Timeline of the Exploration of the Planets

First attempt at flyby

Oct 10, 1960

The Russian spacecraft Marsnik was the first attempt at flying by another planet in the solar system. Unfortunately it suffered from launch failure and never made it anywhere

First succesful venus flyby

Aug 27, 1962

Mariner 2, a US spacecraft was the first of its kind to successfully fly by Venus

First succesful Mars flyby

Nov 28, 1964

Mariner 4 was the first craft to succesfully flyby Mars, repeating the sucess of the Mariner 2.

First succesful Venus probe

Jun 12, 1967

The Venera 4, a Russian probe, was the first man made object to succesfully analyse Venus.

First venus landing

Aug 17, 1970

The Venera 7 was the first man-made object to return data after landing on another planet.

First sucessful Mars Lander

May 28, 1971

Mars 3, a Russian lander was the first man made vessal to land on Mars. It analized all aspects of Mars that could show signs or possibilities of life.

First Jupiter flyby

Mar 3, 1972

Pioneer 10 was a US made probe. It was the first to complete an interplanetary mission to Jupiter, and eventually became the first spacecraft to achieve escape velocity from the Solar System.

First probe to encounter Saturn

Apr 5, 1973

Pioneer 11 robotic space probe launched by NASA on April 6, 1973 to study the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter and Saturn, solar wind, cosmic rays, and eventually the far reaches of the solar system and heliosphere.

First photo of Venus

Jun 8, 1975

Venera 9 was composed of an orbiter and a lander. The orbiter was the first spacecraft to orbit Venus, while the lander was the first to return images from the surface of another planet.

Voyager 2

Aug 20, 1977

Voyager 2 is a space probe launched by NASA. It's mission is to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space. Operating for 34 years, 4 months and 21 days as of 10 January 2012, the spacecraft receives routine commands and transmits data back to the Deep Space Network. It was the first probe to provide detailed images of the outer gas giants.

Voyager 1

Sep 5, 1977

The Voyager 1 spacecraft is a space probe launched by NASA whos mission, like it's sister craft Voyager 2, is to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space. Operating for 34 years, 4 months and 5 days as of 10 January 2012, the spacecraft receives routine commands and transmits data back to the Deep Space Network. As of October 2011 it is the farthest man-made object from Earth with a distance of 119 astronomical units.