Date |
Mission Achievements |
Country/ Organization |
Mission Name |
1931 |
First German military liquid-fuelled rocket engines developed |
Germany |
Walter Riedel |
10 May 1946 |
First space research flight (cosmic radiation experiments) |
United States |
captured and improved V-2 rocket |
20 February 1947 |
First animals in space (fruit flies) |
United States |
V-2 |
21 August 1957 |
First intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) |
USSR |
R-7 Semyorka/ SS-6 Sapwood |
4 October 1957 |
First artificial satellite First signals from space |
USSR |
Sputnik 1 |
3 November 1957 |
First animal in orbit, the dog Laika |
USSR |
Sputnik 2 |
2 January 1959 |
First firing of a rocket in Earth orbit First reaching Earth escape velocity or Trans Lunar Injection First detection of solar wind |
USSR |
Luna 1 |
7 August 1959 |
First photograph of Earth from orbit |
USA (NASA) |
Explorer 6 |
13 September 1959 |
First impact into another world (the Moon) First delivery of national (USSR) pennants to a celestial body |
USSR |
Luna 2 |
4 October 1959 |
First photos of far side of the Moon |
USSR |
Luna 3 |
19 August 1960 |
First plants and animals to return alive from Earth orbit |
USSR |
Sputnik 5 |
31 January 1961 |
First Hominidae in space, first tasks performed in space; Ham (chimpanzee). |
USA (NASA) |
M-R 2 |
12 April 1961 |
First human spaceflight–(Yuri Gagarin) First human-crewed orbital flight |
USSR |
Vostok 1 |
16 June 1963 |
First woman in space (Valentina Tereshkova) |
USSR |
Vostok 6 |
19 July 1963 |
First reusable crewed spacecraft (suborbital) |
USA (NASA) |
X-15 Flight 90 |
3 February 1966 |
First soft landing on another world (the Moon) First photos from another world |
USSR |
Luna 9 |
1 March 1966 |
First impact into another planet (Venus) |
USSR |
Venera 3 |
3 April 1966 |
First artificial satellite around another world (the Moon) |
USSR |
Luna 10 |
2 June 1966 |
Soft landingon the Moon, photos from the Moon |
USA (NASA) |
Surveyor 1 |
21 July 1969 |
First human on the Moon and first space launch from a celestial body |
USA (NASA) |
Apollo 11 |
23 November 1970 |
First lunar rover |
USSR |
Lunokhod 1 |
12 December 1970 |
First X-ray orbital observatory |
USA (NASA) |
Uhuru(satellite) |
15 December 1970 |
First soft landing on another planet (Venus) First signals from another planet |
USSR |
Venera 7 |
23 April 1971 |
First space station |
USSR |
Salyut 1 |
June, 1971 |
First Manned orbital observatory |
USSR |
Orion 1 |
14 November 1971 |
First to maintain orbit around another planet (Mars) |
USA (NASA) |
Mariner 9 |
27 November 1971 |
First impact into Mars |
USSR |
Mars 2 |
2 December 1971 |
First soft Mars landing First signals from Mars surface |
USSR |
Mars 3 |
3 March 1972 |
First human made object sent on escape trajectory away from the Sun |
USA (NASA) |
Pioneer 10 |
15 July 1972 |
First mission to enter the asteroid belt and leave inner Solar System |
USA (NASA) |
Pioneer 10 |
15 November 1972 |
First orbital gamma ray observatory |
USA (NASA) |
SAS 2 |
15 July 1975 |
First multinational manned mission |
USSR USA (NASA) |
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project |
20 July 1976 |
First photos and soil samples from the surface of Mars |
USA (NASA) |
Viking Lander |
12 April 1981 |
First Reusable manned spacecraft (orbital) |
USA (NASA) |
STS-1 |
1 March 1982 |
First Venus soil samples & sound recording of another world |
USSR |
Venera 13 |
25 January 1983 |
First Infrared orbital observatory |
USA (NASA) UK (SERC) Netherlands (NIVR) |
IRAS |
13 June 1983 |
First spacecraft beyond the orbit of Neptune (first spacecraft to pass beyond all Solar System planets) |
USA (NASA) |
Pioneer 10 |
7 February 1984 |
First untethered spacewalk, Bruce McCandless II |
USA (NASA) |
STS-41-B |
24 January 1986 |
First Uranus flyby (closest approach 81,500 kilometres) |
USA (NASA) |
Voyager 2 |
19 February 1986 |
First consistently inhabited long-term research space station |
USSR |
Mir |
25 August 1989 |
First Neptune flyby (closest approach at 29,240 km) |
USA (NASA) |
Voyager 2 |
18 November 1989 |
First orbital cosmic microwave observatory |
USA (NASA) |
COBE |
14 February 1990 |
First photograph of the whole Solar System |
USA (NASA) |
Voyager 1 |
24 April 1990 |
Optical orbital observatory |
USA (NASA) ESA |
Hubble Space Telescope |
22 March 1995 |
Record longest duration spaceflight (437.7 days) set by Valeri Polyakov |
Russia (FKA) |
Mir |
7 December 1995 |
First orbit of Jupiter |
USA (NASA) |
Galileo |
7 December 1995 |
First mission into the atmosphere of a gas giant (Jupiter) |
USA (NASA) |
Galileo's atmospheric entry probe |
12 February 1997 |
First orbital radio observatory |
Japan (ISAS) |
HALCA |
4 July 1997 |
First operational rover on another planet (Mars) |
USA (NASA) |
Mars Pathfinder |
20 November 1998 |
First multinational space station, Largest man-made object built in space to date |
Russia(FKA) USA (NASA) Europe (ESA) Japan (JAXA) Canada (CSA) |
International Space Station |
14 February 2000 |
First orbiting of an asteroid (433 Eros) |
USA (NASA) ESA |
NEAR Shoemaker |
12 February 2001 |
First landing on an asteroid (433 Eros) |
USA (NASA) |
NEAR Shoemaker |
1 July 2004 |
First orbit of Saturn |
USA (NASA) ESA Italy (ASI) |
Cassini–Huygens |
19 November 2005 |
First asteroid ascent (25143 Itokawa). First interplanetary escape without undercarriage cut-off. |
Japan (JAXA) |
Hayabusa |
15 January 2006 |
First sample return from comet (81P/Wild) |
USA (NASA) |
Stardust |
6 March 2009 |
Kepler Mission is launched, first space telescope designated to search for Earth-like exoplanets |
USA (NASA) |
Kepler Mission |
13 June 2010 |
First sample return from asteroid (25143 Itokawa) |
Japan (JAXA) |
Hayabusa |
18 March 2011 |
First orbit of Mercury |
USA (NASA) |
MESSENGER |
25 August 2012 |
First manmade probe in interstellar space. |
USA (NASA) |
Voyager 1 |
12 November 2014 |
First man-made probe to make a planned and soft landing on a comet (67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko). |
ESA |
Rosetta |