| Date | Event leading to space exploration | Country | Researcher(s) |
|---|
| 1610 | First telescopic observation of the night sky: discovery of Jupiter's moons, lunar craters and the phases of Venus. | Republic of Venice | Galileo Galilei |
| 1687 | Publication of the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica | England | Sir Isaac Newton |
| 1813 | First exposition of the rocket equation based on Newton's third law of motion: Treatise on the Motion of Rockets | UK | William Moore |
| 1840 | First clear telescopic photograph of another world: the Moon. | United States | John William Draper |
| 1865 | From the Earth to the Moon published. | France | Jules Verne |
| 1898 | The War of the Worlds published. This inspired Robert Goddard to investigate rocketry. | UK | H. G. Wells |
| 1903 | Inspired by the writings of Jules Verne, first serious work published that showed physical space exploration was theoretically possible: {{lang|ru|Исследование мировых пространств реактивными приборами}} (The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices) | Russia | Konstantin Tsiolkovsky |
| 1914 | Goddard files for and is subsequently awarded U.S. patents on multistage and liquid-fueled rockets | United States | Robert H. Goddard |
| 1919 | Goddard's widely influential paper "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes" discussed solid- and liquid-fueled rocketry | United States | Robert H. Goddard |
| {{dts|15 December 1923}} | {{lang|de|Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen}} ("By Rocket into Planetary Space") self-published after its rejection as a doctoral thesis. | Germany | Hermann Oberth |
| 1924 | Society for Studies of Interplanetary Travel founded | USSR | Members include Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Friedrich Zander, Yuri Kondratyuk |
| {{dts|16 March 1926}} | Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket | United States | Robert H. Goddard |
| 1927 | Verein für Raumschiffahrt (Society for Space Travel) formed; it includes many top European rocket scientists. | Germany | |
| 1927 | Завоевание межпланетных пространств (The Conquest of Interplanetary Space) discusses rocket mechanics and orbital effects including the gravitational slingshot | USSR | Yuri Kondratyuk |
| 1928 | {{lang|de|Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums – der Raketen-Motor}} (The Problem of Space Travel – The Rocket Motor) discusses space travel and its potential uses for scientific experiments. | Germany | Herman Potočnik |
| 1929 | Oberth, with students including Wernher von Braun, launches his first liquid-fueled rocket | Germany | Hermann Oberth |
| 1931 | First German military liquid-fueled rocket engines developed | Germany | Walter Riedel |
| 1933 | Work begins on the Aggregate series of rockets which leads to the V-2 rocket. | Germany | Wernher von Braun |
| Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD) launches the first Soviet liquid-fueled rocket | USSR | Sergey Korolev (group leader), Friedrich Zander (designer) |
| 1935 | Graduate student Frank Malina under his professor Theodore von Kármán begins work on a sounding rocket | United States | Frank Malina |
| {{dts|11 November 1935}} | The Explorer II balloon takes two people to {{Convert|22066|m|ft}}, where they observe and photograph the curvature of the Earth. | United States | Albert W. Stevens and Orvil A. Anderson |
| {{dts|20 June 1944}} | V-2 Rocket (MW 18014): First man-made object to cross what would later be defined as the Kármán line and hence first spaceflight in history. | Germany | Wehrmacht |
| {{dts|10 May 1946}} | First space research flight (cosmic radiation experiments) | United States | captured and improved V-2 rocket |
| {{dts|22 May 1946}} | First U.S.-designed rocket to reach edge of space (80 km (49 mi)) | United States | WAC Corporal |
| {{dts|24 October 1946}} | First pictures of Earth from 105 km (65 mi) [1][2] | United States | V-2 |
| 20 February 1947 | First animals in space (fruit flies) [1][3] | United States | V-2 |
| {{dts|5 March 1948}} | The independently developed fully American made Aerobee sounding rocket passes the Karman line at 73 miles (117.5 km). Launched from White Sands, the sub-orbital space flight carries scientific instruments to study the effects of cosmic radiation. | United States | Aerobee RTV-N-8[4] |
| {{dts|24 February 1949}} | America mounts a WAC Corporal missile onto a V-2 rocket and produces a two-stage rocket that sets a record altitude of 244 miles (392.68 kilometers). | United States | Bumper-5 launch |
| 22 July 1951 | First dogs in space (Dezik and Tsygan) [5] | USSR | R-1 |
| Date | Mission achievements | Country/organization | Mission name |
|---|
| {{dts|20 September 1956}} | The three-stage Jupiter-C debut achieves an altitude of 682 miles. Wernher von Braun is forced to deactivate and ballast the fourth stage with sand to prevent an "accidental" satellite launch. The stigma of his past dealings along with President Eisenhower's belief that America's space program should not have military ties leads to the rejection of the Project Orbiter proposal in favor of the less developed Project Vanguard (a fateful decision that will have major ramifications). | United States | Jupiter-C (launch 1) |
| {{dts|21 August 1957}} | First intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) | USSR | R-7 Semyorka/SS-6 Sapwood |
| {{dts|4 October 1957}} | First artificial satellite
First signals from space | USSR | Sputnik 1 |
| {{dts|3 November 1957}} | First animal in orbit, the dog Laika | USSR | Sputnik 2 |
| {{dts|31 January 1958}} | Confirmed the existence of the Van Allen belts | USA (ABMA) | Explorer 1 |
| {{dts|2 January 1959}} | First firing of a rocket into orbit around the Earth
First reaching Earth escape velocity or Trans Lunar Injection
First detection of solar wind | USSR | Luna 1 |
| {{dts|4 January 1959}} | First artificial satellite to reach the Moon vicinity and first artificial satellite in heliocentric orbit | USSR | Luna 1 |
| {{dts|7 August 1959}} | First photograph of Earth from orbit | USA (NASA) | Explorer 6 |
| {{dts|13 September 1959}} | First impact into another world (the Moon)
First delivery of national (USSR) pennants to a celestial body | USSR | Luna 2 |
| {{dts|4 October 1959}} | First photos of another world from space: The far side of the Moon | USSR | Luna 3 |
|
| Date | Mission success | Country/organization | Mission name |
|---|
| {{dts|March 1960}} | First solar probe. | USA (NASA) | Pioneer 5 |
| {{dts|19 August 1960}} | First plants and animals to return alive from Earth orbit | USSR | Sputnik 5 |
| {{dts|10 October 1960}} | First probe launched to Mars (failed to reach target) | USSR | Mars 1M |
| {{dts|31 January 1961}} | First Hominidae in space, first tasks performed in space; Ham (chimpanzee). | USA (NASA) | M-R 2 |
| {{dts|12 February 1961}} | First launch from Earth orbit of upper stage into a heliocentric orbit
First mid-course corrections
First spin-stabilisation | USSR | Venera 1 |
| {{dts|12 April 1961}} | First human spaceflight (Yuri Gagarin)
First human-crewed orbital flight | USSR | Vostok 1 |
| {{dts|5 May 1961}} | First human-piloted space flight (Alan Shepard)
First human-crewed suborbital flight
First human space mission that landed with pilot still in spacecraft, thus the first complete human spaceflight by FAI definitions.[6] | USA | Freedom 7 |
| {{dts|19 May 1961}} | First planetary flyby (within 100,000 km of Venus – no data returned) | USSR | Venera 1 |
| {{dts|7 March 1962}} | First orbital solar observatory | USA (NASA) | OSO-1 |
| {{dts|26 April 1962}} | First spacecraft to impact the far side of the Moon[7] | USA (NASA) | Ranger 4 |
| {{dts|November 1962}} | First Mars flyby (11,000 km) but contact was lost | USSR | Mars 1 |
| {{dts|14 December 1962}} | First successful planetary flyby (Venus closest approach 34,773 kilometers) | USA (NASA) | Mariner 2 |
| {{dts|16 June 1963}} | First woman in space (Valentina Tereshkova) | USSR | Vostok 6 |
| {{dts|19 July 1963}} | First reusable crewed spacecraft (suborbital) | USA (NASA) | X-15 Flight 90 |
| {{dts|18 March 1965}} | First extra-vehicular activity (Alexei Leonov) | USSR | Voskhod 2 |
| {{dts|March 1965}} | First crewed spacecraft to change orbit | USA (NASA) | Gemini 3 |
| {{dts|14 July 1965}} | First Mars flyby (closest approach 9,846 kilometers; returned pictures) | USA (NASA) | Mariner 4 |
| {{dts|14 July 1965}} | First close-up photographs of another planet: Mars | USA (NASA) | Mariner 4 |
| {{dts|15 December 1965}} | First orbital rendezvous (parallel flight, no docking) | USA (NASA) | Gemini 6A/Gemini 7 |
| {{dts|3 February 1966}} | First soft landing on another world (the Moon)
First photos from another world | USSR | Luna 9 |
| {{dts|1 March 1966}} | First impact into another planet (Venus) | USSR | Venera 3 |
| {{dts|16 March 1966}} | First orbital docking between two spacecraft | USA (NASA) | Gemini 8/Agena target vehicle |
| {{dts|3 April 1966}} | First artificial satellite around another world (the Moon) | USSR | Luna 10 |
| {{dts|August 1966}} | First probe to map the Moon | USA | Lunar Orbiter 1 |
| {{dts|30 October 1967}} | First automated (crewless) docking | USSR | Cosmos 186/Cosmos 188 |
| {{dts|September 1968}} | First animals and plants to orbit the Moon, and the first to return safely to Earth | USSR | Zond 5 |
| {{dts|7 December 1968}} | First orbital ultraviolet observatory | USA (NASA) | OAO-2 |
| {{dts|21 December 1968}} | First piloted orbital mission of another celestial body (Moon),
First Trans-Earth injection
First human space mission to enter the gravitational influence of another celestial body (25 December) | USA (NASA) | Apollo 8 |
| {{dts|January 1969}} | First docking between two crewed spacecraft in Earth orbit, also the first crew exchange in space | USSR | Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 |
| {{dts|January 1969}} | First to parachute in Venus's atmosphere, lost contact before landing. | USSR | Venera 5 |
| {{dts|20 July 1969}} | First human on the Moon, and first space launch from a celestial body other than the Earth
First sample return from the Moon | USA (NASA) | Apollo 11 |
| August 4, 1969}} | First photograph of Phobos from Space | USA (NASA) | Mariner 7 |
| {{dts|19 November 1969}} | First rendezvous on the surface of a celestial body | USA (NASA) | Apollo 12/Surveyor 3 |
| Date | Mission success | Country/organization | Mission name |
|---|
| {{dts|24 September 1970}} | First automatic sample return from the Moon | USSR | Luna 16 |
| {{dts|17 November 1970}} | First lunar rover | USSR | Lunokhod 1 |
| {{dts|12 December 1970}} | First X-ray orbital observatory | USA (NASA) | Uhuru (satellite) |
| {{dts|15 December 1970}} | First soft landing on another planet (Venus)
First signals from another planet | USSR | Venera 7 |
| {{dts|19 April 1971}} | First space station | USSR | Salyut 1 |
| {{dts|June, 1971}} | First Manned orbital observatory | USSR | Orion 1 |
| {{dts|14 November 1971}} | First to maintain orbit around another planet (Mars) | USA (NASA) | Mariner 9 |
| {{dts|27 November 1971}} | First impact into Mars | USSR | Mars 2 |
| {{dts|2 December 1971}} | First soft Mars landing
First signals from Mars surface | USSR | Mars 3 |
| {{dts|3 March 1972}} | First human made object sent on escape trajectory away from the Sun | USA (NASA) | Pioneer 10 |
| {{dts|15 July 1972}} | First mission to enter the asteroid belt and leave inner Solar System | USA (NASA) | Pioneer 10 |
| {{dts|15 November 1972}} | First orbital gamma ray observatory | USA (NASA) | SAS 2 |
| {{dts|3 December 1973}} | First Jupiter flyby (at 130,000 km) | USA (NASA) | Pioneer 10 |
| {{dts|5 February 1974}} | Venus flyby at 5768 kilometers, first gravitational assist manoeuvre First photograph of Venus from Space | USA (NASA) | Mariner 10 |
| {{dts|29 March 1974}} | First Mercury flyby at 703 kilometers | USA (NASA) | Mariner 10 |
| {{dts|15 July 1975}} | First multinational manned mission | USSR USA (NASA) | Apollo-Soyuz Test Project |
| {{dts|20 October 1975}} | First orbit around Venus | USSR | Venera 9 |
| {{dts|22 October 1975}} | First photos from the surface of another planet (Venus) | USSR | Venera 9 |
| {{dts|17 April 1976}} | Closest flyby of the Sun (43.432 million kilometers)
Maximum speed record among spacecraft (252,792 km/h) | USA (NASA) West Germany (DFVLR) | Helios 2 |
| {{dts|20 July 1976}} | First photos and soil samples from the surface of Mars | USA (NASA) | Viking Lander |
| {{dts|26 January 1978}} | First real time remotely operated ultraviolet orbital observatory | USA (NASA) ESA UK (SERC) | International Ultraviolet Explorer |
| {{dts|4 December 1978}} | First extended (multi-year) orbital exploration of Venus from 1978 to 1992 | USA (NASA) | Pioneer Venus Orbiter |
| {{dts|5 March 1979}} | Jupiter flyby (closest approach 349,000 km)
encounters with Five Jovian moons, discovery of volcanism on Io | USA (NASA) | Voyager 1 |
| {{dts|1 September 1979}} | First Saturn flyby at 21,000 km, first photographs of Titan from Space | USA (NASA) | Pioneer 11 |
| {{dts|12 November 1980}} | Saturn flyby (closest approach 124,000 kilometers), close encounter of Titan and encounters with a dozen others. | USA (NASA) | Voyager 1 |
| Date | Mission success | Country/organization | Mission name |
|---|
| {{dts|12 April 1981}} | First Reusable manned spacecraft (orbital) | USA (NASA) | STS-1 |
| {{dts|1 March 1982}} | First Venus soil samples and sound recording of another world | USSR | Venera 13 |
| {{dts|25 January 1983}} | First Infrared orbital observatory | USA (NASA) UK (SERC) Netherlands (NIVR) | IRAS |
| {{dts|13 June 1983}} | First spacecraft beyond the orbit of Neptune (first spacecraft to pass beyond all Solar System planets) | USA (NASA) | Pioneer 10 |
| {{dts|7 February 1984}} | First untethered spacewalk, Bruce McCandless II | USA (NASA) | STS-41-B |
| {{dts|24 January 1986}} | First Uranus flyby (closest approach {{convert|81500|km|nmi|sp=us}} | USA (NASA) | Voyager 2 |
| {{dts|28 January 1986}} | First major American space loss, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, an explosion soon after liftoff which killed, among others, Christa McAuliffe, a high school teacher | USA (NASA) | STS-51-L |
| {{dts|19 February 1986}} | First consistently inhabited long-term research space station | USSR | Mir |
| {{dts|8 August 1989}} | First astrometric satellite | ESA | Hipparcos |
| {{dts|25 August 1989}} | First Neptune flyby (closest approach at 29,240 km) | USA (NASA) | Voyager 2 |
| {{dts|18 November 1989}} | First orbital cosmic microwave observatory | USA (NASA) | COBE |
| 14 February 1990}} | First photograph of the whole Solar System[8] | USA (NASA) | Voyager 1 |
| {{dts|24 April 1990}} | Optical orbital observatory | USA (NASA) ESA | Hubble Space Telescope |
| {{dts|15 September 1990}} | Extended (multi-year) orbital exploration of Venus | USA (NASA) | Magellan |
| {{dts|21 October 1991}} | First asteroid flyby (951 Gaspra closest approach 1,600 kilometers) | USA (NASA) | Galileo |
| {{dts|8 February 1992}} | First polar orbit around the Sun | USA (NASA) ESA | Ulysses |
| {{dts|22 March 1995}} | Record longest duration spaceflight (437.7 days) set by Valeri Polyakov | Russia (FKA) | Mir |
| {{dts|7 December 1995}} | First orbit of Jupiter | USA (NASA) | Galileo |
| {{dts|7 December 1995}} | First mission into the atmosphere of a gas giant (Jupiter) | USA (NASA) | Galileo{{'}}s atmospheric entry probe |
| {{dts|12 February 1997}} | First orbital radio observatory | Japan (ISAS) | HALCA |
| {{dts|4 July 1997}} | First operational rover on another planet (Mars) | USA (NASA) | Mars Pathfinder |
| {{dts|20 November 1998}} | First multinational space station,
Largest man-made object built in space to date | Russia(FKA) USA (NASA) Europe (ESA) Japan (JAXA) Canada (CSA) | International Space Station |
| {{dts|14 February 2000}} | First orbiting of an asteroid (433 Eros) | USA (NASA) ESA | NEAR Shoemaker |
| {{dts|12 February 2001}} | First landing on an asteroid (433 Eros) | USA (NASA) | NEAR Shoemaker |
| {{dts|1 July 2004}} | First orbit of Saturn | USA (NASA) ESA Italy (ASI) | Cassini–Huygens |
| {{dts|8 September 2004}} | First sample return beyond lunar orbit (solar wind) | USA (NASA) | Genesis |
| {{dts|14 January 2005}} | First soft landing on Titan | ESA USA (NASA) Italy (ASI) | Cassini–Huygens |
| {{dts|19 November 2005}} | First asteroid ascent (25143 Itokawa)
First interplanetary escape without undercarriage cutoff | Japan (JAXA) | Hayabusa |
| {{dts|15 January 2006}} | First sample return from comet (81P/Wild) | USA (NASA) | Stardust |
| {{dts|6 March 2009}} | Kepler Mission is launched, first space telescope designated to search for Earth-like exoplanets[9] | USA (NASA) | Kepler Mission |
| {{dts|13 June 2010}} | First sample return from asteroid (25143 Itokawa) | Japan (JAXA) | Hayabusa |
| {{dts|18 March 2011}} | First orbit of Mercury | USA (NASA) | MESSENGER |
| {{dts|16 July 2011}} | First orbit of giant asteroid Vesta | USA (NASA) | Dawn |
| {{dts|25 August 2012}} | First manmade probe in interstellar space. | USA (NASA) | Voyager 1 |
| {{dts|12 November 2014}} | First man-made probe to make a planned and soft landing on a comet (67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko).[10] | ESA | Rosetta |
| {{dts|6 March 2015}} | First orbit of dwarf planet (Ceres).
First spacecraft to orbit two separate celestial bodies. | USA (NASA) | Dawn |
| {{dts|July 2015}} | First flyby of dwarf planet (Pluto).
Last original encounter with one of the nine major planets recognized in 1981. | USA (NASA) | New Horizons |
| {{dts|10 August 2015}} | First food grown in space eaten (lettuce).[11] | USA (NASA) Japan (JAXA) | International Space Station |
| {{dts|21 December 2015}} | First propulsive landing for an orbital rocket. | USA (SpaceX) | Falcon 9 first-stage landing tests |
| {{dts|21 September 2018}} | First operational rover on asteroid (162173 Ryugu) | Japan (JAXA) | Hayabusa2 |
| 1 January 2019 | First contact binary explored by spacecraft ((486958) 2014 MU69)[12] | USA (NASA) | New Horizons |
| {{dts|3 January 2019}} | First soft landing on the far side of the Moon.[13] | {{Flagicon|China}} China (CNSA) | Chang'e 4 |
1. ^1 {{cite web|url=http://www.wsmr.army.mil/PAO/WSHist/Pages/ChronologyCowboystoV2stotheSpaceShuttletolasers.aspx|title=Chronology: Cowboys to V-2s to the Space Shuttle to lasers|website=Wsmr.army.mil|accessdate=4 August 2017}}
2. ^{{cite web |url=http://media.airspacemag.com/images/1stPhotoFromSpace.jpg |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2013-01-17 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221145846/http://media.airspacemag.com/images/1stPhotoFromSpace.jpg |archivedate=2014-02-21 |df= }}
3. ^{{cite web|url=https://history.nasa.gov/afspbio/part1.htm|title=Part 1|website=History.nasa.gov|accessdate=4 August 2017}}
4. ^http://www.astronautix.com/a/aerobee.html
5. ^Asif Siddiqi, Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge, University Press of Florida, 2003, {{ISBN|081302627X}}, p. 96
6. ^{{Cite web|title = Geek Trivia: A leap of fakes|url = http://www.techrepublic.com/article/geek-trivia-a-leap-of-fakes|website=Techrepublic.com|accessdate = 18 August 2016}}
7. ^{{Cite journal|last=|first=|date=1998-02-01|title=Discussion|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265964697000386|journal=Space Policy|volume=14|issue=1|page=6|doi=10.1016/S0265-9646(97)00038-6|via=}}
8. ^{{cite web |url=http://filer.case.edu/sjr16/advanced/20th_far_voyagers.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2009-07-21 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331174421/http://filer.case.edu/sjr16/advanced/20th_far_voyagers.html |archivedate=2009-03-31 |df= }}
9. ^{{cite web|url=http://spacechronology.com/2000s.html#2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122064714/http://www.spacechronology.com/2000s.html#2009|dead-url=yes|archive-date=22 January 2011|title=NASA launches Kepler Mission: Search for Earth-like worlds|website=Spacechornology.com|accessdate=4 August 2017}}
10. ^{{cite news |title= European Space Agency's Spacecraft Lands on Comet's Surface|first=Kenneth |last=Chang |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/science/space/european-space-agencys-spacecraft-lands-on-comets-surface.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 12, 2014 |accessdate= November 12, 2014 }}
11. ^{{Cite news|url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/meals_ready_to_eat|title=Meals Ready to Eat: Expedition 44 Crew Members Sample Leafy Greens Grown on Space Station|last=|first=|date=7 July 2015|work=Nasa|access-date=}}
12. ^{{Cite web|url=https://news.sky.com/story/ultima-thule-clearest-image-yet-of-snowman-space-rock-released-by-nasa-11597230|title=Ultima Thule: Clearest image yet of 'snowman' space rock released by NASA|website=Sky News|language=en|access-date=2019-01-02}}
13. ^{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/03/china-probe-change-4-land-far-side-moon-basin-crater|title=Far side of the moon: China's Chang'e 4 probe makes historic touchdown|last=Lyons|first=Kate|date=2019-01-03|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-01-03|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}