Full Space Timeline (Before, During and After the Space Race)

Goddard 1 (USA)

Mar 16, 1926

Robbert H. Goddard launches the first succesful liquid-fueled rocket.
(93 years ago)

V2 Rocket (Nazi Germany)

Jun 13, 1942

First balistic missile launch. (76 Years Ago)

MW 18014 (Nazi Germany)

Jun 20, 1944

First V2 rocket to reach space. First man-made object in space.

V2 Nº13 (USA)

Oct 24, 1946

First photo taken of Earth from outer space.

Blossom 1 [V2 Nº20] (USA)

Feb 20, 1947

First animals in space, and first animals safely returned to Earth (Fruit Flies).

Blossom 4 [V2 Nº47] (USA)

Jun 14, 1949

First monkey into space (Albert II).

R-1 Rocket (USSR)

Jul 22, 1951

First dogs in space in a suborbital flight. First mammals to retun safely from a suborbital flight (Dezik and Tsygan).

Space Race [19Yrs]

Period: Aug 2, 1955 to Jul 15, 1975

[EVENT] ABMA Foundation

Feb 1, 1956

The Army Ballistic Missile Agency was formed to develop the U.S. Army's first large ballistic missile. The agency was established at Redstone Arsenal,and commanded by Major General John B. Medaris with Wernher von Braun as technical director.

R-7 Semyorka Rocket (USSR)

Aug 21, 1957

First Intercontinental Balistic Missile (ICBM)

Sputnik 1 (USSR)

Oct 4, 1957

First artificial satelite (Sputnik 1) and first signal from space.

Sputnik 2 (USSR)

Nov 3, 1957

First animal in orbit (Laika).

Explorer 1 (USA)

Jan 31, 1958

First US satellite (Explorer 1) and first detection of the Van Allen Belts.

[EVENT] NASA Foundation

Jul 29, 1958

NASA was the successor of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency was to have a distinctly civilian orientation, encouraging peaceful applications in space science.

Luna Programme (USSR) [17Yrs]

Period: Sep 23, 1958 to Aug 9, 1976

Metcha [Luna 1] (USSR)

Jan 2, 1959

First lunar spacecraft, first rocket engine to restart in Earth orbit, and first spacecraft top orbit the Sun.

Jupiter AM-18 (USA)

May 28, 1959

First monkeys to return safely to Earth from space (Able and Baker).

X-15 Project (USA) [9Yrs]

Period: Jun 8, 1959 to Dec 20, 1968

Explorer 6 (USA)

Aug 7, 1959

First photograph of Earth from orbit.

Project Mercury (USA) [3Yrs]

Period: Sep 9, 1959 to May 16, 1963

Luna 2 (USSR)

Sep 14, 1959

First impact into anoter celestial body (the Moon)

Luna 3 (USSR)

Oct 7, 1959

First photos of the far side of the Moon.

Apollo Programme (USA) [12Yrs]

Period: Jul 1, 1960 to Dec 19, 1972

Discoverer 13 (USA)

Aug 11, 1960

First satellite recovered intact from orbit.

Discoverer 14 (USA)

Aug 18, 1960

First recovery of film from a satellite, and first aerial recovery of an object returning from Earth orbit.

Korabl-Sputnik 2 [Sputnik 5] (USSR)

Aug 19, 1960

First animals to safely return to Earth from orbit alive (Belka and Stelka).

Mercury-Redstone 2 (USA)

Jan 31, 1961

First ape to return safely to Earth from space (Ham).

Vostok 1 (USSR)

Apr 12, 1961

First human in space, first human in orbit, and first manned spacecraft in orbit.

Freedom 7 (USA)

May 5, 1961

First american in space, and first complete human spaceflight*. *It was the first complete human spaceflight by FAI standards, as Yuri Gagarin didn't return in his spacecraft, as after reentry, he parachuted to safety.

Vostok 2

Aug 6, 1961

First 24 hour spaceflight (Gherman Titov).

Ariel 1 (USA & UK)

Apr 26, 1962

First artificial satellite made by a non-superpower (UK).

[EVENT] Kennedy's Speech

Sep 12, 1962

In his "we choose to go to the Moon" speech, Kennedy characterized space as a new frontier, invoking the pioneer spirit that dominated American folklore. He infused the speech with a sense of urgency and destiny, and emphasized the freedom enjoyed by Americans to choose their destiny rather than have it chosen for them. Although he called for competition with the Soviet Union, he also proposed making the Moon landing a joint project.

[EVENT] Cuban Missle Crisis

Oct 16, 1962

It was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union initiated by the American discovery of Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. The confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.

Mariner 2 (USA)

Dec 4, 1962

First successful planetary flyby (Venus).

Vostok 6 (USSR)

Jun 16, 1963

First woman in space and first civilian in space (Valentina Tereshkova).

X-15 Flight 90 (USA)

Jul 19, 1963

First reusable piloted spacecraft and first spaceplane [suborbital] (X-15).

[EVENT] Kennedy's Assassination

Nov 22, 1963

35thPresident John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was riding with his wife Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally's wife Nellie when he was fatally shot by former U.S. Marine Lee Harvey Oswald firing in ambush from a nearby building.

Project Gemini (USA) [2Yrs]

Period: Apr 8, 1964 to Nov 15, 1966

Voskhod 1 (USSR)

Oct 12, 1964

First multi-person crew (Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov, Boris Yegorov).

Voskhod 2 (USSR)

Mar 18, 1965

First space walk (by Alexei Leonov).

Gemini 3 (USA)

Mar 23, 1965

First piloted spacecraft orbit change (John Young and Gus Grissom).

Gemini 4 (USA)

Jun 3, 1965

First space walk by an American (Ed White).

Mariner 4 (USA)

Jul 14, 1965

First succesful Mars flyby, and first to return images of Mars.

Diamant A (FRA)

Nov 26, 1965

First French satellite, first launched by a non-superpower (Astérix).

Gemini 6A - Gemini 7 (USA)

Dec 15, 1965

First orbital rendezvous without docking (station-keeping).

[EVENT] Death of Sergei Korolev

Jan 14, 1966

Luna 9 (USSR)

Feb 3, 1966

First soft landing on another celestial body (the Moon) and first photos from another celestial body.

Gemini 8 - ATV (USA)

Mar 16, 1966

First spacecraft docking (Gemini 8 and Agena Target Vehicle).

Luna 10 (USSR)

Apr 3, 1966

First artificial satellite to orbit another celestial body (the Moon).

Gemini 11 - ATV (USA)

Sep 12, 1966

First direct-ascent rendezvous on first orbit. (Gemini 11 with Agena Target Vehicle).

Gemini 12 - ATV (USA)

Nov 12, 1966

First demonstration of practical work capability during an EVA, and first 5.5 hours EVA.

[EVENT] Apollo 1 Fire

Jan 27, 1967

It was the first crewed mission of the United States Apollo program, the program to land the first men on the Moon. Planned to launch on February 21, 1967, the mission never flew; a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test at Cape Kennedy Launch Complex 34 killed all three crew members (Gus Grissom, Edward White, Roger Chaffee). The name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was officially retired by NASA in commemoration of them. Manned Apollo flights were suspended for 20 months.

[EVENT] Soyuz 1 Failure

Apr 24, 1967

Soyuz 1 was the first crewed flight of the Soyuz spacecraft. The flight was plagued with technical issues, and Komarov was killed when the descent module crashed into the ground due to a parachute failure. This was the first in-flight fatality in the history of spaceflight.

Kosmos 186 - Kosmos 188 (USSR)

Oct 30, 1967

First docking of two remote-controlled spacecraft (Kosmos 186 with Kosmos 188).

[EVENT] Death of Yuri Gagarin

Mar 27, 1968

Apollo 7 (USA)

Oct 11, 1968

First manned Apollo mission, and first live television broadcast aboard an American manned spacecraft.

Apollo 8 (USA)

Dec 21, 1968

First human-crewed spaceflight to, and orbit of, another celestial object (the Moon), and first human spaceflight to enter the gravitational influence of another celestial body (Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders)

Soyuz 4 - Soyuz 5 (USSR)

Jan 16, 1969

First docking of two manned spacecraft (Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5), and first crew exchange in space (Yevgeny Khrunov and Aleksei Yeliseyev).

Apollo 11 (USA)

Jul 20, 1969

First humans on the Moon (Neil Armstrong and then Buzz Aldrin), and first space launch from another celestial body. Also, first samples from another celestial bodies returned to Earth.

Apollo 12 (USA)

Nov 19, 1969

First precisely targeted piloted landing on the Moon (Surveyor 3 site). Also first man to dance on the Moon (Pete Conrad).

Lambda-4S (JAP)

Feb 11, 1970

First successful Japanese satellite launch (Ohsumi).

Apollo 13 (USA)

Apr 11, 1970

First explosion onboard a spacecraft. Crew survived thanks to the free-return trajectory (Jim Lovell, John Swiggert, Fred Haise).

Chang Zheng 1 (PRC)

Apr 24, 1970

First successful Chinese satellite launch (Dong Fang Hong I).

Luna 16 (USSR)

Sep 24, 1970

First robotic automatic sample return from another celestial body (the Moon).

Lunokhod 1 (USSR)

Nov 23, 1970

First remote-controlled mobile vehicle (rover) on another celestial body (the Moon).

Venera 7 (USSR)

Dec 15, 1970

First soft landing on another planet (Venus), and first signals from another planet.

Salyut 1 (USSR)

Apr 19, 1971

First human-crewed space station launched.

Salyut Programme (USSR) [14Yrs]

Period: Apr 19, 1971 to Feb 18, 1986

Soyuz 11 - Salyut 1 (USSR)

Jun 29, 1971

First human-crewed orbital observatory (Orion 1), and 23-day manned space record.

Apollo 15 (USA)

Jul 31, 1971

First mobile vehicle lunar rover driven by humans on another celestial body (the Moon).

Black Arrow R3 (UK)

Oct 28, 1971

First successful UK satellite launch (Prospero).

Mariner 9 (USA)

Nov 14, 1971

First spacecraft to orbit another planet (Mars).

Mars 2 (USSR)

Nov 27, 1971

First impact into Mars.

Mars 3 (USSR)

Dec 2, 1971

First soft Mars landing, and first signals from Mars surface.

Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D (USA)

Mar 3, 1972

First human-made object sent on escape trajectory away from the Sun.

Pioneer 10 (USA)

Jul 15, 1972

First mission to enter the asteroid belt and leave inner solar system.

Skylab 1 (USA)

May 14, 1973

Last launch of the Saturn V. First american space station.

Pioneer 10 (USA)

Dec 3, 1973

First Jupiter flyby, and first to return images of Jupiter.

Mariner 10 (USA)

Feb 5, 1974

First gravitational assist manoeuvre, and first photograph of Venus from Space.

Mariner 10 (USA)

Mar 29, 1974

First Mercury flyby, and first to return images of Mercury.

[EVENT] Arecibo Message

Nov 16, 1974

It is an interstellar radio message carrying basic information about humanity and Earth sent to globular star cluster M13 in the hope that extraterrestrial intelligence might receive and decipher it.

ESA Foundation (EUR)

May 30, 1975

Formation of European Space Agency, which pools the resources of several European countries.

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (USA/USSR)

Jul 15, 1975

First multinational human-crewed mission (Soyuz 19 and

Apollo CSM-111). First multinational handshake in space.

[EVENT] Soyuz 23 Failure

Oct 16, 1976

Soyuz 23 arrived at the Salyu 5 station, but an equipment malfunction did not allow docking and the mission had to be aborted.The crew returned to Earth, but landed on partially frozen Lake Tengiz, the first splashdown in the Soviet space program. The capsule sank under the surface of the frozen lake, and recovery took nine hours owing to fog and other adverse conditions. The landing marked the only example of an unintentional splashdown of a manned spacecraft to date.

[EVENT] Death of Wernher von Braun

Jun 16, 1977

[EVENT] Launch of Voyager 2

Aug 20, 1977

Voyager 2 was launched to study the outer planets. It is the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus and Neptune. It contained a golden record with sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or for future humans, who may find them. It is sort of time capsule.

[EVENT] Launch of Voyager 1

Sep 5, 1977

Voyager 1 was launched to study the outer planets. It studied the weather, magnetic fields, and rings of Jupiter and Saturn and was the first probe to provide detailed images of their moons. It contained a golden record with sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or for future humans, who may find them. It is sort of time capsule.

Voyager 1 (USA)

Mar 5, 1979

First encounters with Five Jovian moons, and discovery of volcanism on Io. Also, returned photos from the Jovian moons and Jupiter.

Pioneer 11 (USA)

Sep 1, 1979

First Saturn flyby, and first photographs of Titan from Space.

Voyager 1 (USA)

Nov 12, 1980

Saturn flyby, close encounter of Titan and encounters with a dozen others.

STS-1 (USA)

Apr 12, 1981

First reusable piloted spacecraft and first spaceplane [orbital] (Space Shuttle).

Salyut 7 - EP-2 (USSR)

Aug 19, 1982

First mixed gender crew aboard space station, and first woman on space station (Svetlana Savitskaya).

Pioneer 10 (USA)

Jun 13, 1983

First spacecraft beyond the orbit of Neptune and first spacecraft to pass beyond all Solar System planets.

STS-7 (USA)

Jun 18, 1983

First american woman in space (Sally Ride).

Soyuz T-10a (USSR)

Sep 26, 1983

First time a crew was saved by the launch scape system.

STS-41-B (USA)

Feb 7, 1984

First untethered spacewalk (Bruce McCandless II).

Salyut 7 - EP-4 (USSR)

Jul 25, 1984

First spacewalk by woman (Svetlana Savitskaya).

Soyuz T-13 (USSR)

Jun 6, 1985

First time a spacecraft had docked with a 'dead' space station, and the first time such a station had been returned to operational status following repairs (Salyut 7).

Voyager 2 (USA)

Jan 24, 1986

First Uranus flyby, and first to return images of Uranus.

[EVENT] Challenger Disaster (STS-51-L)

Jan 28, 1986

This was the first major American space loss. An explosion soon after liftoff killed the 7 members: Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffewho was a high school teacher that won the Teachers in Space Competition.

Mir (USSR)

Feb 19, 1986

First consistently inhabited long-term research space station.

Mir Programme (USSR) [15Yrs]

Period: Feb 19, 1986 to Mar 23, 2001

Energia-Buran (USSR)

Nov 15, 1988

First and only orbital flight of the soviet spaceplane "Buran".

Voyager 2 (USA)

Aug 25, 1989

First Neptune flyby, and first to return images of Neptune.

Voyager 1 (USA)

Feb 14, 1990

First photograph of the whole Solar System, also known as "Family Portrait".

[EVENT] Roscosmos Foundation

Feb 25, 1992

The Soviet space program did not have central executive agencies.The creation of a central agency after the separation of Russia from the Soviet Union was therefore a new development. The Russian Space Agency was formed by a decree of President Yeltsin. Yuri Koptev, who had previously worked with designing Mars landers at NPO Lavochkin, became the agency's first director.

Mars Pathfinder (USA)

Jul 4, 1997

First operational rover (Sojourner) on another planet (Mars)

Zarya [FGB] (INT)

Nov 20, 1998

First module of the International Space Station.

International Space Station (INT) [~32Yrs]

Period: Nov 20, 1998 to 2030

NEAR Shoemaker (INT)

Feb 14, 2000

First orbiting of an Asteroid (433 Eros)

ISS Expedition 1 (INT)

Nov 2, 2000

First mission to the ISS. Begining of continuous human presence in space.

NEAR Shoemaker (INT)

Feb 12, 2001

First soft landing on an asteroid. (433 Eros).

[EVENT] SpaceX Foundation

May 6, 2002

In 2001, Elon Musk conceptualized Mars Oasis, a project to land a miniature experimental greenhouse and grow plants on Mars, in an attempt to regain public interest in space exploration and increase the budget of NASA. Musk tried to buy cheap rockets from Russia but returned empty-handed after failing to find rockets for an affordable price. On the flight home, Musk realized that he could start a company that could build the affordable rockets he needed.

[EVENT] Columbia Disaster (STS-107)

Feb 1, 2003

The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentering Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew members. During the launch of STS-107, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the left wing of the orbiter. When Columbia re-entered the atmosphere of Earth, the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to penetrate the heat shield and destroy the internal wing structure, which caused the spacecraft to become unstable and break apart.

Shenzhou 5 (PRC)

Oct 15, 2003

First Chinese manned spascecraft, and first Chinese astronaut or "taikonaut" (Yang Liwei).

Cassini–Huygens (INT)

Jan 14, 2005

First soft landing on Titan.

Stardust (USA)

Jan 15, 2006

First sample return from comet (81P/Wild).

Falcon 1 Flight 4 (SpX)

Sep 28, 2008

First privately-developed liquid-fuel launch vehicle to go into orbit around the Earth.

[EVENT] Kepler Telescope Launch

Mar 6, 2009

It was launched to discover Earth-size planets orbiting other stars, and was named after astronomer Johannes Kepler. It was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit, and designed to survey a portion of Earth's region of the Milky Way to discover Earth-size exoplanets in or near habitable zones and estimate how many of the billions of stars in the Milky Way have such planets,

Hayabusa (JAP)

Jun 13, 2010

First sample return from asteroid (25143 Itokawa).

SpX-C1 (SpX)

Dec 8, 2010

First private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft (Dragon 1).

STS-135 (USA)

Jul 8, 2011

Last space shuttle mission.

SpX-C2+ (SpX)

May 25, 2012

First private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station (Dragon 1).

Voyager 1 (USA)

Aug 25, 2012

First man-made probe in interstellar space.

[EVENT] Death Neil Armstrong

Aug 25, 2012

Grasshopper Flight 1 (SpX)

Sep 21, 2012

First test of a vertical landing rocket (Grasshopper).

Rosseta (EUR)

Nov 12, 2014

First man-made probe to make a planned and soft landing on a comet (67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko).

Dawn (USA)

Mar 6, 2015

First orbit of dwarf planet (Ceres), and first spacecraft to orbit two separate celestial bodies.

New Horizons (USA)

Jul 15, 2015

First flyby of dwarf planet (Pluto).

ISS Expedition 44 (INT)

Aug 10, 2015

First food grown and then in space eaten (lettuce).

Orbcomm-OG2 [F9 Nº20] (SpX)

Dec 21, 2015

First propulsive landing for an orbital rocket.

CRS-8 [F9 Nº23] (SpX)

Apr 8, 2016

First vertical landing achieved on an autonomous spaceport drone ship at sea.

SES-10 [F9 Nº32]

Mar 30, 2017

First launch and landing of a previously flown orbital class booster, and first recovery of a fairing.

Falcon Heavy Demo [FH Nº1] (SpX)

Feb 6, 2018

First simultaneous landing of two orbital boosters, and first private company to launch an object into orbit around the Sun (Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster).

Hayabusa 2 (JAP)

Sep 21, 2018

First operational rover on asteroid (162173 Ryugu).

VSS Unity VP-03 (ViG)

Dec 13, 2018

First crewed spaceflight from U.S. soil since the Space Shuttle mission STS-135, and first astronauts since STS-135 to go to space from US soil (Mark Stucky and Frederick Sturckow).

New Horizons (USA)

Jan 1, 2019

First contact binary explored by spacecraft (Ultima Thule)

Chang'e 4 (PRC)

Jan 3, 2019

First soft landing on the far side of the Moon, first rover on the far side of the moon, and first germination of seeds on another celestial body.

VSS Unity VF-01 (ViG)

Feb 22, 2019

First passenger of space tourism (Beth Moses). She acted as a test passenger, evaluating the experience for potential customers.

[EVENT] Artemis Program Announced

Mar 26, 2019

Vice President Mike Pence announced that NASA's Moon landing goal would be accelerated by 4 years with a planned landing in 2024. On May 14, 2019, Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the name of the new lunar program to be Artemis, named after the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology.

InSight (USA)

Apr 6, 2019

First marsquake detected.

Event Horizon Telescope (INT)

Apr 10, 2019

First image of a black hole (Messier 87*)

Arabsat-6A [FH Nº2] (SpX)

Apr 11, 2019

First landing of all three booster rockets, and the fairings, of Falcon Heavy.

Long March 11 (PRC)

Jun 5, 2019

First rocket launch from the sea.