight controllers on how to pick up radio signals from space. The very last signal from Pioneer 10 was picked up on 23rd January 2003. An attempt to contact the craft failed on 7th February. Another final attempt was made on 4th March 2006 but no signal could be picked up.	Became the first manmade object to travel beyond the orbits of the eight planets.	Contact lost in 2003. The craft may still be active but is too far away from Earth for a signal to be picked up. It is now on its way to the star Aldebaran, a journey which will take over 2 million years. On the spacecraft is a plaque with diagrams of a man and a woman, symbols representing Earth and a map of the Solar System, so if any aliens happen to find Pioneer 10, they can bring it back!
5th April 1973	Pioneer 11	USA	Twin mission of Pioneer 10, but which visited both Jupiter and Saturn in the same mission, unlike Pioneer 10. It reached Jupiter on 2nd December 1974 and after imaging the planet, went on to visit Saturn using a gravity assist method that the later Voyager missions would use. It reached Saturn on 1st December 1979 and sent back images of the planet and its rings. Because the Voyager probes were also on their way to Saturn, Pioneer 11 was used as a guinea pig to see if it received any damage by flying through Saturn's rings, seeing as this would be something the Voyager missions would do later. Scientists would rather have lost the Pioneer probe than their Voyager probes. Pioneer 11 survived and after leaving Saturn, began its journey which would eventually take it out of the Solar System. Signals from the craft stopped being received in November 1995.	Discovered a thick atmosphere on Saturn's moon, Titan.	Communication lost in 1995, although it is possible that Pioneer 11 is still transmitting. Earth may have lost its alignment with the craft's antenna and may now be too far away too pick up a signal. Pioneer 11 is the slowest moving of 4 spacecrafts currently on their way out of the Solar System, expected to reach the region of another star in about 4 million years.
5th September 1977	Voyager 1	USA	The Voyager Mission was an extremely successful mission to explore the Gas Giants and the outer Solar System. Voyager 1 reached Jupiter in January 1979 and imaged the planet and its moons, witnessing active volcanoes on the moon Io, the first sign of geological activity anywhere in the Solar System other than on Earth. After leaving Jupiter in April 1979, it went on to Saturn, imaging the planet and its rings. After Pioneer 11's discovered atmosphere on Saturn's moon, Titan, scientists sent Voyager 1 there instead of onto Uranus and Neptune, leaving those planets for Voyager 2. After a flyby of Titan, Voyager 1 was sent in a different direction to Uranus and Neptune and on its way out of the Solar System. it is now the most distant manmade object in space and is still transmitting data. The Sun still has an influence at Voyager 1's current location (the Solar Wind can still be detected) but Voyager 1 and 2 may reach a point where the Sun has no influence, therefore placing them in interstellar space and becoming the first manmade objects to leave the Solar System.	Both Voyager probes contain "Golden Records" containing images, sounds and messages from Earth. Other than the 115 images, the records contain greetings in 55 languages, some which haven't been spoken on Earth for 6000 years, a message from President Carter, animal noises and music from all over the world, ranging from traditional to classical and rock and roll. And to play the record, you need a gramophone!	Voyager 1 is still operational, on its way out of the Solar System. Data is sent back to Earth about the outer edges of the Solar System and, although several instruments will shut down over the coming years, it is expected that certain instruments will remain operational until 2020.
20th August 1977	Voyager 2	USA	Twin mission of Voyager 1, and the first space craft to visit four planets in one mission. Voyager 2 completed its flyby of Jupiter in 1979 and went on to visit Saturn in 1981. Unlike Voyager 1, which began its journey out of the Solar System after visiting Saturn, Voyager 2 went on to visit Uranus and Neptune, being the first space craft to reach these two planets. It arrived at Uranus in 1986, discovering 10 moons orbiting the planet. It then went on to visit Neptune in 1989. After leaving Neptune, Voyager 2 began its interspace mission, making its way out of the Solar System and eventually into interstellar space. It isn't as far away as Voyager 1 and is moving at a slower speed but, like Voyager 1, is still transmitting data from the outer edges of the Solar System.	Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to visit four planets in one mission.	Voyager 2 is still active, on its way out of the Solar System.
18th October 1989	Galileo	USA	Orbiter launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Destined for Jupiter, it built up speed by gravitational assist flybys of Earth and Venus. It took 6 years to reach Jupiter, arriving there on 7th December 1995. On its way through the Asteroid Belt, it flew by the asteroids Gaspra and Ida, and discovered the first asteroid moon, Dactyl, orbiting Ida. It was close enough to Jupiter to witness the collision of the Shoemaker-Levy comet in 1994. As well as orbiting Jupiter, Galileo made close visits to the moons Europa and Io, going as close as 180 kilometres to Io on 15th October 2001. Galileo also contained a probe which was released into Jupiter's atmosphere in 1995, sending back information from inside the planet's atmosphere until the probe vapourised. Galileo itself was dropped into Jupiter's atmosphere 21st September 2003 to avoid a collision with any of Jupiter's moons and possible contamination of the moon (in particular Europa) with Earth bacteria.	.	Mission terminated when Galileo was deorbited and fell into Jupiter's atmosphere to be destroyed.
October 1990	Ulysses	USA/Europe	Mission to observe the Sun by orbiting over its poles. The mission was planned in the early 1980s and was due to launched from the Space Shuttle Challenger. The Challenger disaster in 1986 delayed the launch of Ulysses which would have been launched later that year from the same space shuttle. It was launched in October 1990 and sent to Jupiter. It used Jupiter's gravity to push it into an orbit taking the probe above and below the Sun, enabling it to observe the Sun's polar regions. Although primarily a mission to study the Sun, the craft has also made observations of Jupiter and, as an unplanned part of its mission, crossed the tail Comet Hyakutake in 1996.	.	Craft is still in operation, orbiting the Sun from a distance as far away as Jupiter. The craft is expected to remain operational until 2008.
15th October 1997	Cassini-Huygens	USA/Europe and Italy	Launched as a probe to explore Saturn, its rings and its moons (in particular, Titan), At the end of 2000, Cassini-Huygens passed by Jupiter and took over 26,000 highly detailed images of the planet. After spending about a month at Jupiter, Cassini-Huygens went on to visit Saturn.	.	Cassini-Huygens left Jupiter early in 2001 and is now orbiting Saturn. The Huygens probe landed on Saturn's moon Titan and lies inactive on its surface, whereas the orbiter is still operational around Saturn.

Due to a unique positioning of the outer planets in the Solar System in the 1970s, scientists realised that they would be able to send a craft to Saturn quite easily by using the gravity of Jupiter to slingshot it to Saturn. Pioneer 11 and Voyager 1 and 2 all used this technique. Recent exploration of Saturn has included analysis of the planet's rings and its Moon, Titan.

LAUNCH DATE	NAME	COUNTRY	MISSION DETAILS	ADDITIONAL INFO	CURRENT STATUS
3rd March 1973	Pioneer 11	USA	Twin mission of Pioneer 10, but which visited both Jupiter and Saturn in the same mission, unlike Pioneer 10. It reached Jupiter on 2nd December 1974 and after imaging the planet, went on to visit Saturn using a gravity assist method that the later Voyager missions would use. It reached Saturn on 1st December 1979 and sent back images of the planet and its rings. Because the Voyager probes were also on their way to Saturn, Pioneer 11 was used as a guinea pig to see if it received any damage by flying through Saturn's rings, seeing as this would be something the Voyager missions would do later. Scientists would rather have lost the Pioneer probe than their Voyager probes. Pioneer 11 survived and after leaving Saturn, began its journey which would eventually take it out of the Solar System. Signals from the craft stopped being received in November 1995.		Communication lost in 1995, although it is possible that Pioneer 11 is still transmitting. Earth may have lost its alignment with the craft's antenna and may now be too far away too pick up a signal. Pioneer 11 is the slowest moving of 4 spacecrafts currently on their way out of the Solar System, expected to reach the region of another star in about 4 million years.
5th September 1977	Voyager 1	USA	The Voyager Mission was an extremely successful mission to explore the Gas Giants and the outer Solar System. Voyager 1 reached Jupiter in January 1979 and imaged the planet and its moons, witnessing active volcanoes on the moon Io, the first sign of geological activity anywhere in the Solar System other than on Earth. After leaving Jupiter in April 1979, it went on to Saturn, imaging the planet and its rings. After Pioneer 11's discovered atmosphere on Saturn's moon, Titan, scientists sent Voyager 1 there instead of onto Uranus and Neptune, leaving those planets for Voyager 2. After a flyby of Titan, Voyager 1 was sent in a different direction to Uranus and Neptune and on its way out of the Solar System. it is now the most distant manmade object in space and is still transmitting data. The Sun still has an influence at Voyager 1's current location (the Solar Wind can still be detected) but Voyager 1 and 2 may reach a point where the Sun has no influence, therefore placing them in interstellar space and becoming the first manmade objects to leave the Solar System.	Both Voyager probes contain "Golden Records" containing images, sounds and messages from Earth. Other than the 115 images, the records contain greetings in 55 languages, some which haven't been spoken on Earth for 6000 years, a message from President Carter, animal noises and music from all over the world, ranging from traditional to classical and rock and roll. And to play the record, you need a gramophone!	Voyager 1 is still operational, on its way out of the Solar System. Data is sent back to Earth about the outer edges of the Solar System and, although several instruments will shut down over the coming years, it is expected that certain instruments will remain operational until 2020.
20th August 1977	Voyager 2	USA	Twin mission of Voyager 1, and the first space craft to visit four planets in one mission. Voyager 2 completed its flyby of Jupiter in 1979 and went on to visit Saturn in 1981. Unlike Voyager 1, which began its journey out of the Solar System after visiting Saturn, Voyager 2 went on to visit Uranus and Neptune, being the first space craft to reach these two planets. It arrived at Uranus in 1986, discovering 10 moons orbiting the planet. It then went on to visit Neptune in 1989. After leaving Neptune, Voyager 2 began its interspace mission, making its way out of the Solar System and eventually into interstellar space. It isn't as far away as Voyager 1 and is moving at a slower speed but, like Voyager 1, is still transmitting data from the outer edges of the Solar System.	Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to visit four planets in one mission.	Voyager 2 is still active, on its way out of the Solar System.
15th August 1997	Cassini-Huygens	USA/Europe and Italy	A combined probe made up of NASA's Cassini orbiter and Europe's Huygens lander. It passed by Jupiter on its way at the end of 2000 and reached Saturn on 1st July 2004. The Cassini orbiter is in an orbit around Saturn and has made several fly-bys of some of its moons, most notably the moon Titan. On 24th December, Europe's Huygens probe was detached from Cassini and sent to Titan, landing on the moon on 14th January 2005 and sending back the first image from the surface. The probe was only designed to last for a few hours and for most of the journey to Saturn, and then to Titan, it was switched off, only becoming active during its descent through the moon's atmosphere and for a few minutes after reaching the surface.	First images from a moon of another planet.	The Huygens lander is inactive on the surface of Titan, thought to have landed in a muddy area. The Cassini orbiter is still operational around Saturn with its primary mission expected to end in June 2008.

Uranus has had only one visitor, and that revealed the planet to be quite bland and dull. No missions are currently planned to revisit Uranus.

LAUNCH DATE	NAME	COUNTRY	MISSION DETAILS	ADDITIONAL INFO	CURRENT STATUS
20th August 1977	Voyager 2	USA	After visiting both Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 2 arrived at Uranus in 1986. It studied the planet, getting as close as 81,500 kilometres (50,600 miles) to the cloud tops of the planet. It also discovered 10 moons orbiting the planet (in addition to the 5 already known about).	First and only probe to visit Uranus	Voyager 2 left Uranus and made its way to Neptune, the next place on its "Planetary Grand Tour". It is now on its way out of the Solar System.

The most distant of the eight regular planets, Voyager 2 arrived at Neptune in 1989 after already visiting Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. The planet has not been visited since and there are currently no plans to send any other spacecraft to the planet in the near future.

LAUNCH DATE	NAME	COUNTRY	MISSION DETAILS	ADDITIONAL INFO	CURRENT STATUS
20th August 1977	Voyager 2	USA	After its visits to Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, Voyager 2 reached Neptune in 1989, the last planet on it Planetary Grand Tour. It discovered Neptune to be a deeper-coloured blue than Uranus and the windiest planet in the Solar System. It also discovered a "Great Dark Spot" which has since disappeared. Voyager 2 also flew by Neptune's moon, Triton.	Now that Pluto is no longer officially a planet, when Voyager 2 reached Neptune, it meant that all planets in the Solar System had now been visited by manmade space craft.	Voyager 2 is still active, on its way out of the Solar System.

At the furthest reaches of the Solar System lies a region of small, mysterious worlds. The most well-known of these is Pluto, accompanied by its moon Charon. On its way to this lonely region is one lone space craft.

LAUNCH DATE	NAME	COUNTRY	MISSION DETAILS	ADDITIONAL INFO	CURRENT STATUS
19th January 2006	New Horizons	USA	The first mission to visit Pluto and Charon. It will travel directly from Earth to Jupiter, where it will use a gravitational assist to send it straight to Pluto. It is expected to reach Pluto and Charon in 2015. The probe may also be programmed to explore other objects in the Kuiper Belt region.	Fastest spacecraft launch ever, taking just over a year to reach Jupiter.	New Horizons has now passed Jupiter and is somewhere in between the orbit of Jupiter and Saturn, still on its way to Pluto.

Comets and asteroids are small rocks that fly around the Solar System. Whereas comets have elliptical orbits and are only visible when they are near the Earth and Sun, asteroids often orbit in circular, planet-like, orbits. Quite often, when there are comets in the vicinity of Earth, spacecrafts are sent to them. Missions to comets and asteroids may help to explain how the Solar System evolved.

LAUNCH DATE	NAME	COUNTRY	MISSION DETAILS	ADDITIONAL INFO	CURRENT STATUS
13th March 1986	Giotto	Europe	Giotto was sent to complete a flyby of the comet Halley during its most recent close approach to Earth. Despite being hit by particles falling from the comet, Giotto successfully imaged the comet and its nucleus on 14th March 1986. Further impacts damaged its camera. The craft was switched off on 15th March 1986 but turned back on 2nd July 1990 to be sent to another comet by slingshotting from Earth. It flew by the comet Grigg-Skjellerup on 10th July 1992 and was switched off again on 23rd July 1992.	Best images of Halley's comet. First craft to do a close flyby of two comets. First craft to return from interplanetary space on complete Earth swing by. First space craft to be placed into hibernation mode and successfully reactivated.	The craft last completed an fly-by of Earth in 1999 but was not switched back on.
17th February 1996	NEAR Shoemaker (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - Shoemaker)	USA	Space craft which was put into orbit of Eros, an asteroid which orbits relatively closely to Earth, crossing the orbit of Mars. NEAR entered orbit of Eros on 14th February 2000. While in orbit, it imaged the asteroid and sent back data about it. On 12th February 2001, NEAR soft-landed on the surface of Eros. It continued to send back information until 28th February 2001.	First soft landing on an asteroid.	Final communication was on 28th February 2001. A final attempt to resume communications on 10 December 2002 was unsuccessful.
24th October 1998	Deep Space 1	USA	Deep Space 1's main use was to test new technologies for space flight but amongst its other objectives, it completed fly-bys of the asteroid Braille and the comet Borrelly. Images of Braille were disappointing, due to a software crash and the camera not focussing on its target.		NASA decided to switch Deep Space 1 off after it fly-by of Borrelly. The craft is now in orbit around the Sun.
7th February 1999	Stardust	USA	Stardust visited comet Wild 2 to investigate its make-up. It also released a sample material capsule which collected dust from the comet's coma and from space, including dust believed to have originated from outside the Solar System. The sample was successfully returned to Earth on 15th January 2006 for analysis.	First sample return of comet and interstellar dust.	Mission ended when samples were returned on 15th January 2006 although are still being analysed. A follow-up mission to visit comet Tempel 1 was approved on 3rd July 2007.
12th January 2005	Deep Impact	USA	Deep Impact (nothing to do with the film of the same name!) contained a probe which was sent to crash into comet Tempel 1 so that the contents of material ejected from the impact could be analysed. Early analysis shows the comet to be made up of more dust than ice. Deep Impact is still in operation and after completing a flyby of Earth in December 2007, will study planets orbiting other Suns (from Earth orbit, not by going to them) and visit the comet Boethin.	First probe to be crashed into a comet (other comet missions were flybys)	Information about Deep Impact's impact is still being analysed. The craft is due to enter the next stage of its mission.
27th September 2007	Dawn	USA	Space craft which will visit the Asteroid Belt and orbit the dwarf planet Ceres and the asteroid Vesta. It will send back images and data about the two objects.	Dawn will be the first mission to be sent to orbit two different planetary bodies other than Earth and the Moon.	Dawn launched on 27th September 2007 and is now on its way to Vesta.

VIEW TIMELINE BY TIME PERIOD

THE SUN	MERCURY	VENUS	EARTH	THE MOON	MARS
JUPITER	SATURN	URANUS	NEPTUNE	DWARF PLANETS	COMETS/ ASTEROIDS

Introduction	Timeline of Space Exploration	The Space Shuttle
Living in Space	The Voyager Mission	The Future of Space Exploration

SPACE EXPLORATION
Introduction
Exploration Timeline
The Space Shuttle
Living in Space
The Voyager Mission
The Future