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Sputnik 1
Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite that was about the size of a beach ball. It took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth. That single launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While its launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S. – U.S.S.R space race. This was not a manned mission. -
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Space Exploration TimeLine
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Explorer 1
Launched by the United States following the launch of the Soviet’s Sputnik 1. It was also an artificial satellite but it served as the rocket’s payload. It was an unmanned mission. -
Mercury Freedom 7
The mission was to determine man’s capabilities in a space environment and in those environments to which he will be subject upon going into and returning from space. This was an unmanned mission. -
Apollo 11
Brought first human to the Moon. The objective was to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy to perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth. Manned Mission. -
Gemini 3
The crew was Virgil I. Grissom (Commander) and John W. Young (Pilot). The mission was demonstrating manned orbital flight; evaluate two-man design. First manned mission to land on the moon. -
Viking 1
Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program. It was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and perform its mission. It was an unmanned mission. -
Voyager 1
It was sent to study the outer Solar System. Operating for 36 years, 8 months and 1 day as of 6 May 2014, the spacecraft communicates with the Deep Space Network to receive routine commands and return data .It is the farthest human-made object from Earth. The Voyager 1 probe has made history as the first man-made object to enter interstellar space. It is an unmanned mission. -
Columbia Space Shuttle (first launch)
STS-1 was the first orbital flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program. The first orbiter, Space Shuttle Columbia orbited the Earth 37 times during its 54.5-hour mission. It was a manned mission. -
Mars Pathfinder
Mars Pathfinder is an American spacecraft that landed a base station with a roving probe on Mars. The Mars Pathfinder was also remarkable for its extremely low cost relative to other unmanned space missions to Mars. Originally, the mission was conceived as the first of the Mars Environmental Survey (MESUR) program. -
International Space Station (ISS)
A space station, or a habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. It is a modular structure whose first component was launched in 1998. Now the largest artificial body in orbit, it can often be seen at the appropriate time with the naked eye from Earth. It was an unmmaned mission. -
Spirit Rover
The Spirit Rover's mission was to study a diverse collection of rocks and soils that may hold clues to past water activity on Mars.It was an unmanned mission. -
Opportunity Rover
The Opportunity Rover's mission was to study a diverse collection of rocks and soils that may hold clues to past water activity on Mars and it landed on the opposite side of the moon from its twin Spirit. It was an unmanned mission. -
Kepler Mission
Specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone and determine the fraction of the hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy that might have such planets. This was not a manned mission. -
Curiosity Rover
Mission was to investigate the Martian climate and geology; to assess whether the selected field site inside the Gale Crater has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life, investigate the role of water; and planetary habitability studies in preparation for future human exploration. This was not a manned mission.
