a timeline of Space Exploration

  • Period: to

    Before 20th century

    Creation of the first telescope and space observation
  • First reflecting telescope

    First reflecting telescope
    created by Isaac Newton (England)
  • First telescopic photograph of the Moon

    by researcher, John William Draper (United States)
  • Period: to

    20th century

    First invention of space flight.
    Start of the space race which involves Russia (URSS), United States, China, and Europe mainly.
  • First observation of extrasolar planet (exoplanet)

    Discovered by Adriaan van Maanen who is from the Netherlands
  • The influencial papers of Goddard: "A method of reaching extreme altitude"

    These papers were made by Robert H. Goddard who was a physicist and engineer that is credited for making the first fueled rocket.
  • First liquid-fueled rocket launch

  • First radio waves

    The first detection of radio waves from the USA from a man who is named Karl Jansky
  • First spaceflight in history

    First spaceflight in history
    The first man-made object was launched by Germany which is named V-2 rocket
  • First picture of Earth

    First picture of Earth
    The first picture of Earth was taken by the USA which is from the V-2 mission
  • First animal in space

    The first animal who went in space were fruit flies
  • First two stage rocket launched

    It was rocket made by USA that was named Bumper-5
  • First artificial satellite

    First artificial satellite
    The first artificial satellite was made by the USSR, the name of the mission and the satellite is Sputnik 1
  • First rocket to reach the Earth's escape velocity.

    Luna 1 was a rocket made by the USSR and was the first to escape the Earth.
  • First weather satellite

    It's named Vangard 2 and it was created by the USA as the first weather satellite
  • First human spaceflight

    Yuri Gagarin is the first human to go to space with the mission Vostok 1 from the USSR
  • The first human-piloted spaceflight

    The first human-piloted spaceflight is from the mission Freedom 7 which is from the USA. The man that piloted the object was Alan Shepard.
  • The first lunar spacecraft to be recovered successfully

    It is from the mission Zond 5 by the USSR and it was apart of a mission to send animals and plants to space around the moon.
  • The first steps on the moon

    The first steps on the moon
    The first humans to reach the moon which is from the mission Apollo 11 and included Neil Armstrong.
  • The first spacestation

    The first spacestation was made by the USSR in the mission Salyut 1.
  • The first multinational crewed mission

    The Apollo-Soyuz mission was the first mission that included multiple nations which were the USA and the USSR
  • First spacecraft to flyby a distant planet

    First spacecraft to flyby a distant planet
    Voyager 2 was the first to flyby Uranus.
  • Creation of the ISS

    Creation of the ISS
    It was made by multiple countries that were Russia, USA, Japan, Europe...
  • Period: to

    After 20th century

  • First discovery of lunar water

    It was discovered by India and it was in the form of ice
  • First spacecraft to leave our solar system

    Voyager 1 is the first object to go beyond the heliosphere (the border of our solar system)
  • First food grown in space

    It was grown by the USA and Japan
  • First direct photograph of a black hole and its vicinity

    First direct photograph of a black hole and its vicinity
    The black hole was observed by a telescope which is named Event Horizon Telescope.
  • Launch of the largest telescope to date

    Launch of the largest telescope to date
    The space telescope which is launched by the USA and the Canada on the 25th December 2021 is named James Webb Space Telescope.