- 1957 – Earth – Success – Sputnik 1 is launched, the first Earth
orbiting satellite - 1957 – Earth – Partial success – Sputnik 2 is launched, the first Earth
orbiting satellite with an animal (Laika) - 1958 – Moon – Failure – Pioneer 0 orbiter
- 1958 – Moon – Failure – Pioneer 1 orbiter
- 1958 – Moon – Failure – Pioneer 3 flyby
- 1959 – Sun – Pioneer 5 solar monitor
- 1959 – Moon – Success – Luna 1 flyby launched, it discovered solar wind
- 1959 – Moon – Pioneer 4 flyby
- 1959 – Moon – Success – Luna 2 lander launched, it was the first
spacecraft to impact onto he surface of the moon - 1959 – Moon – Success – Luna 3 flyby launched, it returned the first
image of the Moon’s hidden side - 1960 – Mars – Failure – Mars 1960A probe
- 1960 – Mars – Failure – Mars 1960B probe
- 1961 – Venus – Failure – 1VA (proto-Venera) flyby
- 1961 – Venus – Failure – Venera 1 flyby
- 1962 – Venus – Success – Mariner 2 launched and became the first
satellite to return data about Venus - 1962 – Earth – Success – Telstar I is launched
- 1962 – Earth – Success – Alouette is launched, the first Canadian
satellite - 1962 – Moon – Failure – Ranger 3 photographic mission
- 1962 – Moon – Success – Ranger 4 photographic mission
- 1962 – Moon – Partial Failure – Ranger 5 photographic mission (became
flyby) - 1962 – Mars – Failure – Mars 1962A flyby
- 1962 – Mars – Failure – Mars 1 flyby
- 1962 – Mars – Failure – Mars 1962B lander
- 1963 – Earth – Failure – Syncom 1 is launched
- 1963 – Earth – Success – Syncom 2 is launched and sets the
geosynchronous orbit - 1963 – Moon – Partial Failure – Luna 4 lander (became probe)
- 1964 – Earth – Success – Syncom 3 is launched and sets the
geostationary orbit - 1964 – Venus – Failure – Zond 1 flyby
- 1964 – Moon – Failure – Ranger 6 photographic mission
- 1964 – Moon – Success – Ranger 7 photographic mission
- 1964 – Mars – Failure – Mariner 3 flyby
- 1964 – Mars – Success – Mariner 4 flyby, the first successful Mars
mission - 1964 – Mars – Failure – Zond 2 flyby
- 1965 – Sun – Success – Pioneer 6 solar probe
- 1965 – Venus – Failure – Venera 2 flyby
- 1965 – Venus – Failure – Venera 3 atmospheric probe
- 1965 – Moon – Success – Ranger 8 photographic mission
- 1965 – Moon – Success – Ranger 9 photographic mission
- 1965 – Moon – Failure – Luna 5 lander
- 1965 – Moon – Failure – Luna 6 lander
- 1965 – Moon – Success – Zond 3 flyby
- 1965 – Moon – Failure – Luna 7 lander
- 1965 – Moon – Failure – Luna 8 lander
- 1965 – Mars – Success – Mariner 4 sends the first clear pictures of
Mars - 1966 – Sun – Success – Pioneer 7 solar probe
- 1966 – Moon – Success – Luna 9 lander returned the first photographs
from the surface of the Moon - 1966 – Moon – Success – Luna 10 becomes the first spacecraft to orbit
the Moon - 1966 – Moon – Success – Surveyor 1 lander
- 1966 – Moon – Success – Lunar Orbiter 1 orbiter
- 1966 – Moon – Success – Luna 11 orbiter
- 1966 – Moon – Failure – Surveyor 2
- 1966 – Moon – Success – Luna 12 orbiter
- 1966 – Moon – Success – Lunar Orbiter 2 orbiter
- 1966 – Moon – Success – Luna 13 lander
- 1967 – Sun – Success – Pioneer 8 solar probe
- 1967 – Venus – Success – Venera 4 sends the first data from below the
clouds of Venus - 1967 – Venus – Success – Mariner 5 flyby
- 1967 – Moon – Success – Lunar Orbiter 3 orbiter
- 1967 – Moon – Success – Surveyor 2 lander
- 1967 – Moon – Success – Lunar Orbiter 4 orbiter
- 1967 – Moon – Failure – Surveyor 3 lander
- 1967 – Moon – Success – Explorer 35 orbiter
- 1967 – Moon – Success – Lunar Orbiter 5 orbiter
- 1967 – Moon – Success – Surveyor 5 lander
- 1967 – Moon – Success – Surveyor 6 lander, also took off from the
Moon’s surface - 1967 – Success – The OSO-3 gamma-ray satellite discovers gamma-ray
emission from the plane of the Milky Way - 1968 – Sun – Success – Pioneer 9 solar probe
- 1968 – Moon – Success – Surveyor 7 lander
- 1968 – Moon – Success – Luna 14 orbiter
- 1968 – Moon – Success – Zond 5 flyby
- 1968 – Moon – Success – Zond 6 flyby
- 1968 – Moon – Success – Apollo 8 manned orbiter became the first manned
lunar flyby - 1969 – Venus – Success – Venera 5 atmospheric probe
- 1969 – Venus – Success – Venera 6 atmospheric probe
- 1969 – Moon – Success – Apollo 10 manned orbiter
- 1969 – Moon – Failure – Luna 15 lander
- 1969 – Moon – Success – Apollo 11 manned lander became the first manned
lunar landing - 1969 – Moon – Success – Zond 7 flyby
- 1969 – Moon – Success – Apollo 12 manned lander
- 1969 – Mars – Success – Mariner 6 flyby
- 1969 – Mars – Success – Mariner 7 flyby
- 1970 – Venus – Success – Venera 7 is the first successful landing of a
spacecraft on another planet - 1970 – Moon – Failure – Apollo 13 manned lander
- 1970 – Moon – Success – Luna 16 lander is the first automated return of
samples from the Moon - 1970 – Moon – Success – Zond 8 flyby
- 1970 – Moon – Success – Luna 17/Lunokhod 1 lander/rover is the first
automated surface exploration of the Moon - 1970 – Success – Launch of Uhuru, the first dedicated X-ray satellite
- 1971 – Moon – Success – Apollo 14 manned lander
- 1971 – Moon – Success – Apollo 15 manned lander, the mission included
the first deep spacewalk - 1971 – Moon – Failure – Luna 18 lander
- 1971 – Moon – Success – Luna 19 orbiter
- 1971 – Mars – Failure – Mariner 8 flyby
- 1971 – Mars – Failure – Kosmos 419 probe
- 1971 – Mars – Partial Failure – Mars 2 orbiter and lander, created the
first human artifact on Mars - 1971 – Mars – Partial Success – Mars 3 orbiter and lander, first
successful landing on Mars - 1971 – Mars – Success – Mariner 9 orbiter, first pictures of Mars’
moons (Phobos and Deimos) taken - 1972 – Venus – Success – Venera 8 lander
- 1972 – Moon – Success – Luna 20 lander
- 1972 – Moon – Success – Apollo 16 manned lander
- 1972 – Moon – Success – Apollo 17 manned lander
- 1972 – Success – Launch of the Copernicus ultraviolet satellite
- 1973 – Sun – Success – Explorer 49 solar probe
- 1973 – Venus/Mercury – Success – Mariner 10 launched, it passed by and
photographed Mercury, also was the first dual planet probe - 1973 – Moon – Success – Luna 21/Lunokhod 2 lander/rover
- 1973 – Mars – Failure – Mars 4 orbiter
- 1973 – Mars – Success – Mars 5 orbiter
- 1973 – Mars – Failure – Mars 6 orbiter and lander
- 1973 – Mars – Failure – Mars 7 orbiter and lander
- 1973 – Success – Skylab was launched, re-entered Earth’s atmosphere in
1979 - 1974 – Sun – Success – Helios 1 solar probe
- 1974 – Moon – Success – Luna 22 orbiter
- 1974 – Moon – Failure – Luna 23 probe
- 1974 – Success – Launch of the Ariel V X-ray satellite
- 1975 – Venus – Success – Venera 9 returns the first pictures of the
surface of Venus - 1975 – Venus – Success – Venera 10 orbiter and lander
- 1975 – Mars – Partial Success – Viking 1 orbiter and lander
- 1975 – Mars – Success – Viking 2 orbiter and lander
- 1976 – Sun – Success – Helios 2 solar probe
- 1976 – Moon – Success – Luna 24 lander
- 1976 – Mars – Success – Viking I and Viking II land on Mars
- 1976 – Success – The Vela and ANS X-ray satellites discover X-ray
bursts - 1976 – Success – The OSO-8 X-ray satellite shows that X-ray bursts have
blackbody spectra - 1977 – Success – Launch of the HEAO-1 X-ray satellite
- 1978 – Venus – Success – Pioneer Venus 1 orbiter
- 1978 – Venus – Success – Pioneer Venus 2 atmospheric probe
- 1978 – Venus – Partial Success – Venera 11 flyby and lander
- 1978 – Venus – Success – Venera 12 flyby and lander
- 1978 – Success – Launch of the International Ultraviolet Explorer
satellite - 1978 – Success – Launch of the Einstein X-ray satellite (HEAO-2) is the
first X-ray photographs of astronomical objects - 1979 – Success – Launch of the Hakucho X-ray satellite (ASTRO-A)
- 1979 – Success – Launch of the Ariel VI cosmic-ray and X-ray satellite
- 1979 – Jupiter – Success – Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 send back images of
Jupiter and its system - 1980 – Sun – Success – Solar Maximum Mission solar probe succeeded
after being repaired in Earth orbit - 1980 – Saturn – Success – Voyager 1 sends back images of Saturn and its
system - 1980 – Success – Launch of the Solar Maximum Mission satellite
- 1981 – Venus – Success – Venera 13 launched, it returned the first
colour pictures of the surface of Venus - 1981 – Venus – Success – Venera 14 flyby and lander
- 1981 – Saturn – Success – Voyager 2 sends back images of Saturn and its
system - 1983 – Venus – Success – Venera 15 orbiter
- 1983 – Venus – Success – Venera 16 orbiter
- 1983 – Success – Launch of the EXOSAT X-ray satellite
- 1983 – Success – Launch of the Tenma X-ray satellite (ASTRO-B)
- 1983 – Success – Launch of the IRAS satellite
- 1984 – Venus/Halley’s Comet – Success – Vega 1 flyby, atmospheric probe
and lander - 1984 – Venus/Halley’s Comet – Success – Vega 2 flyby, atmospheric probe
and lander - 1986 – Uranus – Success – Voyager 2 sends back images of Uranus and its
system - 1987 – Success – Launch of the Ginga X-ray satellite (ASTRO-C)
- 1988 – Mars – Failure – Phobos 1 orbiter and lander
- 1988 – Mars – Failure – Phobos 2 flyby and lander
- 1989 – Venus – Success – Magellan orbiter launched which mapped 99
percent of the surface of Venus (300 m resolution) - 1989 – Venus/Earth/Moon/Gaspra/Ida/Jupiter – Success – Galileo flyby,
orbiter and atmospheric probe - 1989 – Neptune – Success – Voyager 2 sends back images of Neptune and
its system - 1989 – Success – Launch of the Granat gamma-ray and X-ray satellite
- 1989 – Success – Launch of the Hipparcos satellite
- 1989 – Success – Launch of the COBE satellite
- 1990 – Sun – Success – Ulysses solar flyby
- 1990 – Moon – Failure – Muses-A orbiters, this was the first non-US or
USSR probe to reach the Moon - 1990 – Success – Launch of the Hubble Space Telescope
- 1990 – Success – Launch of the ROSAT X-ray satellite is the first
imaging X-ray sky survey - 1990 – Success – First observations made with Astro-1 (BBXRT, HUT, UIT,
WUPPE) - 1991 – Sun – Success – Yohkoh solar probe
- 1991 – Success – Launch of the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory satellite
- 1992 – Mars – Failure – Mars Observer orbiter
- 1993 – Success – Launch of the Asca X-ray satellite (ASTRO-D)
- 1994 – Moon – Success – Clementine orbiter mapped the surface of the
Moon (resolution 125-150m) and allowed the first topographic of the
Moon to be generated - 1995 – Sun – Success – [[SOHO solar probe
- 1996 – Mars – Mars Global Surveyor orbiter
- 1996 – Mars – Success – Mars Pathfinder/Sojourner lander/rover, the
first automated surface exploration another planet - 1997 – Saturn – Cassini probe – has yet to arrive
- 1998 – Moon – Success – Lunar Prospector orbiter
- 1998 – Mars – Nozomi (Planet B) orbiter will be the first Japanese
spacecraft to reach another planet – has yet to arrive - 1998 – Mars – Failure – Mars Climate Orbiter orbiter
- 1999 – Mars – Failure – Mars Polar Lander lander
- 1999 – Mars – Failure – Deep Space 2 (DS2) penetrators
- 2000 – Earth – IMAGE launched, the first space storm weather satellite
- 2001 – Sun – Genesis solar wind sample return – has yet to return
- 2001 – Mars – 2001 Mars Odyssey – has yet to arrive
- 2002 – Moon – SMART1 orbiter – not yet launched
- 2003 – Moon – Lunar-A orbiter and penetrators – not yet launched
- 2003 – Moon – Selene orbiter and lander – not yet launched
- 2003 – Mars – Mars Exploration Rovers rovers – not yet launched
- 2003 – Mars – Mars Express orbiter and lander – not yet launched
- 2004 – Mercury – Messenger orbiter – not yet launched
- 2005 – Mars – Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter orbiter – not yet launched
Timeline of Artificial Satellites and Space Probes
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