Timeline of Solar System exploration

This is a timeline of Solar System exploration ordered by date of spacecraft launch. It includes:

• All spacecraft that have left Earth orbit for the purposes of Solar System exploration (or were launched with that intention but failed), including lunar probes.
• A small number of pioneering or notable Earth-orbiting craft.

It does not include:

• The great majority of Earth-orbiting satellites.
• Space probes leaving Earth orbit that are not concerned with Solar System exploration (such as space telescopes targeted at distant galaxies, cosmic background radiation observatories, and so on).
• Probes that failed at launch.

The dates listed are launch dates, but the achievements noted may have occurred some time later—in some cases, a considerable time later (for example, Voyager 2, launched 20 August 1977, did not reach Neptune until 1989).

Missions in italics are unfinished, i.e. have not yet been designated as successes or failures. Some unitalicised missions are nevertheless still operational, some in mission extension phases.

1940s

1944

• MW 18014 – 20 June 1944 – First artificial object to cross the boundary of space

1950s

1957

• Sputnik 1 – 4 October 1957 – First Earth orbiter
• Sputnik 2 – 3 November 1957 – Earth orbiter, first animal in orbit, a dog named Laika

1958

• Explorer 1 – 1 February 1958 – Earth orbiter; first American orbiter, discovered Van Allen radiation belts
• Vanguard 1 – 17 March 1958 – Earth orbiter; oldest spacecraft still in Earth orbit

1959

• Luna 1 – 2 January 1959 – First lunar flyby (attempted lunar impact?)
• Pioneer 4 – 3 March 1959 – Lunar flyby
• Luna 2 – 12 September 1959 – First lunar impact
• Luna 3 – 4 October 1959 – Lunar flyby; First images of far side of Moon

1960s

1960

• Pioneer 5 – 11 March 1960 – Interplanetary space investigations

1961

• Venera 1 – 12 February 1961 – Venus flyby (contact lost before flyby)
• Vostok 1 – 12 April 1961 – First manned Earth orbiter
• Mercury-Redstone 3 – 5 May 1961 – First American in space
• Ranger 1 – 23 August 1961 – Attempted lunar test flight
• Ranger 2 – 18 November 1961 – Attempted lunar test flight

1962

• Ranger 3 – 26 January 1962 – Attempted lunar impact (missed Moon)
• Mercury-Atlas 6 – 20 February 1962 – First American manned Earth orbiter
• Ranger 4 – 23 April 1962 – Lunar impact (but unintentionally hit lunar farside and returned no data)
• Mariner 2 – 27 August 1962 – First successful planetary encounter, First successful Venus flyby
• Ranger 5 – 18 October 1962 – Attempted lunar impact (missed Moon)
• Mars 1 – 1 November 1962 – Mars flyby (contact lost)

1963

• Luna 4 – 2 April 1963 – Attempted lunar lander (missed Moon)
• Cosmos 21 – 11 November 1963 – Attempted Venera test flight?

1964

• Ranger 6 – 30 January 1964 – Lunar impact (cameras failed)
• Zond 1 – 2 April 1964 – Venus flyby (contact lost)
• Ranger 7 – 28 July 1964 – Lunar impact
• Mariner 3 – 5 November 1964 – Attempted Mars flyby (failed to attain correct trajectory)
• Mariner 4 – 28 November 1964 – First Mars flyby
• Zond 2 – 30 November 1964 – Mars flyby (contact lost)

1965

• Ranger 8 – 17 February 1965 – Lunar impact
• Ranger 9 – 21 March 1965 – Lunar impact
• Lincoln Calibration Sphere 1 - 6 May 1965 - Oldest spacecraft still in use
• Luna 5 – 9 May 1965 – Lunar impact (attempted soft landing)
• Luna 6 – 8 June 1965 – Attempted lunar lander (missed Moon)
• Zond 3 – 18 July 1965 – Lunar flyby
• Luna 7 – 4 October 1965 – Lunar impact (attempted soft landing)
• Venera 2 – 12 November 1965 – Venus flyby (contact lost)
• Venera 3 – 16 November 1965 – Venus lander (contact lost) – First spacecraft to reach another planet's surface, First Venus impact
• Luna 8 – 3 December 1965 – Lunar impact (attempted soft landing?)
• Pioneer 6 – 16 December 1965 – "Space weather" observations

1966 AS-201

• Luna 9 – 31 January 1966 – First lunar lander
• AS-201 – 26 February 1966 – Lunar programme test flight
• Luna 10 – 31 March 1966 – First lunar orbiter
• Surveyor 1 – 30 May 1966 – Lunar lander
• Explorer 33 – 1 July 1966 – Attempted lunar orbiter (failed to attain lunar orbit)
• Lunar Orbiter 1 – 10 August 1966 – Lunar orbiter
• Pioneer 7 – 17 August 1966 – "Space weather" observations
• Luna 11 – 24 August 1966 – Lunar orbiter
• Surveyor 2 – 20 September 1966 – Attempted lunar lander (crashed into Moon)
• Luna 12 – 22 October 1966 – Lunar orbiter
• Lunar Orbiter 2 – 6 November 1966 – Lunar orbiter
• Luna 13 – 21 December 1966 – Lunar lander

1967

• Lunar Orbiter 3 – 4 February 1967 – Lunar orbiter
• Surveyor 3 – 17 April 1967 – Lunar lander
• Lunar Orbiter 4 – 8 May 1967 – Lunar orbiter
• Venera 4 – 12 June 1967 – First Venus atmospheric probe
• Mariner 5 – 14 June 1967 – Venus flyby
• Surveyor 4 – 14 July 1967 – Attempted lunar lander (crashed into Moon)
• Explorer 35 (IMP-E) – 19 July 1967 – Lunar orbiter
• Lunar Orbiter 5 – 1 August 1967 – Lunar orbiter
• Surveyor 5 – 8 September 1967 – Lunar lander
• Surveyor 6 – 7 November 1967 – Lunar lander
• Apollo 4 – 9 November 1967 – Lunar programme test flight
• Pioneer 8 – 13 December 1967 – "Space weather" observations

1968

• Surveyor 7 – 7 January 1968 – Lunar lander
• Apollo 5 – 22 January 1968 – Lunar programme test flight
• Zond 4 – 2 March 1968 – Lunar programme test flight
• Luna 14 – 7 April 1968 – Lunar orbiter
• Zond 5 – 15 September 1968 – First lunar flyby and return to Earth
• Apollo 7 – 22 October 1968 – Lunar programme test flight (manned)
• Pioneer 9 – 8 November 1968 – "Space weather" observations
• Zond 6 – 10 November 1968 – Lunar flyby and return to Earth
• Apollo 8 – 21 December 1968 – First manned lunar orbiter

1969

• Venera 5 – 5 January 1969 – Venus atmospheric probe
• Venera 6 – 10 January 1969 – Venus atmospheric probe
• Mariner 6 – 25 February 1969 – Mars flyby
• Apollo 9 – 3 March 1969 – Manned lunar lander (LEM) flight test
• Mariner 7 – 27 March 1969 – Mars flyby
• Apollo 10 – 18 May 1969 – Manned lunar orbiter
• Luna E-8-5 No.402 – 14 June 1969 – Attempted lunar sample return, first attempted sample return mission
• Luna 15 – 13 July 1969 – Second attempted lunar sample return
• Apollo 11 – 16 July 1969 – First manned lunar landing and first successful sample return mission
• Zond 7 – 7 August 1969 – Lunar flyby and return to Earth
• Apollo 12 – 14 November 1969 – Manned lunar landing

1970s

1970

• Apollo 13 – 11 April 1970 – Manned lunar flyby and return to Earth (manned lunar landing aborted) Farthest from Earth a human has gone
• Venera 7 – 17 August 1970 – First Venus lander
• Luna 16 – 12 September 1970 – First robotic lunar sample return
• Zond 8 – 20 October 1970 – Lunar flyby and return to Earth
• Luna 17/Lunokhod 1 – 10 November 1970 – First lunar rover

1971

• Apollo 14 – 31 January 1971 – Manned lunar landing
• Salyut 1 – 19 April 1971 – First space station
• Mariner 9 – 30 May 1971 – First Mars orbiter
• Mars 2 – 19 May 1971 – Mars orbiter and attempted lander; First Mars impact
• Mars 3 – 28 May 1971 – Mars orbiter, First Mars lander (lost contact after 14.5s) and First Mars atmospheric probe
• Apollo 15 – 26 July 1971 – Manned lunar landing; First manned lunar rover
• Luna 18 – 2 September 1971 – Attempted lunar sample return (crashed into Moon)
• Luna 19 – 28 September 1971 – Lunar orbiter

1972

• Luna 20 – 14 February 1972 – Lunar robotic sample return
• Pioneer 10 – 3 March 1972 – First Jupiter flyby
• Venera 8 – 27 March 1972 – Venus lander
• Apollo 16 – 16 April 1972 – Manned lunar landing
• Apollo 17 – 7 December 1972 – Last manned lunar landing

1973

• Luna 21/Lunokhod 2 – 8 January 1973 – Lunar rover
• Pioneer 11 – 5 April 1973 – Jupiter flyby and First Saturn flyby
• Skylab – 14 May 1973 – First American space station
• Explorer 49 (RAE-B) – 10 June 1973 – Lunar orbiter/radio astronomy
• Mars 4 – 21 July 1973 – Mars flyby (attempted Mars orbiter)
• Mars 5 – 25 July 1973 – Mars orbiter
• Mars 6 – 5 August 1973 – Mars orbiter and attempted lander (failed due to damage on Mars landing)
• Mars 7 – 9 August 1973 – Mars flyby and attempted lander (missed Mars)
• Mariner 10 – 4 November 1973 – Venus flyby and First Mercury flyby

1974

• Luna 22 – 2 June 1974 – Lunar orbiter
• Luna 23 – 28 October 1974 – Attempted lunar sample return (failed due to damage on lunar landing)
• Helios-A – 10 December 1974 – Solar observations

1975

• Venera 9 – 8 June 1975 – First Venus orbiter and lander; First images from surface of Venus
• Venera 10 – 14 June 1975 – Venus orbiter and lander
• Viking 1 – 20 August 1975 – Mars orbiter and lander; First lander returning data and First pictures from Martian surface
• Viking 2 – 9 September 1975 – Mars orbiter and lander

1976

• Helios-B – 15 January 1976 – Solar observations, Closest solar approach (0.29 AU)
• Luna 24 – 9 August 1976 – Lunar robotic sample return

1977

• Voyager 2 – 20 August 1977 – Jupiter/Saturn/first Uranus/first Neptune flyby
• Voyager 1 – 5 September 1977 – Jupiter/Saturn flyby, Farthest human-made object – currently (2016) about 135 AU

1978

• Pioneer Venus 1 – 20 May 1978 – Venus orbiter
• Pioneer Venus 2 – 8 August 1978 – Venus atmospheric probes
• ISEE-3 – 12 August 1978 – Solar wind investigations; later redesignated International Cometary Explorer and performed Comet Giacobini-Zinner and Comet Halley flybys – First comet flyby
• Venera 11 – 9 September 1978 – Venus flyby and lander
• Venera 12 – 14 September 1978 – Venus flyby and lander

1980s

1981

• Venera 13 – 30 October 1981 – Venus flyby and lander
• Venera 14 – 4 November 1981 – Venus flyby and lander

1983

• Venera 15 – 2 June 1983 – Venus orbiter
• Venera 16 – 7 June 1983 – Venus orbiter

1984

• Vega 1 – 15 December 1984 – Venus flyby, lander and first balloon; continued on to Comet Halley flyby
• Vega 2 – 21 December 1984 – Venus flyby, lander and balloon; continued on to Comet Halley flyby

1985

• Sakigake – 7 January 1985 – Comet Halley flyby
• Giotto – 2 July 1985 – Comet Halley flyby
• Suisei (Planet-A) – 18 August 1985 – Comet Halley flyby

1986

• Mir – 20 February 1986 – First modular space station (completion 1996)

1988

• Phobos 1 – 7 July 1988 – Attempted Mars orbiter/Phobos landers (contact lost)
• Phobos 2 – 12 July 1988 – Mars orbiter/attempted Phobos landers (contact lost)

1989

• Magellan – 4 May 1989 – Venus orbiter
• Galileo – 18 October 1989 – Venus flyby, first Asteroid flyby, first Asteroid moon discovery, first Jupiter orbiter/atmospheric probe

1990s

1990

• Hiten (MUSES-A) – 24 January 1990 – Lunar flyby and orbiter
• Hubble Space Telescope – Orbital space telescope
• Ulysses – 6 October 1990 – Solar polar orbiter

1991

• Yohkoh (Solar-A) – 30 August 1991 – Solar observations

1992

• Mars Observer – 25 September 1992 – Attempted Mars orbiter (contact lost)

1994

• Clementine – 25 January 1994 – Lunar orbiter/attempted asteroid flyby
• WIND – 1 November 1994 – Solar wind observations

1995

• SOHO – 2 December 1995 – Solar observatory

1996

• NEAR Shoemaker – 17 February 1996 – Eros orbiter, first near-Earth asteroid flyby, first asteroid orbit and first asteroid landing
• Mars Global Surveyor – 7 November 1996 – Mars orbiter
• Mars 96 – 16 November 1996 – Attempted Mars orbiter/landers (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Mars Pathfinder – 4 December 1996 – Mars lander and first planetary rover

1997

• ACE – 25 August 1997 – Solar wind and "space weather" observations
• Cassini–Huygens – 15 October 1997 – First Saturn orbiter and first outer planet lander
• AsiaSat 3/HGS-1 – 24 December 1997 – Lunar flyby

1998

• Lunar Prospector – 7 January 1998 – Lunar orbiter
• Nozomi (also known as Planet-B) – 3 July 1998 – Attempted Mars orbiter (failed to enter Mars orbit)
• Deep Space 1 (DS1) – 24 October 1998 – Asteroid and comet flyby
• – 20 November 1998 – International Space Station (planned completion 2013)
• Mars Climate Orbiter – 11 December 1998 – Attempted Mars orbiter (orbit insertion failed)

1999

• Mars Polar Lander/Deep Space 2 (DS2) – 3 January 1999 – Attempted Mars lander/penetrators (contact lost)
• Stardust – 7 February 1999 – First comet coma sample return – returned 15 January 2006

2000s

2001

• 2001 Mars Odyssey – 7 April 2001 – Mars orbiter
• Genesis – 8 August 2001 – First solar wind sample return

2002

• CONTOUR – 3 July 2002 – Attempted flyby of three comet nuclei (lost in space)

2003

• Hayabusa (MUSES-C) – 9 May 2003 – Asteroid lander and First sample return from asteroid
• Mars Express/Beagle 2 – 1 June 2003 – Mars orbiter/lander (lander failure)
• Mars Exploration Rover Spirit – 10 June 2003 – Mars rover
• Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity – 7 July 2003 – Mars rover
• SMART-1 – 27 September 2003 – Lunar orbiter
• Shenzhou 5 – 15 October 2003 – China's first manned Earth orbiter

2004

• Rosetta/Philae – 2 March 2004 – First comet orbiter and lander (Landed in November 2014)
• MESSENGER – 3 August 2004 – First Mercury orbiter (Achieved orbit 18 March 2011)

2005

• Deep Impact – 12 January 2005 – First comet impact
• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – 12 August 2005 – Mars orbiter
• Venus Express – 9 November 2005 – Venus polar orbiter

2006

• New Horizons – 19 January 2006 – First Pluto/Charon flyby (on 14 July 2015)^[1]
• Hinode (Solar-B) – 22 September 2006 – Solar orbiter
• STEREO – 26 October 2006 – Two spacecraft, solar orbiters

2007

• Phoenix – 4 August 2007 – Mars polar lander (Mars landing on 25 May 2008)
• SELENE (Kaguya) – 14 September 2007 – Lunar orbiters
• Dawn – 27 September 2007 – Asteroid Ceres and Vesta orbiter (Entered orbit around Vesta on 16 July 2011 and around Ceres on 6 March 2015)
• Chang'e 1 – 24 October 2007 – Lunar orbiter

2008

• Chandrayaan-1 – 22 October 2008 – Lunar orbiter and impactor – Discovered water on the Moon

2009

• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS – 18 June 2009 – Lunar polar orbiter and lunar impactor

2010s

2010

• Solar Dynamics Observatory – 11 February 2010 – Continuous solar monitoring
• Akatsuki (Planet-C) – 20 May 2010 – Venus orbiter (orbit insertion failed in 2010 / successful orbit insertion on 7 December 2015)
• PICARD – 15 June 2010 – Solar monitoring
• Chang'e 2 – 1 October 2010 – Lunar orbiter, Asteroid 4179 Toutatis flyby

2011

• Juno – 5 August 2011 – Jupiter orbiter
• GRAIL – 10 September 2011 – Two spacecraft, Lunar orbiters
• Tiangong (Project 921-2) - 29 September 2011 - First Chinese space station^[2]
• Fobos-Grunt and Yinghuo-1 – 8 November 2011 – Phobos orbiter, lander and sample return (Russia), Mars orbiter (China) – failed to escape Earth orbit
• Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity Rover) – 26 November 2011 – large Mars 900 kg Rover (landed 6 August 2012)

2012

• Van Allen Probes (RBSP) - 30 August 2012 - Earth Van Allen radiation belts study

2013

• IRIS – 27 June 2013 – Solar observations
• LADEE – 6 September 2013 – Lunar orbiter
• Hisaki - 14 September 2013 - Planetary atmosphere observatory
• Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) – 5 November 2013 – Mars orbiter
• MAVEN – 18 November 2013 – Mars orbiter
• Chang'e 3 – 1 December 2013 - First Chinese lunar lander and rover (most recent lander since Russian Luna 24 in 1976)

2014

• Chang'e 5-T1 – 23 October 2014 - Lunar flyby/orbiter and Earth reentry probe; technology demonstration to prepare for Chang'e 5 mission
• Hayabusa 2 / PROCYON – 3 December 2014 – Asteroid lander and sample return / Asteroid flyby (flyby cancelled due to engine failure)
• Exploration Flight Test 1 – 5 December 2014 – Unmanned Earth orbital test of Orion interplanetary vehicle.

2015

• DSCOVR – 11 February 2015 – Solar observation
• Astrosat – 28 September 2015 – Space observatory

2016

• ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and EDM lander – 14 March 2016 – Mars orbiter and lander (lander failure)
• OSIRIS-REx – 8 September 2016 – Asteroid sample return mission

Summary of missions to the outer Solar System

System Spacecraft	Jupiter	Saturn	Uranus	Neptune	Pluto
Pioneer 10	1973 flyby
Pioneer 11	1974 flyby	1979 flyby
Voyager 1	1979 flyby	1980 flyby
Voyager 2	1979 flyby	1981 flyby	1986 flyby	1989 flyby
Galileo	1995–2003 orbiter; 1995, 2003 atmospheric
Ulysses	1992, 2004 gravity assist
Cassini–Huygens	2000 gravity assist	2004– orbiter; 2005 Titan lander
New Horizons	2007 gravity assist				2015 flyby
Juno	2016– orbiter

Planned or scheduled

2017

• Chang'e 5 – China's first lunar sample return mission
• Astrobotic Technology – First private lunar lander and rover mission

2018

• International Lunar Network – 1 March 2018 – Lunar lander
• BepiColombo – April 2018 – Mercury orbiters
• InSight – 5 May – Mars lander
• Solar Probe Plus – 30 July 2018 – Solar orbiter, closest solar approach (0.04 AU)
• SOLO – October 2018 – Solar orbiter
• James Webb Space Telescope - October 2018 - Orbital space telescope
• Exploration Mission 1 – November 2018 – Unmanned lunar orbital test of Orion interplanetary vehicle and Space Launch System.
• SpaceX Red Dragon – Unmanned Mars lander, first private mission to Mars
• SELENE-2 – Lunar orbiter and lander
• Luna-Glob lander (Luna-25) – Lunar orbiter, lander
• Luna-Glob orbiter (Luna-26) – Lunar orbiter (2018 or 2019)
• Chandrayaan-2 – Lunar orbiter and rover

2019

• SLIM – First Japanese lunar lander and rover^[3][4]
• Luna-Resurs lander (Luna-27) – Lunar lander (2019 or 2020)
• Aditya - 2017/2018 - Solar observations (2019 or 2020)

2020

• Chang'e 4 – (Before 2020) - Lunar lander and rover, the first landing on the lunar far side
• Chang'e 6 – Lunar sample return mission
• 2020 Chinese Mars Mission – Mars orbiter, lander and rover
• ExoMars rover – July 2020 – Russian Mars lander and European rover
• Mars 2020 rover mission
• Mars sample return mission
• Mars Hope - Emirati Mars orbiter^[5][6]

2021

• ISRO Orbital Vehicle – First Indian manned orbiter
• Asteroid Redirect Mission - Remove a boulder from an asteroid and put into lunar orbit

2022

• Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer – Mission to explore Jupiter and its icy moons.

2023

• Luna-Grunt rover (Luna-28) – Lunar orbiter, lander and rover (2023 or 2025)

2024

• Venera-D – Venus orbiter, lander

2025

• Europa Mission launch
• Manned landing on an asteroid^[7]
• Luna-Grunt sample return vehicle (Luna-29) – Lunar sample return mission

2028

• Manned lunar orbiter^[8]

2030

• Manned lunar landing^[8]
• Manned landing on the Moon (2020–30)^[9]

2031

• Mercury-P – First Mercury lander

2037

• Lunnyj Poligon – Completion of robotic lunar base
• first Human mission to Mars

2040–60

• Crewed phase of the Chinese Mars exploration program^[10]
• Crewed phase of the Russian Mars exploration program^[11]

Gallery

• 

  Luna 16
  First unmanned lunar sample return

• 

  Pioneer 10
  First Jupiter flyby
  

• 

  Pioneer 11
  First Saturn flyby

• 

  Mariner 10
  First Mercury flyby

• 

  Helios 2
  Closest solar approach

• 

  Voyager 2
  First Uranus flyby
  First Neptune flyby

• 

  International Cometary Explorer
  First comet flyby

• 

  Galileo
  First asteroid flyby
  First asteroid moon discovery
  First Jupiter orbiter
  First Jupiter atmospheric probe

• 

  NEAR Shoemaker
  First near-Earth asteroid flyby
  First asteroid orbiter
  First asteroid landing

• 

  Mars Pathfinder
  First successful Mars rover

• 

  Cassini–Huygens
  First Saturn orbiter

• 

  Huygens probe
  First Titan lander

• 

  Genesis
  First solar wind sample return

• 

  Deep Impact
  First comet impact

• 

  Rosetta/Philae
  First comet orbiter and lander

• 

  Dawn
  First dwarf planet orbiter
  First Ceres orbiter

• 

  New Horizons
  First Pluto flyby^[1]

1. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT-20150718 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

See also

• Discovery and exploration of the Solar System
• List of missions to the Moon
• List of Solar System probes
• New Frontiers program
• Outer Solar System
• Out of the Cradle (book) - scientific speculation on future missions.
• Space Race
• Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
• Timeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their moons
• Timeline of first orbital launches by country
• Timeline of space travel by nationality

References

External links

• NASA Lunar & Planetary Science
• NASA Solar System Strategic Exploration Plans
• Soviet Lunar, Martian, Venusian and Terrestrial Space Image Catalog