TIME LINE

Date
Country
Event
History
1957-10-04
- USSR Sputnik 1
- First Satellite Sputnik 1 launched successfully and became worlds first man made orbiting satellite.
1957-11-04
- USSR Sputnik 2
- First animals in space Sputnik 2 with first animals in space a dog named Laika. No facilities were included to return the satellite back to Earth and the animal perished of heat and stress.
Later in August-1960, the next attempt at a live cargo was launched. Sputnik 5 returned its cargo of animals back to Earth alive. Unfortunately Sputnik 6 had problems and the animals of that flight were lost.
1958-01-31
- USA Explorer 1
- First American Satellite Explorer 1 launched 31st January was the first American satellite to be put into orbit. It contained a geiger counter.
1958-05-15
- USSR Sputnik 3 Sputnik 3 was launched with a cargo of scientific instrumentation.
1959-09-13
- USSR Luna 2 (Lunnik 2)
- First lunar impact
- First offworld impact Launched 4th January, Luna 1 missed the moon and went into orbit around the sun.
This was followed by the Luna 2 probe which successfully impacted the lunar surface.
1959-10-07
- USSR Luna 3 (Lunnik 3)
- First images of non-facing side of moon Close after the success of Luna 2 came another world first. Three days after its 4th October launch, Luna 3 returned the first images of the unseen side of the moon.
1960-08-12
- USA Echo 1
- First communications satellite Echo 1 was the worlds first communications satellite and was launched in August 1960.
1961-04-12
- USSR Vostok 1
- First man in space
- First manned Earth orbit Yuri Gagarin flight in Vostok 1 orbited the Earth once taking 108 minutes.
1961-05-05
- USA Mercury 3
- First American in space Alan Shepard on board Freedom 7 became the first American in Space. At this stage America lacked the launch vehicle to place a man in orbit.
1961-07-21
- USA Mercury 4 Virgil Grissom on board Liberty Bell 7 became the second American in Space. Again this was a suborbital flight.
1961-08-06
to -07
- USSR Vostok 2
- First day in space orbit Gherman Titov became first man to orbit the Earth for a day, staying aloft for 25 hours and orbiting the Earth 17.5 time.
1962-02-20
- USA Mercury 6
- First American to Orbit the Earth John Glenn on board Friendship 7 became the first American to orbit the Earth (actually 3 orbits).
This was the first of four manned Mercury Atlas rockets.
1962-05-24
- USA Mercury 7 Scott Carpenter's orbital flight on board Aurora 7.
1962-08-11
to -15
- USSR Vostok 3 and 4
- First multi-ship space mission Vostok 3 (Nikolayev) and 4 (Popovich) were launched a day apart.
Vostok 4 reported sighting Vostok 3 in orbit at 5km apart and had first space to space radio contact.
1962-10-03
- USA Mercury 8 Walter Schirra orbital flight on board Sigma 7.
1962-12-14
- USA Mariner 2
- First Planetary encounter Launched 27-August-1962 Mariner 2 flew by Venus on 14-December.
1963-05-15
- USA Mercury 9 Gordon Cooper's day long, 22 orbit flight on board Faith 7. This was the last of the Project Mercury flights before NASA concentrated its efforts on the Gemini Program.
1963-06-14
to -19
- USSR Vostok 5 and 6
- Longest solo flight
- First woman in space Vostok 5 and 6 were again multi-flight missions with Valery Bykovsky on board Vostok 5 orbiting for two days before the launch of Valentina Tereshkova on board Vostok 6. Bykovsky took the new record for the longest solo space flight (82 Earth orbits) whilst Tereshkova (48 orbits) was the first woman in space.
1964-10-12
to -13
- USSR Voskhod 1
- First multi-manned space craft Voskhod 1 took three cosmonauts into space - Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov, Boris Yegorov.
1965-03-18
to -19
- USSR Voskhod 2
- First Space walk (EVA) Voskhod 2 took two cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev into space.
Leonov became the first man to perform a space walk (EVA)
1965-03-23
- USA Gemini 3 Grissom and Young's Gemini Titan 3 mission was the first American multi-manned space mission.
1965-06-03
- USA Gemini 4
- First American space walk During Mc Divitt and White's GT-4 mission, Edward White achieved the first American space walk.
1965-07-14
- USA Mariner 4 Launched 28-November-1964, Mariner 4 flew by Mars on 14-July-1965.
1965-08-21
to -29
- USA Gemini 5 Conrad and Cooper's Gemini Titan mission. The eight day mission duration would be that of a moon voyage.
1965-12-04
to -18
- USA Gemini 7 Borman and Lovell's 14 day endurance flight which included a rendezvous with GT-6.
1965-12-15
to -16
- USA Gemini 6 Schirra and Stafford's Gemini mission, GT-6.
1966-02-03
- USSR Luna 9 (Lunnik 9)
- First offworld soft landing Launched 31-January, Luna 9 performed the first successful soft landing on another world.
Once landed, Luna 9 proceeded to fax back images of the lunar surface. This was the first transmisson from another world.
1966-03-16
to -17
- USA Gemini 8
- First space docking to unmanned craft Armstrong and Scott's GT-8 mission featured the first docking with the unmanned Agena and an emergency landing after a problem with the docking.
1966-04-03
- USSR Luna 10 (Lunnik 10)
- First Lunar orbit launched 31-March, Luna 10 was the first lunar orbiter on the 3-April and remaining in contact until 30-May.
1966-06-03
to -06
- USA Gemini 9 Stafford and Cernan's GT-9 mission featured a docking and an EVA.
1966-07-18
to -21
- USA Gemini 10 Young and Collin's Gemini mission featured a double rendezvous and EVA.
1966-09-12
to -15
- USA Gemini 11 Conrad and Gordon's Gemini mission.
1966-11-11
to -15
- USA Gemini 12 Lovell and Aldrin had the last of the two manned Gemini missions before NASA started its manned Apollo program.
1967-01-27
- USA Apollo disaster Grissom, Chaffee and White died when oxygen ignited in the crew capsule during a training exercise. The Apollo 1 flight was due to launch 21-February and the disaster set the Apollo program back nearly two years.
1967-04-23
to -24
- USSR Soyuz 1 disaster
- First spaceflight casualty Troubled flight in the new class of space ship with many malfunctions.
Soyuz 1 was brought down early and parachute failed killing the pilot Vladimir Komarov.
1968-09-15
to -21
- USSR Zond 5
- First lunar orbit returning to Earth Zond 5 was the first unmanned lunar orbiter to return to Earth. It carried a cargo of animals which were returned safely to Earth on 21-September after orbiting the Moon.
1968-10-11
to -22
- USA Apollo 7 Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham's Apollo mission using a Saturn 1B launch vehicle.
1968-10-28
to -30
- USSR Soyuz 3 Georgi Beregovoi piloted Soyuz 3 on the first successful manned Soyuz flight although he failed to complete the mission objectives of docking to another craft in space.
1968-12-21
to -27
- USA Apollo 8
- First manned Lunar orbit This was the first of the Saturn V launches and took Borman, Lovell and Anders on the first manned flight to orbit the moon.
1969-01-14
to -16
- USSR Soyuz 4 and 5 On the 16-January Soyuz 4 and 5 made the first manned docking and exchange of crew in space. This was the original mission objective for both Soyuz 1 and later Soyuz 3 missions.
1969-03-03
to -13
- USA Apollo 9 This mission tested the docking and crew transfer to a lunar lander 'the spider' remaining in Earth's orbit.
1969-05-18
to -26
- USA Apollo 10 Stafford, Young and Cerman's Apollo 10 mission took the lunar lander and orbited it around the moon.
1969-07-16
to -24
- USA Apollo 11
- First man on the moon Armstrong, Aldren and Collins' historic flight resulting in the 20-July moon landing.
1969-10-11
to -16
- USSR Soyuz 6, 7 and 8 This mission replicated the mission objectives of the earlier Soyuz missions of docking in space and crew transfers, this time with three craft.
1969-11-14
to -24
- USA Apollo 12 Conrad, Gordon and Bean's Apollo 12 lunar mission.
1970-04-11
to -17
- USA Apollo 13
- Aborted mission and recovery Lovell, Haise and Swighert survived a on flight disaster requiring a lunar orbit to return back to Earth.
1970-06-01
to -19
- USSR Soyuz 9 This mission was the prelude to the Salyut space stations, testing human endurance in space.
1970-09-24
- USSR Luna 16 (Lunnik 16)
- First unmanned probe to return soil samples Launched on the 12-September, this mission resulted 12 days later in the first soil samples returned from another world using an unmanned probe.
1970-11-17
- USSR Lunokhod
First offworld rover Luna 17 landed and deployed Lunokhod 1, the first Lunar rover. Lunokhod 1 remained operational for 322 days.
1970-12-15
- USSR Venera 7 Landing
- First softlanding on another planet Launched 17-August, Venera 7 survived the atmosphere landing on the surface of Venus on 15-December where it attempted to transmit data. This was the first transmission of data from another planet.
1971-01-31
to 1971-02-09
- USA Apollo 14 Shepard, Roosa and Mitchell's Apollo Lunar mission.
1971-04-23
to 1971-10-11
- USSR Salyut 1 Launch
- First space station The first attempt to dock with Salyut 1 using Soyuz 10 was then attempted but aborted due to the hatch jamming.
1971-06-06
to -30
- USSR Soyuz 11 Disaster After a successful mission on board Salyut 1, the crew of Soyuz 11 were claimed by an air leak some time after undocking.
1971-07-26
to 1971-08-07
- USA Apollo 15
- Manned Lunar rover Scott, Irwin and Worden's Apollo mission featured the use of a Lunar rover to transport the crew around the lunar surface increasing their range.
1971-11-13
- USA Mariner 9
- First planetary orbiter Launched 30-May, Mariner 9 reached Mars' orbit on 13-November-1971
1971-11-27
- USSR Mars 2
- First impact on Mars The Mars 2 probe crashed on 27-November unintentionally becoming the first to impact the planet. Launched on the 19-May, the orbiters mission was completed in August-1972.
1971-12-02
- USSR Mars 3
- First Mars soft landing Launched 29-May, Mars 3 on 2-December became the first craft to land a probe on Mars. The Mars 3 lander transmitted data for 2 minutes before communications were lost. The Mars 3 orbiter remained in orbit around Mars until the 22-August-1972.
1972-04-16
to -27
- USA Apollo 16 Young, Mattingly and Duke's Apollo Lunar mission.
1972-12-07
to -19
- USA Apollo 17
- Last man on the moon Cernan, Evans and Schmitt's mission was the sixth and last manned mission to land on the moon.
1973-01-15
- USSR Lunokhod 2
Lunar lander Luna 21 landed Lunokhod 2 on the moon where it remained in service for about four months.
1973-04-04
to 1973-05-28
- USSR Salyut 2 launch Salyut 2 space station never hosted a crew due to a malfunction after the launch. The station failed to deploy, lost pressure and was brought down 28th May.
1973-05-14
- USA Skylab Launch This was the launch of the American unmanned Skylab space station.
1973-05-25
to 1973-06-22
- USA Skylab first crew The first Skylab crew Conrad, Kerwin and Weitz had to repair the space station after it incurred damage after launch. This being successfully done they remained until 22-June.
1973-07-28
to 1973-09-25
- USA Skylab second crew The second Skylab crew Bean, Garriott and Lousma stayed until 25-September.
1973-11-16
to 1974-02-08
- USA Skylab third crew The longest of the three manned Skylab missions was crewed by Carr, Gibson and Pogue.
1973-12-3
- USA Pioneer 10
Jupiter, Saturn fly by Launched 3-March-1972, Pioneer 10 reached Jupiter 3-December-1973.
1974-03-29
to 1975-03-16
- USA Mariner 10
Mercury fly by Launched 3-November-1973, Mariner 10 flew by Venus on 5-February-1974 taking images and chemical composition of atmosphere before having three flybys of Mercury 29-March, 21-September, 16-March-75.
1974-06-24
to 1975-01-24
- USSR Salyut 3 Launch Salyut 3 was successfully orbited. Salyut 3 was of a military design and was armed with a gun which it tested on a satellite before being deorbited.
1974-12-04
- USA Pioneer 11
Jupiter, Saturn fly by Launched 6-April-1973, Pioneer 11 passed Jupiter 4-December-1974 before reaching Saturn 1-September-1979.
1974-12-27
to 1977-02-02
- USSR Salyut 4 Launch The Salyut 4 space station was of a original non-military design. The space station was operational and hosting a crew (Soyuz 18) whilst the Apollo-Soyuz mission was occurring.
1975-07-15
to -24
- USA/USSR Apollo Soyuz mission
- First joint space docking by superpowers Apollo 18 (Stafford, Slayton and Brand) and Soyuz 19 (Leonov and Kubasov) first US/USSR docking in space.
1975-10-20 and 23
- USSR Venera 9 and 10
- First photos of Venus surface The Venera 9 and 10 landers were the first to return images from the planet Venus. Launched 8th and 14-June-1975 the orbiters arrived at their destination in October and continued operating until December that year condusting various mesurements on the atmosphere and relaying data from the landers.
1976-06-22
to 1977-08-08
- USSR Salyut 5 Launch Like Salyuts 2 and 3, this was of the military design and was the last of its kind.
1976-07-20
- USA Viking mission to Mars Mars Lander, Orbiter Viking 1 was launched 20-August-1975 (9-September-1975 for Viking 2), the Viking landers touched down 20-July-1976 and 9-September for Viking 1 and 2 respectively, relaying data back via the orbiters to Earth.
1977-09-29
to 1982-07-29
- USSR Salyut 6 Launch Salyut 6 was of a much improved design featuring docking ports an both ends to increase the duration of space missions.
1979-03-05
and 1980-11-12
- USA Voyager 1
Jupiter, Saturn fly by Launched 5-September-1977 Voyager 1 visited Jupiter 5-March-1979 and Saturn 12-November-1980
The objectives of both Voyager missions was to fly by the large outer gas giants taking images and measuring the chemical composition of atmosphere.
1979-07-09
to 1989-08-25
- USA Voyager 2
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune fly by Launched 20-August-1977, Voyager 2 visited Jupiter 9-July-1979, Saturn 26-August-1981, Uranus 24-January-1986 and Neptune 25-August-1989.
1981-04-12
- USA Space Shuttle Columbia Launch
- First reusable space vehicle This two day maiden voyage was the first of four manned test flights for the space shuttle program.
1982-04-19
to 1991-02-07
- USSR Salyut 7 Launch Salyut 7 was the backup station to Salyut 6 and remained in orbit for eight years before being deorbited in February-1991.
1983-04-04
- USA Space Shuttle Challenger Launch STS-6 was the maiden flight of the space shuttle Challenger.
1984-08-30
- USA Space Shuttle Discovery Launch STS-41D was the maiden flight of the space shuttle Discovery.
1985-10-03
- USA Space Shuttle Atlantis Launch STS-51J was the maiden flight of the space shuttle Atlantis.
1986-01-28
- USA Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster STS-51L was the ill-fated flight for the space shuttle Challenger, exploding after launch.
1986-02-20
to 2001-03-23
- USSR Mir Space Station Launch The Mir space station was operational from February-1986 until its deorbit in March-2001. From 1989 it was crewed continuously for ten years.
1986-05-11
- International Halleys Comet Halleys comet passed closest to the Earth 11-April-1986. At various points in its journey near to the Earth Halley's comet was visited by five different space probes from around the world.
1988-11-15
- USSR Soviet Space shuttle Buran Launch The Buran only had one flight before the collapse of the Soviet Union and being grounded for financial reasons. The Buran was destroyed in a hanger fire where it was housed.
1989-05-04
- USA Magellan mission launched
Venus orbiter Launched from shuttle mission STS-30, Magellan reached Venus' orbit 10-August-1990. The mission was ended 1994.
1989-10-18
- USA Galileo mission launched
Jupiter orbiter Launched from shuttle mission STS-34, Galileo reached Jupiter's orbit in December 1995, deploying a probe to test Jupiter's atmosphere.
1990-04-24
- USA Hubble telescope launched The Hubble space telescope was launched on the shuttle mission STS-31.
1990-10-6
- USA Ulysses mission launched Ulysses was launched on the shuttle mission STS-41 with a mission to study the Sun's poles. The mission is likely to end in 2009.
1992-05-07
- USA Space Shuttle Endevour Launch STS-49 was the maiden flight of the space shuttle Endevour.
1995-06-04
- USA/RUS STS-71 Shuttle Atlantis / Mir Docking STS-71 was the first docking of the US space shuttle to the Russian Mir space station. This was the first docking since the Apollo Soyuz mission 20 years earlier and was the start of many such joint missions which eventually lead to the International Space Station.
1997-07-4
to 1997-09-27
- USA Mars Pathfinder launched Launched 4-December-1996 Mars pathfinder robotic explorer landed on the 4-July-1997. Unfortunately contact was lost after just two months.
1998-11-20 International Space Station started Work started on contructing the International Space Station in 1998 as a joint venture involving many nations. Work is scheduled to be complete in 2011.
1999-02-07
to 2006-01-15
- USA Stardust mission launched Its mission was to obtain samples from the tail of comet Wind-2 which it returned to Earth in 15-January-2006.
2001-05-07
- USA Mars Odyssey launched
Mars Orbiter Mars Odyssey reached Mars' orbit 23-October-2001 with the mission of locating evidence of water and volcanic activity.
2003-02-01
- USA Space Shuttle Columbia disaster After a successful 16 day mission (STS-107) the Space shuttle Columbia broke up on reentry.
2003-10-15
- China Shenzhou 5 launched
- China's first manned space flight Shenzhou 5 was crewed by one astronaut Yang Liwei who orbited the Earth for 21 hours (14 orbits).
2004-01-04
- USA Mars Rovers
Mars Landers After their July-2003 launched the two robotic rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars January 4th and 25th respectively and are both still operational, sending back data.
2004-03-02
- ESA Rosetta Launched Rosetta is the ESA's unmanned probe designed to study some astroids and finally, in November-2014, a comet. The mission will include launching a lander and escorting the comet around the sun.
2004-07-01
- USA Cassini-Huygens launched
- First Saturn orbiter Launched on 15-October-1997, finally in July-2004 Cassini became the first man made Saturn orbiter. It featured the Huygens probe which landed on Titan 14-January-2005.
2004-08-03
- USA Messenger
Mercury fly-by In the first Mercury mission since Mariner-10 some 30 years earlier, Messenger performed a total of three fly-bys of Mercury on 14-January-2008, 3-July-2008 and 29-September-2009.
2005-10-12
to -17
- China Shenzhou 6 launched China's second manned space flight saw a crew of two orbited the Earth for 5 days.
2006-01-19
- USA New Horizons Launched Sent to study Pluto the New Horizons mission is the fastest space probe launched to date and is due to arrive at Pluto sometime in 2015.
2007-09-14
- Japan SELENE Launched SELENE (Kaguya) was Japan's second unmanned lunar orbiter. It remained in orbit until 10-June-2009 when as its final act it impacted the moon.
2007-10-24
- China Chang'e-1 Launched
- China's first lunar orbiter Chang'e-1 is China's first unmanned lunar orbiter. Its mission is to map the lunar surface.
2008-09-25
to -28
- China Shenzhou 7 launched
- China's first space walk This is China's third manned mission and featured a crew of three orbiting Earth. Of which Zhai Zhigang performed China's first space walk (EVA).
2008-10-22
- India Chandrayaan-1 Launched
- India's first lunar Orbiter/Impactor Chandrayaan-1 is India's first unmanned lunar orbiter and included an impact probe. It achieved Lunar orbit 8-November and remained in orbit for 312 days before the mission was called short. On the 14-November an impact probe was released making India the fourth country to impact the moon. Communication was lost on 29-August-2009 and the mission was declared to be at an end.
2009-06-18
- USA LCROSS and LRO Launched Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) are two unmanned lunar orbiters launched from the same rocket. On 9-October-2009 LCROSS impacted to moon in an attempt to throw up debries in an attempt to find water. After analysis this was confirmed by NASA 13-November. LRO is currently making detailed 3D maps of the lunar surface.

Date Country	Event	History
1957-10-04 - USSR	Sputnik 1 - First Satellite	Sputnik 1 launched successfully and became worlds first man made orbiting satellite.
1957-11-04 - USSR	Sputnik 2 - First animals in space	Sputnik 2 with first animals in space a dog named Laika. No facilities were included to return the satellite back to Earth and the animal perished of heat and stress. Later in August-1960, the next attempt at a live cargo was launched. Sputnik 5 returned its cargo of animals back to Earth alive. Unfortunately Sputnik 6 had problems and the animals of that flight were lost.
1958-01-31 - USA	Explorer 1 - First American Satellite	Explorer 1 launched 31st January was the first American satellite to be put into orbit. It contained a geiger counter.
1958-05-15 - USSR	Sputnik 3	Sputnik 3 was launched with a cargo of scientific instrumentation.
1959-09-13 - USSR	Luna 2 (Lunnik 2) - First lunar impact - First offworld impact	Launched 4th January, Luna 1 missed the moon and went into orbit around the sun. This was followed by the Luna 2 probe which successfully impacted the lunar surface.
1959-10-07 - USSR	Luna 3 (Lunnik 3) - First images of non-facing side of moon	Close after the success of Luna 2 came another world first. Three days after its 4th October launch, Luna 3 returned the first images of the unseen side of the moon.
1960-08-12 - USA	Echo 1 - First communications satellite	Echo 1 was the worlds first communications satellite and was launched in August 1960.
1961-04-12 - USSR	Vostok 1 - First man in space - First manned Earth orbit	Yuri Gagarin flight in Vostok 1 orbited the Earth once taking 108 minutes.
1961-05-05 - USA	Mercury 3 - First American in space	Alan Shepard on board Freedom 7 became the first American in Space. At this stage America lacked the launch vehicle to place a man in orbit.
1961-07-21 - USA	Mercury 4	Virgil Grissom on board Liberty Bell 7 became the second American in Space. Again this was a suborbital flight.
1961-08-06 to -07 - USSR	Vostok 2 - First day in space orbit	Gherman Titov became first man to orbit the Earth for a day, staying aloft for 25 hours and orbiting the Earth 17.5 time.
1962-02-20 - USA	Mercury 6 - First American to Orbit the Earth	John Glenn on board Friendship 7 became the first American to orbit the Earth (actually 3 orbits). This was the first of four manned Mercury Atlas rockets.
1962-05-24 - USA	Mercury 7	Scott Carpenter's orbital flight on board Aurora 7.
1962-08-11 to -15 - USSR	Vostok 3 and 4 - First multi-ship space mission	Vostok 3 (Nikolayev) and 4 (Popovich) were launched a day apart. Vostok 4 reported sighting Vostok 3 in orbit at 5km apart and had first space to space radio contact.
1962-10-03 - USA	Mercury 8	Walter Schirra orbital flight on board Sigma 7.
1962-12-14 - USA	Mariner 2 - First Planetary encounter	Launched 27-August-1962 Mariner 2 flew by Venus on 14-December.
1963-05-15 - USA	Mercury 9	Gordon Cooper's day long, 22 orbit flight on board Faith 7. This was the last of the Project Mercury flights before NASA concentrated its efforts on the Gemini Program.
1963-06-14 to -19 - USSR	Vostok 5 and 6 - Longest solo flight - First woman in space	Vostok 5 and 6 were again multi-flight missions with Valery Bykovsky on board Vostok 5 orbiting for two days before the launch of Valentina Tereshkova on board Vostok 6. Bykovsky took the new record for the longest solo space flight (82 Earth orbits) whilst Tereshkova (48 orbits) was the first woman in space.
1964-10-12 to -13 - USSR	Voskhod 1 - First multi-manned space craft	Voskhod 1 took three cosmonauts into space - Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov, Boris Yegorov.
1965-03-18 to -19 - USSR	Voskhod 2 - First Space walk (EVA)	Voskhod 2 took two cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev into space. Leonov became the first man to perform a space walk (EVA)
1965-03-23 - USA	Gemini 3	Grissom and Young's Gemini Titan 3 mission was the first American multi-manned space mission.
1965-06-03 - USA	Gemini 4 - First American space walk	During Mc Divitt and White's GT-4 mission, Edward White achieved the first American space walk.
1965-07-14 - USA	Mariner 4	Launched 28-November-1964, Mariner 4 flew by Mars on 14-July-1965.
1965-08-21 to -29 - USA	Gemini 5	Conrad and Cooper's Gemini Titan mission. The eight day mission duration would be that of a moon voyage.
1965-12-04 to -18 - USA	Gemini 7	Borman and Lovell's 14 day endurance flight which included a rendezvous with GT-6.
1965-12-15 to -16 - USA	Gemini 6	Schirra and Stafford's Gemini mission, GT-6.
1966-02-03 - USSR	Luna 9 (Lunnik 9) - First offworld soft landing	Launched 31-January, Luna 9 performed the first successful soft landing on another world. Once landed, Luna 9 proceeded to fax back images of the lunar surface. This was the first transmisson from another world.
1966-03-16 to -17 - USA	Gemini 8 - First space docking to unmanned craft	Armstrong and Scott's GT-8 mission featured the first docking with the unmanned Agena and an emergency landing after a problem with the docking.
1966-04-03 - USSR	Luna 10 (Lunnik 10) - First Lunar orbit	launched 31-March, Luna 10 was the first lunar orbiter on the 3-April and remaining in contact until 30-May.
1966-06-03 to -06 - USA	Gemini 9	Stafford and Cernan's GT-9 mission featured a docking and an EVA.
1966-07-18 to -21 - USA	Gemini 10	Young and Collin's Gemini mission featured a double rendezvous and EVA.
1966-09-12 to -15 - USA	Gemini 11	Conrad and Gordon's Gemini mission.
1966-11-11 to -15 - USA	Gemini 12	Lovell and Aldrin had the last of the two manned Gemini missions before NASA started its manned Apollo program.
1967-01-27 - USA	Apollo disaster	Grissom, Chaffee and White died when oxygen ignited in the crew capsule during a training exercise. The Apollo 1 flight was due to launch 21-February and the disaster set the Apollo program back nearly two years.
1967-04-23 to -24 - USSR	Soyuz 1 disaster - First spaceflight casualty	Troubled flight in the new class of space ship with many malfunctions. Soyuz 1 was brought down early and parachute failed killing the pilot Vladimir Komarov.
1968-09-15 to -21 - USSR	Zond 5 - First lunar orbit returning to Earth	Zond 5 was the first unmanned lunar orbiter to return to Earth. It carried a cargo of animals which were returned safely to Earth on 21-September after orbiting the Moon.
1968-10-11 to -22 - USA	Apollo 7	Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham's Apollo mission using a Saturn 1B launch vehicle.
1968-10-28 to -30 - USSR	Soyuz 3	Georgi Beregovoi piloted Soyuz 3 on the first successful manned Soyuz flight although he failed to complete the mission objectives of docking to another craft in space.
1968-12-21 to -27 - USA	Apollo 8 - First manned Lunar orbit	This was the first of the Saturn V launches and took Borman, Lovell and Anders on the first manned flight to orbit the moon.
1969-01-14 to -16 - USSR	Soyuz 4 and 5	On the 16-January Soyuz 4 and 5 made the first manned docking and exchange of crew in space. This was the original mission objective for both Soyuz 1 and later Soyuz 3 missions.
1969-03-03 to -13 - USA	Apollo 9	This mission tested the docking and crew transfer to a lunar lander 'the spider' remaining in Earth's orbit.
1969-05-18 to -26 - USA	Apollo 10	Stafford, Young and Cerman's Apollo 10 mission took the lunar lander and orbited it around the moon.
1969-07-16 to -24 - USA	Apollo 11 - First man on the moon	Armstrong, Aldren and Collins' historic flight resulting in the 20-July moon landing.
1969-10-11 to -16 - USSR	Soyuz 6, 7 and 8	This mission replicated the mission objectives of the earlier Soyuz missions of docking in space and crew transfers, this time with three craft.
1969-11-14 to -24 - USA	Apollo 12	Conrad, Gordon and Bean's Apollo 12 lunar mission.
1970-04-11 to -17 - USA	Apollo 13 - Aborted mission and recovery	Lovell, Haise and Swighert survived a on flight disaster requiring a lunar orbit to return back to Earth.
1970-06-01 to -19 - USSR	Soyuz 9	This mission was the prelude to the Salyut space stations, testing human endurance in space.
1970-09-24 - USSR	Luna 16 (Lunnik 16) - First unmanned probe to return soil samples	Launched on the 12-September, this mission resulted 12 days later in the first soil samples returned from another world using an unmanned probe.
1970-11-17 - USSR	Lunokhod First offworld rover	Luna 17 landed and deployed Lunokhod 1, the first Lunar rover. Lunokhod 1 remained operational for 322 days.
1970-12-15 - USSR	Venera 7 Landing - First softlanding on another planet	Launched 17-August, Venera 7 survived the atmosphere landing on the surface of Venus on 15-December where it attempted to transmit data. This was the first transmission of data from another planet.
1971-01-31 to 1971-02-09 - USA	Apollo 14	Shepard, Roosa and Mitchell's Apollo Lunar mission.
1971-04-23 to 1971-10-11 - USSR	Salyut 1 Launch - First space station	The first attempt to dock with Salyut 1 using Soyuz 10 was then attempted but aborted due to the hatch jamming.
1971-06-06 to -30 - USSR	Soyuz 11 Disaster	After a successful mission on board Salyut 1, the crew of Soyuz 11 were claimed by an air leak some time after undocking.
1971-07-26 to 1971-08-07 - USA	Apollo 15 - Manned Lunar rover	Scott, Irwin and Worden's Apollo mission featured the use of a Lunar rover to transport the crew around the lunar surface increasing their range.
1971-11-13 - USA	Mariner 9 - First planetary orbiter	Launched 30-May, Mariner 9 reached Mars' orbit on 13-November-1971
1971-11-27 - USSR	Mars 2 - First impact on Mars	The Mars 2 probe crashed on 27-November unintentionally becoming the first to impact the planet. Launched on the 19-May, the orbiters mission was completed in August-1972.
1971-12-02 - USSR	Mars 3 - First Mars soft landing	Launched 29-May, Mars 3 on 2-December became the first craft to land a probe on Mars. The Mars 3 lander transmitted data for 2 minutes before communications were lost. The Mars 3 orbiter remained in orbit around Mars until the 22-August-1972.
1972-04-16 to -27 - USA	Apollo 16	Young, Mattingly and Duke's Apollo Lunar mission.
1972-12-07 to -19 - USA	Apollo 17 - Last man on the moon	Cernan, Evans and Schmitt's mission was the sixth and last manned mission to land on the moon.
1973-01-15 - USSR	Lunokhod 2 Lunar lander	Luna 21 landed Lunokhod 2 on the moon where it remained in service for about four months.
1973-04-04 to 1973-05-28 - USSR	Salyut 2 launch	Salyut 2 space station never hosted a crew due to a malfunction after the launch. The station failed to deploy, lost pressure and was brought down 28th May.
1973-05-14 - USA	Skylab Launch	This was the launch of the American unmanned Skylab space station.
1973-05-25 to 1973-06-22 - USA	Skylab first crew	The first Skylab crew Conrad, Kerwin and Weitz had to repair the space station after it incurred damage after launch. This being successfully done they remained until 22-June.
1973-07-28 to 1973-09-25 - USA	Skylab second crew	The second Skylab crew Bean, Garriott and Lousma stayed until 25-September.
1973-11-16 to 1974-02-08 - USA	Skylab third crew	The longest of the three manned Skylab missions was crewed by Carr, Gibson and Pogue.
1973-12-3 - USA	Pioneer 10 Jupiter, Saturn fly by	Launched 3-March-1972, Pioneer 10 reached Jupiter 3-December-1973.
1974-03-29 to 1975-03-16 - USA	Mariner 10 Mercury fly by	Launched 3-November-1973, Mariner 10 flew by Venus on 5-February-1974 taking images and chemical composition of atmosphere before having three flybys of Mercury 29-March, 21-September, 16-March-75.
1974-06-24 to 1975-01-24 - USSR	Salyut 3 Launch	Salyut 3 was successfully orbited. Salyut 3 was of a military design and was armed with a gun which it tested on a satellite before being deorbited.
1974-12-04 - USA	Pioneer 11 Jupiter, Saturn fly by	Launched 6-April-1973, Pioneer 11 passed Jupiter 4-December-1974 before reaching Saturn 1-September-1979.
1974-12-27 to 1977-02-02 - USSR	Salyut 4 Launch	The Salyut 4 space station was of a original non-military design. The space station was operational and hosting a crew (Soyuz 18) whilst the Apollo-Soyuz mission was occurring.
1975-07-15 to -24 - USA/USSR	Apollo Soyuz mission - First joint space docking by superpowers	Apollo 18 (Stafford, Slayton and Brand) and Soyuz 19 (Leonov and Kubasov) first US/USSR docking in space.
1975-10-20 and 23 - USSR	Venera 9 and 10 - First photos of Venus surface	The Venera 9 and 10 landers were the first to return images from the planet Venus. Launched 8th and 14-June-1975 the orbiters arrived at their destination in October and continued operating until December that year condusting various mesurements on the atmosphere and relaying data from the landers.
1976-06-22 to 1977-08-08 - USSR	Salyut 5 Launch	Like Salyuts 2 and 3, this was of the military design and was the last of its kind.
1976-07-20 - USA	Viking mission to Mars Mars Lander, Orbiter	Viking 1 was launched 20-August-1975 (9-September-1975 for Viking 2), the Viking landers touched down 20-July-1976 and 9-September for Viking 1 and 2 respectively, relaying data back via the orbiters to Earth.
1977-09-29 to 1982-07-29 - USSR	Salyut 6 Launch	Salyut 6 was of a much improved design featuring docking ports an both ends to increase the duration of space missions.
1979-03-05 and 1980-11-12 - USA	Voyager 1 Jupiter, Saturn fly by	Launched 5-September-1977 Voyager 1 visited Jupiter 5-March-1979 and Saturn 12-November-1980 The objectives of both Voyager missions was to fly by the large outer gas giants taking images and measuring the chemical composition of atmosphere.
1979-07-09 to 1989-08-25 - USA	Voyager 2 Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune fly by	Launched 20-August-1977, Voyager 2 visited Jupiter 9-July-1979, Saturn 26-August-1981, Uranus 24-January-1986 and Neptune 25-August-1989.
1981-04-12 - USA	Space Shuttle Columbia Launch - First reusable space vehicle	This two day maiden voyage was the first of four manned test flights for the space shuttle program.
1982-04-19 to 1991-02-07 - USSR	Salyut 7 Launch	Salyut 7 was the backup station to Salyut 6 and remained in orbit for eight years before being deorbited in February-1991.
1983-04-04 - USA	Space Shuttle Challenger Launch	STS-6 was the maiden flight of the space shuttle Challenger.
1984-08-30 - USA	Space Shuttle Discovery Launch	STS-41D was the maiden flight of the space shuttle Discovery.
1985-10-03 - USA	Space Shuttle Atlantis Launch	STS-51J was the maiden flight of the space shuttle Atlantis.
1986-01-28 - USA	Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster	STS-51L was the ill-fated flight for the space shuttle Challenger, exploding after launch.
1986-02-20 to 2001-03-23 - USSR	Mir Space Station Launch	The Mir space station was operational from February-1986 until its deorbit in March-2001. From 1989 it was crewed continuously for ten years.
1986-05-11 - International	Halleys Comet	Halleys comet passed closest to the Earth 11-April-1986. At various points in its journey near to the Earth Halley's comet was visited by five different space probes from around the world.
1988-11-15 - USSR	Soviet Space shuttle Buran Launch	The Buran only had one flight before the collapse of the Soviet Union and being grounded for financial reasons. The Buran was destroyed in a hanger fire where it was housed.
1989-05-04 - USA	Magellan mission launched Venus orbiter	Launched from shuttle mission STS-30, Magellan reached Venus' orbit 10-August-1990. The mission was ended 1994.
1989-10-18 - USA	Galileo mission launched Jupiter orbiter	Launched from shuttle mission STS-34, Galileo reached Jupiter's orbit in December 1995, deploying a probe to test Jupiter's atmosphere.
1990-04-24 - USA	Hubble telescope launched	The Hubble space telescope was launched on the shuttle mission STS-31.
1990-10-6 - USA	Ulysses mission launched	Ulysses was launched on the shuttle mission STS-41 with a mission to study the Sun's poles. The mission is likely to end in 2009.
1992-05-07 - USA	Space Shuttle Endevour Launch	STS-49 was the maiden flight of the space shuttle Endevour.
1995-06-04 - USA/RUS	STS-71 Shuttle Atlantis / Mir Docking	STS-71 was the first docking of the US space shuttle to the Russian Mir space station. This was the first docking since the Apollo Soyuz mission 20 years earlier and was the start of many such joint missions which eventually lead to the International Space Station.
1997-07-4 to 1997-09-27 - USA	Mars Pathfinder launched	Launched 4-December-1996 Mars pathfinder robotic explorer landed on the 4-July-1997. Unfortunately contact was lost after just two months.
1998-11-20	International Space Station started	Work started on contructing the International Space Station in 1998 as a joint venture involving many nations. Work is scheduled to be complete in 2011.
1999-02-07 to 2006-01-15 - USA	Stardust mission launched	Its mission was to obtain samples from the tail of comet Wind-2 which it returned to Earth in 15-January-2006.
2001-05-07 - USA	Mars Odyssey launched Mars Orbiter	Mars Odyssey reached Mars' orbit 23-October-2001 with the mission of locating evidence of water and volcanic activity.
2003-02-01 - USA	Space Shuttle Columbia disaster	After a successful 16 day mission (STS-107) the Space shuttle Columbia broke up on reentry.
2003-10-15 - China	Shenzhou 5 launched - China's first manned space flight	Shenzhou 5 was crewed by one astronaut Yang Liwei who orbited the Earth for 21 hours (14 orbits).
2004-01-04 - USA	Mars Rovers Mars Landers	After their July-2003 launched the two robotic rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars January 4th and 25th respectively and are both still operational, sending back data.
2004-03-02 - ESA	Rosetta Launched	Rosetta is the ESA's unmanned probe designed to study some astroids and finally, in November-2014, a comet. The mission will include launching a lander and escorting the comet around the sun.
2004-07-01 - USA	Cassini-Huygens launched - First Saturn orbiter	Launched on 15-October-1997, finally in July-2004 Cassini became the first man made Saturn orbiter. It featured the Huygens probe which landed on Titan 14-January-2005.
2004-08-03 - USA	Messenger Mercury fly-by	In the first Mercury mission since Mariner-10 some 30 years earlier, Messenger performed a total of three fly-bys of Mercury on 14-January-2008, 3-July-2008 and 29-September-2009.
2005-10-12 to -17 - China	Shenzhou 6 launched	China's second manned space flight saw a crew of two orbited the Earth for 5 days.
2006-01-19 - USA	New Horizons Launched	Sent to study Pluto the New Horizons mission is the fastest space probe launched to date and is due to arrive at Pluto sometime in 2015.
2007-09-14 - Japan	SELENE Launched	SELENE (Kaguya) was Japan's second unmanned lunar orbiter. It remained in orbit until 10-June-2009 when as its final act it impacted the moon.
2007-10-24 - China	Chang'e-1 Launched - China's first lunar orbiter	Chang'e-1 is China's first unmanned lunar orbiter. Its mission is to map the lunar surface.
2008-09-25 to -28 - China	Shenzhou 7 launched - China's first space walk	This is China's third manned mission and featured a crew of three orbiting Earth. Of which Zhai Zhigang performed China's first space walk (EVA).
2008-10-22 - India	Chandrayaan-1 Launched - India's first lunar Orbiter/Impactor	Chandrayaan-1 is India's first unmanned lunar orbiter and included an impact probe. It achieved Lunar orbit 8-November and remained in orbit for 312 days before the mission was called short. On the 14-November an impact probe was released making India the fourth country to impact the moon. Communication was lost on 29-August-2009 and the mission was declared to be at an end.
2009-06-18 - USA	LCROSS and LRO Launched	Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) are two unmanned lunar orbiters launched from the same rocket. On 9-October-2009 LCROSS impacted to moon in an attempt to throw up debries in an attempt to find water. After analysis this was confirmed by NASA 13-November. LRO is currently making detailed 3D maps of the lunar surface.

SPACE VEHICLE COMPARISONS

An approximate scale comparison of the major manned space vehicles of the last fifty years
LAUNCH VEHICLES
SPACE ORBITERS

SPACE VEHICLE COMPARISONS An approximate scale comparison of the major manned space vehicles of the last fifty years
LAUNCH VEHICLES	SPACE ORBITERS

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SPACE VEHICLE COMPARISONS

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