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Space Firsts A listing of pioneering achievements in space research

March 16, 1926

Nell First modern rocket The first liquid fuel rocket, built by Robert H. Goddard was launched in Auburn, Massachusetts. In 2.5 seconds, the rocket rose 41 feet and traveled 184 feet.

June 11, 1928

Lippisch Ente First rocket-powered aircraft The world’s first rocket-powered full-size aircraft was designed by Alexander Lippisch as a sailplane. On June 11, 1928, it conducted a flight under rocket power, piloted by Fritz Stamer.

February 2, 1931

Experimental Rocket 7 First commercial use of a rocket On February 2, 1931, Austrian rocket pioneer Friedrich Schmiedl delivered 102 letters in a rocket from Graz, Austria to nearby St. Radegund.

June 20, 1939

Heinkel He 176 First rocket-plane The world’s first aircraft propelled solely by a liquid-fuelled rocket made its first powered flight at the Peenemünde Army Research Center, piloted by Erich Warsitz.

October 3, 1942

A4 Launch #4 First human made object to reach the boundaries of space An Aggregat 4 (V-2) rocket launched vertically from Peenemünde Army Research Center in Germany reached an altitude of 84.5 km on a ballistic trajectory.

June 20, 1944

A4 Launch #48 First object to reach space by modern standards An Aggregat 4 (V-2) rocket launched vertically from Peenemünde Army Research Center in Germany reached an altitude of 174,6 km on a ballistic trajectory.

March 1, 1945

Bachem Ba 349 M23 First manned rocket flight The Bachem Ba 349 was a rocket-powered interceptor, which was to be used in a very similar way to a manned surface-to-air missile. On March 1, 1945, test pilot Lothar Sieber conducted the first manned rocket flight, taking off vertically and reaching an altitude of 4,900 ft. The pilot did not survive the test.

October 24, 1946

V-2 No. 13 First picture of Earth from space. A modified V-2 rocket launched from White Sands, New Mexico reached an altitude of 105 km and took the first picture of Earth from space.

February 20, 1947

Blossom 1 First animals in space. A modified V-2 rocket launched from White Sands, New Mexico carried fruit flies to an altitude of 109 km and was successfully recovered with the flies being alive.

October 14, 1947

XS-1 No. 50 First manned supersonic rocket plane. Piloted by US Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager, the rocket plane XS-1 reached a speed of Mach 1.06 (700 miles per hour), breaking the sound barrier for the first time in a horizontal flight.

June 14, 1949

V-2 No. 45 First mammal in space. A modified V-2 rocket launched from White Sands, New Mexico carried rhesus monkey Albert II to an altitude of 135 km. The monkey died on return impact due to parachute failure.

July 22, 1951

R-1V No. 1 First mammals safely returned from space. A modified V-2 rocket launched from Kapustin Yar, U.S.S.R. carried dogs Dezik and Tsygan to an altitude of 110 km and returned them safely to earth.

February 21, 1954

Véronique NA - Test Flight No. 2 First Rocket not launched by a superpower to reach space Launched from Hammaguira, Algeria, a French Véronique rocket reached an altitude of 135 km. It was also the first rocket launched from the African continent to reach space.

August 21, 1957

R-7 M1-9 (I-3) test First successful ICBM launch Launched from Baikonur, Kazak SSR, a Soviet R-7 rocket reached an altitude of 1,350 km. It was also the first rocket launched from the Asian continent to reach space.

October 4, 1957

Sputnik 1 First artificial satellite The first satellite, launched on Oktober 4, 1957, 19:28:34 UTC from Baikonur, Kazakh Soviet Republic transmitted signals for 21 days. It was the first satellite launch from the Asian continent.

November 3, 1957

Sputnik 2 First animal in earth orbit. The second satellite, launched from Baikonur, Soviet Union took dog Laika into earth orbit. Laika died within hours from overheating.

February 1, 1958

Explorer 1 First outer space discovery The first satellite launched by the USA made the first new scientific discovery from space: The Van Allen Radiation Belt. It was the first satellite launch from the North American Continent.

March 17, 1958

Vanguard 1 First satellite equipped with solar cells The second satellite launched by the USA was the first carrying six solar cells. To date, Vanguard 1 is the oldest satellite still in orbit.

January 2, 1959

Luna 1 First probe to leave earth orbit. The Soviet probe was intended to impact on the moon. It missed the moon by 5,995 km and entered into a heliocentric orbit.

August 7, 1959

Explorer 6 First pictures of the earth from orbit. First satellite equipped with a camera. Took pictures of the earth surface and of cloud cover.

September 13, 1959

Luna 2 First probe to reach the Moon. Successful repeat of the Luna 1 mission. Launched on September 12, 1959, the probe impacted on lunar surface on September 13, 1959, 21:02:24 UTC.

October 4, 1959

Luna 3 First pictures of moon's far side. Choosing a highly elliptical earth orbit that in its apogee included the moon, the Soviet spacecraft took the first pictures of the moon's far side.

April 1, 1960

TIROS 1 First weather satellite During 45 days of operation, the American satellite returned 22,952 cloud cover photos and the first TV images from orbit.

April 13, 1960

Transit 1B / GRAB-Dummy First launch of multiple satellites with one rocket First navigation satellite Transit 1B was the first test of a navigation satellite for the US-Navy. On top of the Transit satellite was the dummy of a GRAB intelligence satellite, successfully testing the deployment of multiple satellites in the same launch.

August 11, 1960

Discoverer 13 (Corona 13) First recovery of an object from orbit. On August. 11, a return capsule from spy satellite Discoverer 13 (launched on August 10) was ejected and successfully recovered from the ocean. (On August 19, the first surveillance film capsule, ejected by Discoverer 14, was recovered by airplane.)

August 12, 1960

Echo 1 First (passive) communications satellite 30.5-meter (100 ft) diameter metalized balloon; passively relayed a microwave transmission from Pasadena, California to Holmdel, New Jersey.

August 20, 1960

Korabl-Sputnik 2 First successful return of animals from orbit On August 19, the Soviet spacecraft took two dogs, Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants to orbit and returned them safely a day later.

August 12, 1960

Mercury-Redstone 2 First Hominid in Space Chimpanzee Ham performed a sucessful ballistic flight, reaching an altitude of 253 kilometers.

February 12, 1961

Venera 1 First launch from park orbit into heliocentric orbit Venera 1 was launched from low earth orbit into a trajectory towards Venus. Contact to the spacecraft was lost after one week.

April 12, 1961

Vostok 1 First human in space On April 12, 1961, 06:07 UTC, the Soviet spacecraft Vostok 1 carried cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into earth orbit. Gagarin returned safely after one orbit.

May 5, 1961

Freedom 7 First human to return to earth in a spacecraft Performing a ballistic flight, Alan Shepard became the first American in Space. While Vostok 1 performed a fully automatic flight and Gagarin ejected and returned by parachute, Freedom 7 was the first spacecraft actively piloted by a human and Shepard was the first human to remain in the spacecraft until landing.

August 6, 1961

Vostok 2 First crewed mission lasting a full day Vostok 2 with cosmonaut Gherman Titov performed 17 orbits. Titov spent a total of 25 hours and 18 minutes in space.

March 16, 1962

Kosmos 1 The first of 2551 (and counting) Kosmos is a generic designation given to a variety of Soviet and Russian satellites. The launch of Kosmos 1 from Kapustin Yar in southern Russia was the first satellite launch from the European continent.

April 26, 1962

Ranger 4 First spacecraft to impact on the far side of the moon Launched on April 23, 1962, Ranger 4 became the first American probe to reach the moon. The probe didn't transmit any data, but was the fist human-made object to impact on the Moon's far side (on April 26, 1962).

April 26, 1962

Ariel 1 First Satellite not built by a superpower Launched by a US rocket, British Ariel 1 was the first satellite not built by either the USA or the USSR.

July 7, 1962

Telstar 1 First active communications satellite The first commercial (AT&T) satellite relayed the first television pictures from Andover, Maine to Pleumeur-Bodou, France.

August 11/12, 1962

Vostok 3 / Vostok 4 First simultaneous flight of two crewed spacecrafts The two crafts were launched one day apart and approached each other to a minimum distance of 6.5 km. Andriyan Nikolayev and Pavel Popovich established the first ship-to-ship communication in space.

December 14, 1962

Mariner 2 First successful planetary flyby Launched on August 27, 1962, the American spacecraft passed the planet Venus on December 14, 1962 at a distance of 34,745 km and return data on the planet's atmosphere, magnetic field, charged particle environment, and mass.

June 16, 1963

Vostok 6 First woman in space During a three-day flight of 48 orbits, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space.

July 19, 1963

X-15; Flight 90 First space plane Piloted by Joseph A. Walker, the X-15 reached an altitude of 105.9 km and became the first space plane to reach space.

November 1, 1963

Polyot 1 First maneuverable satellite The prototype of an anti-satellite probe was able to change inclination as well as apogee and perigee.

December 5, 1963

Transit 5BN-2 First operational navigation satellite Following a number of test-satellites, the American navigation system for the US Navy became operational with the launch of Transit 5BN-2.

February 2, 1964

Echo 2 First joint US/British/Soviet space experiment On February 2, 1964, a radio signal from Jodrell Bank, Britain was bounced off the American Echo 2 satellite (launched on January 25, 1964) and received at the Zimenki Observ­atory at Gorki State University in the Soviet Union in the first joint space com­munications experiment of the three nations.

August 19, 1964

Syncom 3 First geostationary satellite The first geostationary satellite, positioned over the Pacific broadcasted the 1964 Olympic Games from Tokyo, Japan to the US. (Syncom 2 was launched into a geosynchronous orbit on July 26, 1963, but with an orbit tilted to the equator.)

October 12, 1964

Voskhod 1 First multi-person crew Voskhod 1 carried a crew of three cosmonauts for 24 hours and 19 minutes and 16 orbits. For the first time, soviet cosmonauts remained on board throughout the landing.

March 18, 1965

Voskhod 2 First space walk On March 18, 1965, at 08:34:51 UTC, Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Leonov performed the first extravehicular activity, lasting 12 minutes.

March 23, 1965

Gemini 3 First maneuverable manned spacecraft During the first American multi-person crew flight, the spacecraft performed several maneuvers to change inclination and altitude.

April 4, 1965

Snapshot First nuclear powered spacecraft SNAP-10A, nicknamed Snapshot was the first satellite powered by a nuclear reactor.

July 15, 1965

Mariner 4 First closeup pictures of Mars Launched on November 28, 1964, the American probe passed the planet Mars on July 15, 1965 at a distance of 9,846 kilometers and return data and the first closeup pictures of the planet.

August 21, 1965

Gemini 5 First space flight lasting more than a week The crew of Gemini 5 spent eight days in space - the time it would take to fly to the moon and back. Gordon Cooper became the first person to perform a second orbital space flight.

November 26, 1965

Asterix First Satellite not launched by a superpower Launched by a French rocket from Hammaguira, Algeria, Asterix was the first satellite not launched by either the USA or the USSR. It was the first satellite launch from the African continent.

December 15, 1965

Gemini 6A / Gemini 7 First orbital rendezvous Gemeni 7 (launched on December 4, 1965) and Gemini 6A (launched on December 15, 1965) actively altered their trajectories and approached each other to a minimum distance of 30 cm.

February 3, 1966

Luna 9 First soft landing on another celestial body Launched on January 31, 1966, the Soviet probe Luna 9 softly landed on the Moon on February 3, 1966, 18:45:30 UTC and transmitted the first data and pictures from the lunar surface. The probe transmitted data for three days.

March 1, 1966

Venera 3 First spacecraft to reach another planet The Soviet probe was launched on November 16, 1965. Radio contact was lost on March 1, 1966 when it entered Venus' atmosphere.

March 16, 1966

Gemini 8 / GATV-5003 First orbital docking On March 16, 1966, 22:14 UTC, Gemini 8, piloted by Neil Armstrong and David Scott docked with an unmanned Agena Target Vehicle.

April 3, 1966

Luna 10 First artificial satellite to orbit the Moon Soviet probe Luna 10, launched on March 31, 1966 was inserted into a lunar orbit on April 3, 1966, 18:44 UTC. The probe transmitted data for two months.

June 10, 1967

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

Cosmos 186 / Cosmos 188 First remote controlled docking in orbit Unmanned Soviet satellites Cosmos 186, launched on Oct. 27, 1967 and Cosmos 188, launched on Oct. 30, 1967 performed an automatic docking in orbit on Oct. 30, 1967.

November 17, 1967

Surveyor 6 First (brief) liftoff from the Lunar surface On November 10, 1967, NASA's unmanned Surveyor 6 probe landed on the moon. On November 17, the probe traveled eight feet across the Moon under its own power, becoming the first spacecraft to lift off from the lunar surface.

November 26, 1967

WRESAT First Satellite Launch from the southern Hemisphere On October 1, 1957, an Australian rocket reached the space boundary (60 miles). On November 26, 1967, the Australian satellite WRESAT, launched with a US-American SPARTA rocket from Woomera Range Complex in South Australia became the first satellite launched from the Australian continent.

September 18, 1968

Zond 5 First successful circumlunar mission The Soviet probe, launched on Sept. 14, 1968 circled the moon and returned to Earth (splash down in the Indian Ocean) on Sept. 21, 1968. On board were two tortoises and several smaller plants and animals.

December 7, 1968

Stargazer First space telecope The Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 (OAO-2, nicknamed Stargazer) was equipped with fifteen different telescopes for ultraviolet observations. It observed comets, planets, and galaxies for four years.

December 24, 1968

Apollo 8 First human space flight beyond Earth orbit Launched on December 21, US-Spacecraft Apollo 8 entered a lunar orbit on December 24, 1968, 9:59:20 UTC. The craft orbited the moon ten times before safely returning to Earth.

January 16, 1969

Soyuz 4 / Soyuz 5 First crew exchange in orbit Soviet space crafts Soyuz 4, launched on Jan. 14 1969 and Soyuz 5, launched on Jan. 15 1969 performed the first docking of two manned space crafts in orbit on January 16, 1969, 08:20 UTC. Cosmonauts Yeliseyev and Khrunov transferred from Soyuz 5 to Soyuz 4.

July 21, 1969

Apollo 11 First humans to walk on the Moon Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969. On July 20, 1969, 20:18:04 UTC, the Lunar Lander touched down in the Sea of Tranquility. On July 21 at 02:56:15 UTC, Neil Armstrong, followed by Buzz Aldrin became the first person to set foot on the Moon.

October 13, 1969

Soyuz 6, Soyuz 7, Soyuz 8 First formation flight of three manned spacecrafts Soyuz 6 (launched October 11), Soyuz 7 (launched October 12) and Soyuz 8 performed a formation flight for three days. Attempts to dock Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 failed.

September 24, 1970

Luna 16 First automatic sample return from the Moon Soviet probe Luna 16, launched on Sept. 12, 1970 landed on the Moon on Sept. 20 and returned to Earth with a 101 grams soil sample on Sept. 24, 1970.

October 3, 1970

DIAL-Mika / DIAL-Wika First Satellite Launch from South America In 1967, France had to vacate its launch facilities in now independent Algeria. An alternative was found in Kourou, French Guiana. The first rocket reaching space (altitude of 60 miles or more) was launched on April 9, 1968. On October 3, 1970, using a French Diamant-B rocket, the West-German satellites DIAL-Mika and DIAL-Wika became the first payloads launched into orbit from the South American continent.

November 23, 1970

Lunokhod 1 First remote controlled rover on another celestial body Soviet probe Luna 17, launched on November 10, 1970 landed on the Moon on Nov. 17 and deployed a rover. Lunokhod 1 transmitted data and photos for ten months, traveling 10.5 km.

December 15, 1970

Venera_7 First soft landing on another planet The lander of Soviet probe Venera 7, launched August 17, 1970 touched down on Venus on December 15, 1970 05:37:10 UTC. It transmitted data from the surface for 20 minutes.

June 6, 1971

Salyut 1 First manned space station The first Soviet space station was launched unmanned on April 19, 1971. From June 6 until June 30, the three-man crew of Soyuz 11 worked on board the station. (The crew died during re-entry to Earth).

July 31, 1971

Apollo 15 First mobile vehicle driven by humans on the Moon Apollo 15, launched on July 26, 1971, landed on the Moon on July 30. Within three days, the landing crew drove the Lunar Roving Vehicle over a distance of 17.3 miles (27.9 km).

November 14, 1971

Mariner 9 First probe to orbit another planet Launched on May 30, 1971, the American probe was inserted into a Mars orbit on November 14, 1971, 00:42:00 UTC. Over 11 month, it returned 7329 images from the Martian surface.

November 27, 1971

Mars 2 First probe to reach Mars Launched on May 19, 1971, the Soviet probe was intended to soft land on Mars but crashed due to parachute failure on November 27, 1971.

December 2, 1971

Mars 3 First soft landing on Mars Launched on May 28, 1971, the Soviet probe touched down on Mars on December 2, 1971 13:52 UTC. It transmitted data for only 20 seconds.

March 3, 1972

Pioneer 10 First space craft launched with escape trajectory away from the Solar System Target of the American probe was a Jupiter flyby. Between July 15, 1972, and February 15, 1973, the probe was the first human-made object to cross the Asteroid Belt.

February 5, 1974

Mariner 10 First Swingby / First pictures of Venus En route to Mercury, in the first ever gravity assist maneuver, American probe Mariner 10, launched on November 3, 1973, passed Venus on February 5, 1974 in 5,768 km distance and delivered the first closeup pictures of the planet's cloud cover.

March 29, 1974

Mariner 10 First Mercury flyby On March 29, 1974, Mariner 10 passed Mercury at a range of 703 kilometers and delivered the first closeup pictures of the planet. Two more flybys were performed in September and October.

December 4, 1974

Pioneer 10 First Jupiter flyby On December 4, 1973, Pioneer 10 passed Jupiter at a range of 132,252 kilometers and transmitted the first closeup pictures of the planet.

December 4, 1974

Helios 1 First Sun observatory Launched wby a US rocket, the West-German spacecraft was the first interplanetary probe not built in either the USA or the USSR. The probe entered an orbit around the Sun with the closest point inside the orbit of Mercury.

July 17, 1975

Apollo–Soyuz Test Project First international manned space flight Apollo-ASTP and Soyuz 19, both launched on July 15, 1975 docked on July 17, 1975 16:19:09 UTC and performed joined experiments for two days.

October 22, 1975

Venera 9 First picture from the surface of another planet Launched on June 8, 1975, the Soviet probe was the first to be inserted into an orbit around Venus on October 20, 1975. The lander soft landed on Venus on October 22, 1975, 05:13 UTC. It transmitted data and panoramic pictures for 53 minutes.

July 20, 1976

Viking 1 First pictures from the surface of Mars Launched on August 20, 1975, Viking 1 entered orbit around Mars on June 19, 1976 and became the first craft to successfully map another planet from orbit. The Viking 1 lander touched down on Mars on July 20, 1976. It remained operational for over six years.

March 2, 1978

Soyuz 28 First international space ship and space station crew Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei_Gubarev and Czech cosmonaut Vladimir Remek became the first international crew to be launched in the same space craft. Soyuz 28 docked with Soviet space station Salyut 6. Remek was the first person in Space not being from either the USSR or the USA.

November 20, 1978

International Cometary Explorer First spacecraft placed in a halo orbit Launched on August 12, 1978, the spacecraft was placed in a halo orbit at a so-called "libration point", a suspension point between the gravitational fields of the Earth and the Sun on November 20, 1978.

September 1, 1979

Pioneer 11 First Saturn flyby Launched on April 6, 1973, Pioneer 11 passed Saturn on September 1, 1979 at a range of 20,591 kilometers and transmitted the first closeup pictures of the planet.

July 23 & Sept. 18, 1980

Soyuz 37; Soyuz 38 Flying across ethnical Boundaries In July 1980, Vietnamese cosmonaut Phạm Tuân became the first person of Asian origin to fly in space. In September, he was followed by Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, the first Latin American and the first person of African descent in space.

12 April 1981

Columbia STS-1 First reusable manned spacecraft First orbital spaceflight of NASA's reusable Space Shuttle with John Young and Robert Crippen for 36 orbits. The last Shuttle flight ended on July 21, 2011. In 30 years, five shuttles performed 135 space flights.

February 7, 1984

Challenger STS-41-B First untethered spacewalk The Shuttle was launched on February 3, 1984. On February 7, astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert Stewart performed the first untethered spacewalk, operating the Manned Maneuvering Unit and moving up to 98 meters away from the shuttle.

April 11, 1984

Challenger STS-41-C / SolarMax First repair of a satellite in space Launched on April 6, 1984, the crew of STS-41 captured the Solar Maximum Mission Satellite on April 11. The satellite had been in standby mode since January 1981 due to an attitude control failure. It resumed full operation again after the repair.

July 25, 1984

Soyuz T-12 / Salyut 7 First EVA by a woman In 1982, Soviet Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the second woman in space. On July 17, 1984 she became the first woman to travel in space twice. On July 25, 1984, on board the space station Salyut 7, she became the first women to conduct a space walk.

June 11, 1985

Vega Balloons First balloons in the atmosphere of another planet Launched on December 15 and 24, 1984, Soviet probes Vega 1 and Vega 2 passed Venus on June 11 and June 14, 1985, respectively. Both probes released landers and balloons. The balloons drifted in the Venusian atmosphere at an altitude of 54 km and transmitted data for 46.5 and 60 hours. Manufactured in France, the balloons were the first objects not built in either the USA or the USSR, that reached another planet.

September 11, 1985

International Cometary Explorer First rendezvous with a comet After finishing its original mission, the ICE craft was redirected to intercept comet Giacobini-Zinner. On September 11, 1985, the craft passed through the comet's plasma tail.

January 24, 1986

Voyager 2 First Uranus flyby Launched on August 20, 1977, after passing Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 2 passed Uranus on January 24, 1986 at a range of 81,500 kilometers, transmitted the first closeup pictures of the planet and its moons and discovered eleven new moons.

March 14, 1986

Halley Armada First cluseup investigation of a comet In 1986, two Soviet, two Japanese and one European spacecraft jointly investigated Halley's Comet. On March 14, 1986, ESA's Giotto probe passed the nucleus at a distance of 596 km, which would not have been possible without the data from the other probes.

May 6, 1986

Mir / Soyuz T-15 / Salyut 7 First manned transfer between two space stations On May 5, 1986,Soviet cosmonauts Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov undocked their Soyuz T-15 from the Mir space station and transferred 2,500 km to the Salyut 7 space station. They docked with Salyut 7 on May 6, 1986 and returned to Mir on June 26.

September 19, 1988

Ofeq 1 First retrograde satellite To save fuel and increase payload, satellites are usually launched in an easterly direction, with the Earth's rotation. The (almost) only exception: Israel launches its satellites into retrograde orbits in a westerly direction over the Mediterranean to avoid rockets flying over neighboring (sometimes hostile) countries.

December 21, 1988

Soyuz TM-4 / Mir / Soyuz TM-6 First year-long human space flight Soviet cosmonauts Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov launched on December 21, 1987, spent a year on board the Mir space station and returned to Earth on December 21, 1988, having spent 365 days, 22 hours and 38 minutes in space.

August 8, 1989

Hipparcos First space telescope operating in visible light Hipparcos was the first space experiment devoted to precision astrometry. It resulted in a catalogue of over 2.5 million stars and their precise measurements.

August 25, 1989

Voyager 2 First Neptune flyby On August 25, 1989, Voyager 2 passed Neptune at a range of 5,000 kilometers and transmitted the first closeup pictures of the planet and its moons.

March 18, 1990

Hiten First Moon probe not launched by a super power Launched January 24, 1990, the Japanese probe was the first Moon probe not launched by the Soviet Union or the USA. For the first time using a ballistic capture trajectory the probe performed the first lunar flyby on March 18, 1990. It was inserted into a lunar orbit on February 15, 1993 and was crashed into the lunar surface on April 10, 1993.

August 10, 1990

Magellan First global mapping of Venus Launched on May 4, 1989, the US probe entered orbit around Venus on August 10, 1990. In four years, the probe's radar mapped 98% of the planet's surface between 89° North and 89° South.

October 29, 1991

Galileo First close asteroid flyby Launched on October 18, 1989, the Galileo spacecraft passed the Asteroid Belt on its way to Jupiter. On October 29, 1991, it passed the asteroid Gaspra in a distance of 1,600 kilometers.

August 28, 1993

Galileo First discovery of an asteroid's moon When passing the asteroid Ida on August 28, 1993, the Galileo spacecraft took pictures from a distance of 2,400 km. In those pictures a small object was discovered in orbit of the asteroid.

December 7, 1995

Galileo-Probe First object to enter Jupiter's atmosphere Released from the the Galileo spacecraft, the Galileo-Probe entered Jupiter's atmosphere on December 7, 1995, transmitting data for 57.6 minutes, at which time it had descended through 156 km of Jovian atmospheric layers.

December 8, 1995

Galileo First satellite in orbit of Jupiter Launched on October 18, 1989, the Galileo spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter on December 8, 1995. It transmitted data and pictures of Jupiter and its moons for almost eight years until it was deliberately crashed into Jupiter's atmosphere on September 21, 2003.

July 4, 1997

Pathfinder / Sojourner First automatic rover on Mars Launched on December 4, 1996, the Pathfinder probe landed on Mars on July 4, 1997 and deployed Sojourner, the first automatic rover on another planet. Sojourner traveled a distance of about 100 meters.

February 14, 2000

NEAR Shoemaker First probe to orbit an asteroid Launched on February 17, 1996, the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft entered into an orbit around Eros on February 14, 2000. It orbited the asteroid for a year, before landing on it on February 12, 2001.

October 31, 2000

Soyuz TM-31 / ISS First long duration crew at the ISS The launch of Soyuz TM-31 on October 31, 2000, 07:52:47 UTC marked the beginning of an uninterrupted human presence in space. The crew docked with the International Space Station on November 02, 2000.

February 12, 2001

NEAR Shoemaker First landing on an asteroid After a year in orbit of asteroid Eros, the probe touched down on it on February 12, 2001, transmitting data and pictures from the surface for nine days.

October 15, 2003

Shenzhou 5 First manned space flight not launched by a superpower On October 15, 2003, 01:00:03 UTC Yang Liwei performed the first Chinese manned space flight. The space ship completed 14 orbits before safely landing 21 hours and 22 minutes later.

June 21, 2004

SpaceShipOne flight 15P First non-governmental space flight On a sub-orbital flight, SpaceShipOne, developed by aerospace company Scaled Composites, reached an altitude of 62.214 miles (100.124 km) and South African born US-American pilot Mike Melvill became the first non-governmental astronaut.

July 1, 2004

Cassini First satellite in orbit of Saturn Launched on October 15, 1997, the Cassini spacecraft entered orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004. It transmitted data and pictures of Saturn, its rings and its moons for over 13 years until it was deliberately crashed into Saturn's atmosphere on September 15, 2017.

September 8, 2004

Genesis First sample return from beyond the Earth/Moon system Launched on August 8, 2001, the Genesis spacecraft was placed in an elliptical orbit about the Earth-Sun L1 point to collect solar wind particles for 850 days. Although the craft crashed on return to Earth on September 8, 2004, enough uncontaminated particles were returned for analysis.

January 14, 2005

Huygens First soft landing on an object in the outer Solar System Released from the Cassini spacecraft, the European Huygens probe entered the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan and soft landed on January 14, 2005 12:43 UTC. It was the first landing on an object in the outer solar system and the first landing on a moon other than Earth's Moon. It transmitted data and pictures for 90 minutes.

July 4, 2005

Deep Impact First object to impact on a comet Launched on January 12, 2005, the US-probe passed comet Temple 1 on July 4, 2005 in a distance of 500 km and released an impactor, that hit the comet on July 4, 2005 05:45 UTC. The impactor transmitted pictures until three seconds before impact.

June 14, 2010

Hayabusa First sample return from the Asteroid Belt Launched on May 9, 2003, the Japanese probe landed on asteroid Itokawa on November 19, 2005 and returned soil samples back to Earth on June 14, 2010.

March 18, 2011

Messenger First spacecraft to orbit Mercury Launched on August 3, 2004, the spacecraft entered into an orbit around Mercury on March 18, 2011. It transmitted data and pictures for four years and became the first object to impact on Mercury on April 30, 2015.

August 25, 2012

Voyager 1 First probe to enter interstellar space Launched on September 5, 1977, Voyager 1 passed Jupiter, Saturn and Titan and crossed the outer border of the solar system in 2012. To date, Voyager 1 is the object furthest away from Earth and the oldest spacecraft that is still operational.

August 6, 2014

Rosetta First spacecraft to orbit a comet Launched on March 2 2004, the probe entered into an orbit around the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko on August 6, 2014. It transmitted data and pictures of the comet on its trajectory around the sun for two years and was crashed into the comet on September 30, 2016.

November 12, 2014

Philae First soft landing on a comet Philae was separated from Rosetta and landed on comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko on November 12, 2014. Despite the landing problems, the probe obtained the first images from a comet's surface. and made the first direct analysis of a comet.

March 6, 2015

Dawn First spacecraft to orbit a dwarf planet Launched on September 27, 2007, the Dawn spacecraft entered into an orbit around asteroid Vesta on July 16, 2011. On September 5, 2012, it left Vesta. On March 6, 2015, it entered into an orbit around dwarf planet Ceres, becoming the first spacecraft to have orbited two separate objects other than the Earth or the Moon.

April 30, 2015

Messenger First probe to impact on Mercury After four years in orbit of Mercury, the Messenger spaceraft ran out of fuel. On April 30, 2015, it became the first human made object to impact on the planet's surface.

July 14, 2015

New Horizons First Pluto flyby Launched on January 19, 2006, the New Horizons spacecraft passed Pluto on July 14, 2015, 11:49:57 UTC in a distance of 12,500 km and delivered the first data and pictures of Pluto and its moons.

April 8, 2016 March 30, 2017

SpaceX CRS-8 / SES-10 First return and reuse of a rocket stage After the launch of SpaceX CRS-8, an ISS supply mission by private company SpaceX, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket returned and performed a succesful automatic landing. The stage was used again less than a year later in the launch of communications satellite SES-10.

February 15, 2017

PSLV Launch C37 First deployment of over 100 satellites with one rocket An Indian rocket set a new world record, deploying 104 satellites of seven countries in one launch. 88 of them were mini-sats for the US Earth imaging company Planet Labs.

September 15, 2017

Cassini First probe to enter Saturn's atmosphere After four years in orbit of Saturn, the Cassini spaceraft ran out of fuel. Its last mission was to investigate the space between the atmosphere and the rings. On September 15, 2017, it burned up in the planet's atmosphere.

September 21, 2018

Minerva-II First moving vehicles on an asteroid Launched December 3, 2014, the Japanese probe Hayabusa 2 entered orbit around asteroid Ryugu on June 27, 2018. Landing probe Minerva-II landed on the asteroid on September 21, 2018 and deployed two small devices that hop across the asteroid by moving a "torquer" in their interior.

January 1, 2019

New Horizons First flyby at a Kuiper Belt Object After passing Pluto on Launched on July 14, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft was directed towards 2014 MU69, a Kuiper Belt Object, now officially named Arrokoth. On January 1, 2019, New Horizons passed Arrokoth in a distance of 3,500 km, transmitting pictures and data. It was the furthest passage of a celestial object to date.

January 3, 2019

Chang'e 4 First automatic landing on the far side of the Moon Launched on December 7, 2018, the Chinese probe entered lunar orbit on December 12, 2018 and landed on the far side of the Moon on January 3, 2019, 2:26 UTC. 12 hours later, the rover Yutu 2 was deployed.

May 30, 2020

Crew Dragon Demo 2 First crewed orbital flight launched by a private enterprise. Founded in 2002, SpaceX became the first private company to send astronuats into Earth orbit, delivering US-American astronauts Douglas G. Hurley and Robert L. Behnken to the International Space Station.

December 5, 2020

Chang'e 5 First automatic docking in Lunar orbit. Launched on November 23, 2020, the Chinese probe landed on the Moon on December 1 for the first Chinese sample return mission. On the way back, on December 5, the ascender docked in Lunar orbit with the reentry capsule.

April 19, 2021

Ingenuity First controlled flight on another planet On February 18, 2021, NASA's Perseverance spacecraft and rover landed on Mars. Attached to the rover was a light weight robotic helicopter. On April 19, 2021, the helicopter conducted the first powered controlled flight by an aircraft on a planet other than Earth.

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