Space Missions!

Sputnik 1

Oct 4, 1957

Was the first artificial satellite successfully placed in orbit around the Earth. It was the first to be launched into a low altitude.

Explorer 1

Feb 1, 1958

The Jupiter-C launch vehicle consisted of four propulsive stages. The first stage was an upgraded Redstone liquid-fueled rocket.

Mercury Freedom 7

May 5, 1961

Freedom 7 spacecraft, Mercury capsule #7, was delivered to Cape Canaveral on December 9, 1960. It had originally been expected that a mission could be launched soon after the spacecraft was available.

Gemini 3

Mar 23, 1965

Was the first manned mission in Nasa’s Gemini program, the second American manned space program.

Apollo 11

Jul 20, 1969

Was the spaceflight that landed the first humans on the Moon, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

Voyager 1

Sep 5, 1977

Is a 722-kilogram space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977 to study the outer Solar System.

Columbia Space Shuttle

Apr 12, 1981

Was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle in NASA’s orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first space program.

Mars Pathfinder

Dec 4, 1996

Is American spacecraft that landed a base station with a rowing probe on Mars in 1997.

International Space Station

Jan 1, 1998

Is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. It is a modular structure whose first component was launched in 1998.

Spirit and Opportunity

Jan 1, 2003

Is an ongoing robotic space-mission involving two rovers.

Kepler

Mar 7, 2009

Is a space observatory launched by NASA to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars.

Curiosity

Oct 31, 2012

Is a car-sized robotic rover exploring Gale Crater on Mars as part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory.