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Timeline of Solar System exploration

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Timeline of Solar System exploration
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This is a timeline of Solar System exploration ordering events in the exploration of the Solar System 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.[vague]
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Charted timeline of Solar System exploration through December 2014

It does not include:

  • Centuries of terrestrial telescopic observation.
  • 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 laterin some cases, a considerable time later (for example, Voyager 2, launched 20 August 1977, did not reach Neptune until 1989).

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1950s

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Sputnik 1 – First Earth orbiter
More information Mission name, Launch date ...
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1960s

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Vostok 1 – First crewed Earth orbiter
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Mariner 2 – First successful Venus flyby
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Mariner 4 – First successful Mars flyby
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Luna 9 – First successful lunar lander
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Zond 5 – First lunar flyby and return to Earth, first terrestrials to circle the Moon
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Apollo 8 – First crewed lunar orbiter
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Apollo 11 – First crewed lunar landing
More information Mission name, Launch date ...
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1970s

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Mars 3 – First Mars lander
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Pioneer 10 – First Jupiter flyby
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Mariner 10 – First Mercury flyby
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Voyager 2 – First Uranus/first Neptune flyby
More information Mission name, Launch date ...
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1980s

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Galileo – Mission to Jupiter
More information Mission name, Launch date ...
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1990s

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Mars Pathfinder – Mars lander and the first successful Mars rover, Sojourner
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Cassini–Huygens – First Saturn orbiter and first Titan lander
More information Mission name, Launch date ...
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2000s

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Mars Express/Beagle 2 – First planetary mission by the ESA
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MESSENGER – First Mercury orbiter
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Chandrayaan-1 – Water Around Fresh Moon Crater
More information Mission name, Launch date ...
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2010s

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Mars Science Laboratory – Mars lander and large rover
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Mangalyaan – First Indian Mars orbiter
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Trace Gas Orbiter – ESA/Roscosmos Mars orbiter
More information Mission name, Launch date ...
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2020s

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NASA's Perseverance rover
More information Mission name, Launch date ...
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Planned or scheduled

See also

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References

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