Information about Timeline Of Space Exploration

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

Prior to 1942

Date	Event leading to space exploration	Country	Researcher(s)
1903	First serious work published that showed physical Space Exploration was theoretically possible: Исследование мировых пространств реактивными приборами (The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices)	Russia	Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
1914	Goddard receives U.S. patents for multistage and liquid fueled rockets	United States	Robert H. Goddard
1919	Goddard's widely influential paper "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes" discussed solid and liquid fueled rocketry	United States	Robert H. Goddard
December 15, 1923	Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen ("By Rocket into Planetary Space") self-published after its rejection as a doctoral thesis.	Germany	Hermann Oberth
1924	Society for Studies of Interplanetary Travel founded in Soviet Union	Soviet Union	members include Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Friedrich Zander, Yuri Kondratyuk
March 16, 1926	Goddard launches the first liquid fueled rocket	United States	Robert H. Goddard
1927	Verein fuer Raumschiffahrt (Society for Space Travel) formed; it includes many top European rocket scientists.	Germany
1927	"The Conquest of Interplanetary Space" discusses rocket mechanics and orbital effects including the gravitational slingshot	Soviet Union	Yuri Kondratyuk
1928	Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motor (The Problem of Space Travel - The Rocket Motor) discusses space travel and its potential uses for scientific experiments.	Austria	Herman Potočnik
1929	Oberth, with students including Wernher von Braun, launches his first liquid-fueled rocket	Germany	Hermann Oberth
1931	First German military liquid fueled rocket engines developed	Germany	Walter Riedel
1933	Work begins on the Aggregate series of rockets which leads to the V2 rocket.	Germany	Wernher von Braun
November 25, 1933	Russian Group of Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD) launches the first Russian liquid-fueled rocket	Soviet Union	Sergey Korolev (group leader), Friedrich Zander (designer)
1935	Graduate student Frank Malina under his professor Theodore von Kármán begins work on a sounding rocket	United States	Frank Malina

1942-present

Date	Mission Success	Country	Mission Name
1942	First rocket to reach 100km from the Earth's surface (boundary of space)	Germany	V2 rocket, military program
May 10, 1946	First space research flight (cosmic radiation experiments)	United States	captured and improved V2 rocket
May 22, 1946	First U.S.-designed rocket to reach edge of space (80 km (49 mi))	United States	Wac Corporal
October 10, 1946	First pictures of earth from 100 km [1][2]	United States	V2
1947	First animals in space (fruit flies)[3][4]	USA-ABMA	V2
August 21, 1957	First intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)	USSR	R-7 Semyorka/SS-6 Sapwood
October 4, 1957	First artificial satellite First signals from space	USSR	Sputnik 1
November 3, 1957	First animal in orbit, the dog Laika	USSR	Sputnik 2
January 31, 1958	First detection of Van Allen belts	USA-ABMA	Explorer I
March 17, 1958	First solar powered satellite	NRL	Vanguard 1
December 18, 1958	First communications satellite	USA-ABMA	Project SCORE
January 2, 1959	First firing of a rocket in Earth orbit First reaching Earth escape velocity First detection of solar wind	USSR	Luna 1
January 4, 1959	First man-made object in heliocentric orbit	USSR	Luna 1
February 17, 1959	First weather satellite	USA-NASA (NRL)1	Vanguard 2
August 7, 1959	First photograph of Earth from orbit	USA-NASA	Explorer 6
September 13, 1959	First impact into another world (the Moon)	USSR	Luna 2
October 4, 1959	First photos of far side of the Moon	USSR	Luna 3
July 5, 1960	First reconnaissance satellite	USA-NRL	GRAB-1
August 18, 1960	First photo reconnaissance satellite	USA-Air Force	KH-1 9009
1961	First launch from orbit First mid-course corrections First spin-stabilisation	USSR	Venera 1
April 12, 1961	First manned spaceflight (Yuri Gagarin) First manned orbital flight	USSR	Vostok 1
May 5, 1961	Second nation to achieve manned spaceflight	USA-NASA	Mercury-Redstone 3
December 14, 1962	First planetary flyby (Venus closest approach 34,773 kilometers)	USA-NASA	Mariner 2
June 16, 1963	First woman in space (Valentina Tereshkova)	USSR	Vostok 6
July 19, 1963	First reusable manned spacecraft (suborbital)	USA-NASA	X-15 Flight 90
July 26, 1963	First geosynchronous communications satellite	USA-NASA	Syncom 2
October 12, 1964	First multi-man crew (3 members)	USSR	Voskhod 1
March 18, 1965	First extra-vehicular activity	USSR	Voskhod 2
April 6, 1965	First commercial communications satellite	Intelsat	Intelsat 1
July 14, 1965	First Mars flyby (closest approach 9,846 km kilometers)	USA-NASA	Mariner 4
December 15, 1965	First orbital rendezvous (parallel flight, no docking)	USA-NASA	Gemini 6A/Gemini 7
February 3, 1966	First soft landing on another world (the Moon) First photos from another world	USSR	Luna 9
March 1, 1966	First impact into another planet (Venus)	USSR	Venera 3
March 16, 1966	First orbital rendezvous (docking)	USA-NASA	Gemini 8/Agena target vehicle
April 3, 1966	First artificial satellite around another world (the Moon)	USSR	Luna 10
June 2, 1966	First soft landing on the Moon photos from the Moon	USA-NASA	Surveyor 1
April 23, 1967	First spaceflight casualty	USSR	Soyuz 1
October 30, 1967	First unmanned rendezvous with docking	USSR	Cosmos 186/Cosmos 188
December 21, 1968	First human orbiting of another celestial body (Moon)	USA-NASA	Apollo 8
January 16, 1969	First manned docking and exchange of crew	USSR	Soyuz 4/Soyuz 5
July 21, 1969	First human on the Moon and first space launch from a celestial body	USA-NASA	Apollo 11
November 19, 1969	First rendezvous on the surface of a celestial body	USA-NASA	Apollo 12/Surveyor 3
September 24, 1970	First automatic sample return from the Moon	USSR	Luna 16
November 23, 1970	First lunar rover	USSR	Lunokhod 1
December 15, 1970	First soft landing on another planet (Venus) First signals from another planet	USSR	Venera 7
April 23, 1971	First space station	USSR	Salyut 1
November 14 1971	First orbit around another planet (Mars)	USA-NASA	Mariner 9
November 27, 1971	First impact into Mars	USSR	Mars 2
December 2, 1971	First soft Mars landing First signals from Mars surface	USSR	Mars 3
March 3, 1972	First human made object sent on escape trajectory away from the Sun	USA-NASA	Pioneer 10
July 15, 1972	First mission to enter the asteroid belt and leave inner solar system	USA-NASA	Pioneer 10
December 3, 1973	First Jupiter flyby (at 130,000 km)	USA-NASA	Pioneer 10
February 5, 1974	Venus flyby at 5768 kilometers, first gravitational assist manoeuvre	USA-NASA	Mariner 10
March 29, 1974	First Mercury flyby at 703 kilometers	USA-NASA	Mariner 10
July 15, 1975	First multinational manned mission	USSR USA-NASA	Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
October 20, 1975	First orbit around Venus	USSR	Venera 9
October 22, 1975	First photos from the surface of another planet (Venus)	USSR	Venera 9
July 20, 1976	First photos and soil samples from the surface of Mars	USA-NASA	Viking Lander
March 2, 1978	First Non-American and non-Soviet in space (Vladimír Remek)	USSR Czechoslovakia	Soyuz 28
March 5, 1979	Jupiter flyby (closest approach 349,000 km)	USA-NASA	Voyager 1
September 1, 1979,	First Saturn flyby at 21,000 km	USA-NASA	Pioneer 11
November 12, 1980	Saturn flyby (closest approach 124,000 kilometers)	USA-NASA	Voyager 1
April 12, 1981	First Reusable manned spacecraft (orbital)	USA-NASA	Columbia
March 1, 1982	First Venus soil samples & sound recording of another world	USSR	Venera 13
June 13, 1983	First spacecraft beyond the orbit of Neptune (first spacecraft to pass beyond all Solar System planets)	USA-NASA	Pioneer 10
July 25, 1984	First extra-vehicular activity by a woman	USSR	Salyut 7
January 24, 1986	First Uranus flyby (closest approach 81,500 kilometers)	USA-NASA	Voyager 2
August 25, 1989	First Neptune flyby	USA-NASA	Voyager 2
April 24, 1990	First Space Telescope	USA-NASA	Hubble Space Telescope
December 2, 1990	First commercial manned-spaceflight	USSR Japan	Soyuz TM-11
October 21, 1991	First asteroid flyby (951 Gaspra closest approach 1,600 kilometers)	USA-NASA	Galileo
February 8, 1992	First polar orbit around the Sun	Joint NASA/ESA	Ulysses
December 7, 1995	First orbit of Jupiter	USA-NASA	Galileo
December 7, 1995	First mission into the atmosphere of a gas giant (Jupiter)	USA-NASA	Galileo's atmospheric entry probe
July 7, 1998	First submarine-launched spacecraft	Russia	K-407
February 14, 2000	First orbiting of an asteroid (433 Eros)	USA-NASA	NEAR Shoemaker
February 12, 2001	First landing on an asteroid (433 Eros)	USA-NASA	NEAR Shoemaker
April 28, 2001	First space tourist	Russia USA	Soyuz TM-32
October 15, 2003	Third nation to achieve manned spaceflight	China	Shenzhou 5
June 21, 2004	First private human spaceflight / spacecraft (suborbital)	USA-MAV	SpaceShipOne 15P
July 1, 2004	First orbit of Saturn	Joint NASA/ESA/ASI project	Cassini–Huygens
January 14, 2005	First soft landing on Titan	Joint NASA/ESA/ASI project	Cassini–Huygens

¹Project Vanguard was transferred from the NRL to NASA in late 1958.

In addition, virtually all manned duration records have been set by the USSR, due largely to their Salyut/Mir series of space stations.

•  • [ e] Space exploration lists and timelines
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