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Click the Brandenburg Flag for a German translation Für eine deutsche Übersetzung dieser Seite einfach die Brandenburger Flagge anklicken |
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Space FirstsA listing of pioneering achievements |
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March 16, 1926
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Nell
First modern rocket
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June 11, 1928
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Lippisch Ente
First rocket-powered aircraft
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February 2, 1931
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Experimental Rocket 7
First commercial use of a rocket
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June 20, 1939
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Heinkel He 176
First rocket-plane
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October 3, 1942
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A4 Launch #4
First human made object to reach the boundaries of space
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June 20, 1944
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A4 Launch #48
First object to reach space by modern standards
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March 1, 1945
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Bachem Ba 349 M23
First manned rocket flight
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October 24, 1946
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V-2 No. 13
First picture of Earth from space.
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February 20, 1947
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Blossom 1
First animals in space.
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October 14, 1947
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XS-1 No. 50
First manned supersonic rocket plane.
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June 14, 1949
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V-2 No. 45
First mammal in space.
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July 22, 1951
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R-1V No. 1
First mammals safely returned from space.
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February 21, 1954
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Véronique NA - Test Flight No. 2
First Rocket not launched by a superpower to reach space
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August 21, 1957
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R-7 M1-9 (I-3) test
First successful ICBM launch
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October 4, 1957
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Sputnik 1
First artificial satellite
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November 3, 1957
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Sputnik 2
First animal in earth orbit.
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February 1, 1958
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Explorer 1
First outer space discovery
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March 17, 1958
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Vanguard 1
First satellite equipped with solar cells
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January 2, 1959
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Luna 1
First probe to leave earth orbit.
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August 7, 1959
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Explorer 6
First pictures of the earth from orbit.
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September 13, 1959
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Luna 2
First probe to reach the Moon.
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October 4, 1959
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Luna 3
First pictures of moon's far side.
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April 1, 1960
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TIROS 1
First weather satellite
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April 13, 1960
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Transit 1B / GRAB-Dummy
First launch of multiple satellites with one rocket |
August 11, 1960
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Discoverer 13 (Corona 13)
First recovery of an object from orbit.
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August 12, 1960
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Echo 1
First (passive) communications satellite
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August 20, 1960
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Korabl-Sputnik 2
First successful return of animals from orbit
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August 12, 1960
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Mercury-Redstone 2
First Hominid in Space
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February 12, 1961
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Venera 1
First launch from park orbit into heliocentric orbit
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April 12, 1961
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Vostok 1
First human in space
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May 5, 1961
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Freedom 7
First human to return to earth in a spacecraft
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August 6, 1961
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Vostok 2
First crewed mission lasting a full day
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March 16, 1962
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Kosmos 1
The first of 2551 (and counting)
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April 26, 1962
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Ranger 4
First spacecraft to impact on the far side of the moon
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April 26, 1962
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Ariel 1
First Satellite not built by a superpower
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July 7, 1962
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Telstar 1
First active communications satellite
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August 11/12, 1962
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Vostok 3 / Vostok 4
First simultaneous flight of two crewed spacecrafts
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December 14, 1962
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Mariner 2
First successful planetary flyby
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June 16, 1963
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Vostok 6
First woman in space
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July 19, 1963
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X-15; Flight 90
First space plane
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November 1, 1963
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Polyot 1
First maneuverable satellite
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December 5, 1963
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Transit 5BN-2
First operational navigation satellite
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February 2, 1964
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Echo 2
First joint US/British/Soviet space experiment
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August 19, 1964
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Syncom 3
First geostationary satellite
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October 12, 1964
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Voskhod 1
First multi-person crew
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March 18, 1965
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Voskhod 2
First space walk
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March 23, 1965
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Gemini 3
First maneuverable manned spacecraft
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April 4, 1965
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Snapshot
First nuclear powered spacecraft
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July 15, 1965
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Mariner 4
First closeup pictures of Mars
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August 21, 1965
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Gemini 5
First space flight lasting more than a week
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November 26, 1965
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Asterix
First Satellite not launched by a superpower
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December 15, 1965
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Gemini 6A / Gemini 7
First orbital rendezvous
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February 3, 1966
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Luna 9
First soft landing on another celestial body
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March 1, 1966
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Venera 3
First spacecraft to reach another planet
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March 16, 1966
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Gemini 8 / GATV-5003
First orbital docking
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April 3, 1966
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Luna 10
First artificial satellite to orbit the Moon
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June 10, 1967
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Breaking down ethnic Barriers
![]() In June 1967, the US Air Force selected four new astronaut candidates for its MOL project. One of the candidates was Robert H. Lawrence Jr., the first African-American astronaut who proudly stated that he would not "sit in the back" of the spaceship. Unfortunately, Lawrence died in a plane crash before he was able to go to space. |
October 30, 1967
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Cosmos 186 / Cosmos 188
First remote controlled docking in orbit
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November 17, 1967
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Surveyor 6
First (brief) liftoff from the Lunar surface
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November 26, 1967
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WRESAT
First Satellite Launch from the southern Hemisphere
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September 18, 1968
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Zond 5
First successful circumlunar mission
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December 7, 1968
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Stargazer
First space telecope
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December 24, 1968
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Apollo 8
First human space flight beyond Earth orbit
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January 16, 1969
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Soyuz 4 / Soyuz 5
First crew exchange in orbit
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July 21, 1969
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Apollo 11
First humans to walk on the Moon
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October 13, 1969
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Soyuz 6, Soyuz 7, Soyuz 8
First formation flight of three manned spacecrafts
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September 24, 1970
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Luna 16
First automatic sample return from the Moon
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October 3, 1970
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DIAL-Mika / DIAL-Wika
First Satellite Launch from South America
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November 23, 1970
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Lunokhod 1
First remote controlled rover on another celestial body
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December 15, 1970
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Venera_7
First soft landing on another planet
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June 6, 1971
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Salyut 1
First manned space station
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July 31, 1971
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Apollo 15
First mobile vehicle driven by humans on the Moon
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November 14, 1971
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Mariner 9
First probe to orbit another planet
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November 27, 1971
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Mars 2
First probe to reach Mars
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December 2, 1971
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Mars 3
First soft landing on Mars
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March 3, 1972
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Pioneer 10
First space craft launched with escape trajectory away from the Solar System
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February 5, 1974
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Mariner 10
First Swingby / First pictures of Venus
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March 29, 1974
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Mariner 10
First Mercury flyby
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December 4, 1974
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Pioneer 10
First Jupiter flyby
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December 4, 1974
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Helios 1
First Sun observatory
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July 17, 1975
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Apollo–Soyuz Test Project
First international manned space flight
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October 22, 1975
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Venera 9
First picture from the surface of another planet
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July 20, 1976
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Viking 1
First pictures from the surface of Mars
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March 2, 1978
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Soyuz 28
First international space ship and space station crew
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November 20, 1978
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International Cometary Explorer
First spacecraft placed in a halo orbit
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September 1, 1979
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Pioneer 11
First Saturn flyby
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July 23 & Sept. 18, 1980
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Soyuz 37; Soyuz 38
Flying across ethnical Boundaries
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12 April 1981
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Columbia STS-1
First reusable manned spacecraft
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February 7, 1984
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Challenger STS-41-B
First untethered spacewalk
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April 11, 1984
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Challenger STS-41-C / SolarMax
First repair of a satellite in space
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July 25, 1984
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Soyuz T-12 / Salyut 7
First EVA by a woman
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June 11, 1985
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Vega Balloons
First balloons in the atmosphere of another planet
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September 11, 1985
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International Cometary Explorer
First rendezvous with a comet
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January 24, 1986
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Voyager 2
First Uranus flyby
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March 14, 1986
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Halley Armada
First cluseup investigation of a comet
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May 6, 1986
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Mir / Soyuz T-15 / Salyut 7
First manned transfer between two space stations
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September 19, 1988
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Ofeq 1
First retrograde satellite
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December 21, 1988
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Soyuz TM-4 / Mir / Soyuz TM-6
First year-long human space flight
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August 8, 1989
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Hipparcos
First space telescope operating in visible light
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August 25, 1989
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Voyager 2
First Neptune flyby
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March 18, 1990
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Hiten
First Moon probe not launched by a super power
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August 10, 1990
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Magellan
First global mapping of Venus
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October 29, 1991
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Galileo
First close asteroid flyby
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August 28, 1993
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Galileo
First discovery of an asteroid's moon
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December 7, 1995
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Galileo-Probe
First object to enter Jupiter's atmosphere
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December 8, 1995
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Galileo
First satellite in orbit of Jupiter
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July 4, 1997
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Pathfinder / Sojourner
First automatic rover on Mars
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February 14, 2000
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NEAR Shoemaker
First probe to orbit an asteroid
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October 31, 2000
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Soyuz TM-31 / ISS
First long duration crew at the ISS
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February 12, 2001
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NEAR Shoemaker
First landing on an asteroid
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October 15, 2003
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Shenzhou 5
First manned space flight not launched by a superpower
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June 21, 2004
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SpaceShipOne flight 15P
First non-governmental space flight
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July 1, 2004
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Cassini
First satellite in orbit of Saturn
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September 8, 2004
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Genesis
First sample return from beyond the Earth/Moon system
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January 14, 2005
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Huygens
First soft landing on an object in the outer Solar System
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July 4, 2005
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Deep Impact
First object to impact on a comet
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June 14, 2010
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Hayabusa
First sample return from the Asteroid Belt
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March 18, 2011
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Messenger
First spacecraft to orbit Mercury
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August 25, 2012
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Voyager 1
First probe to enter interstellar space
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August 6, 2014
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Rosetta
First spacecraft to orbit a comet
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November 12, 2014
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Philae
First soft landing on a comet
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March 6, 2015
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Dawn
First spacecraft to orbit a dwarf planet
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April 30, 2015
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Messenger
First probe to impact on Mercury
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July 14, 2015
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New Horizons
First Pluto flyby
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April 8, 2016 March 30, 2017
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SpaceX CRS-8 / SES-10
First return and reuse of a rocket stage
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February 15, 2017
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PSLV Launch C37
First deployment of over 100 satellites with one rocket
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September 15, 2017
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Cassini
First probe to enter Saturn's atmosphere
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September 21, 2018
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Minerva-II
First moving vehicles on an asteroid
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January 1, 2019
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New Horizons
First flyby at a Kuiper Belt Object
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January 3, 2019
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Chang'e 4
First automatic landing on the far side of the Moon
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May 30, 2020
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Crew Dragon Demo 2
First crewed orbital flight launched by a private enterprise.
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December 5, 2020
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Chang'e 5
First automatic docking in Lunar orbit.
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April 19, 2021
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Ingenuity
First controlled flight on another planet
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