Timeline of Solar System exploration

1950s

Sputnik 1 – First Earth orbiter

1957

• Sputnik 1 – 4 October 1957 – First Earth orbiter
• Sputnik 2 – 3 November 1957 – Earth orbiter, first animal in orbit, a dog named Laika

1958

• Explorer 1 – 1 February 1958 – Earth orbiter; first American orbiter, discovered Van Allen radiation belts
• Vanguard 1 – 17 March 1958 – Earth orbiter; oldest spacecraft still in Earth orbit

1959

• Luna 1 – 2 January 1959 – First lunar flyby (attempted lunar impact?)
• Pioneer 4 – 3 March 1959 – Lunar flyby
• Luna 2 – 12 September 1959 – First lunar impact
• Luna 3 – 4 October 1959 – Lunar flyby; First images of far side of Moon

1960s

Vostok 1 – First manned Earth orbiter

Mariner 2 – First Venus flyby

Mariner 4 – First Mars flyby

Luna 9 – First lunar lander

Venera 4 – First Venus atmospheric probe

Zond 5 – First lunar flyby and return to Earth

Apollo 8 - First manned lunar orbiter

Apollo 11 – First manned lunar landing

1960

• Pioneer 5 – 11 March 1960 – Interplanetary space investigations

1961

• Sputnik 7 – 4 February 1961 – Attempted Venus impact (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Venera 1 – 12 February 1961 – Venus flyby (contact lost before flyby)
• Vostok 1 – 12 April 1961 – First manned Earth orbiter
• Mercury-Redstone 3 – 5 May 1961 – First American in space
• Ranger 1 – 23 August 1961 – Attempted lunar test flight
• Ranger 2 – 18 November 1961 – Attempted lunar test flight

1962

• Ranger 3 – 26 January 1962 – Attempted lunar impact (missed Moon)
• Mercury-Atlas 6 – 20 February 1962 – First American manned Earth orbiter
• Ranger 4 – 23 April 1962 – Lunar impact (but unintentionally hit lunar farside and returned no data)
• Sputnik 19 – 25 August 1962 – Attempted Venus lander (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Mariner 2 – 27 August 1962 – First successful planetary encounter, First successful Venus flyby
• Sputnik 20 – 1 September 1962 – Attempted Venus lander (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Sputnik 21 – 12 September 1962 – Attempted Venus flyby (exploded)
• Ranger 5 – 18 October 1962 – Attempted lunar impact (missed Moon)
• Sputnik 22 – 24 October 1962 – Attempted Mars flyby (exploded)
• Mars 1 – 1 November 1962 – Mars flyby (contact lost)
• Sputnik 24 – 4 November 1962 – Attempted Mars lander (broke up)

1963

• Sputnik 25 – 4 January 1963 – Attempted lunar lander (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Luna 4 – 2 April 1963 – Attempted lunar lander (missed Moon)
• Cosmos 21 – 11 November 1963 – Attempted Venera test flight?

1964

• Ranger 6 – 30 January 1964 – Lunar impact (cameras failed)
• Cosmos 27 – 27 March 1964 – Attempted Venus flyby (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Zond 1 – 2 April 1964 – Venus flyby (contact lost)
• Ranger 7 – 28 July 1964 – Lunar impact
• Mariner 3 – 5 November 1964 – Attempted Mars flyby (failed to attain correct trajectory)
• Mariner 4 – 28 November 1964 – First Mars flyby
• Zond 2 – 30 November 1964 – Mars flyby (contact lost)

1965

• Ranger 8 – 17 February 1965 – Lunar impact
• Cosmos 60 – 12 March 1965 – Attempted lunar lander (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Ranger 9 – 21 March 1965 – Lunar impact
• Luna 5 – 9 May 1965 – Lunar impact (attempted soft landing)
• Luna 6 – 8 June 1965 – Attempted lunar lander (missed Moon)
• Zond 3 – 18 July 1965 – Lunar flyby
• Luna 7 – 4 October 1965 – Lunar impact (attempted soft landing)
• Venera 2 – 12 November 1965 – Venus flyby (contact lost)
• Venera 3 – 16 November 1965 – Venus lander (contact lost) – First spacecraft to reach another planet's surface, First Venus impact
• Cosmos 96 – 23 November 1965 – Attempted Venus lander (stayed in Earth orbit due to launch failure)
• Luna 8 – 3 December 1965 – Lunar impact (attempted soft landing?)
• Pioneer 6 – 16 December 1965 – "Space weather" observations

1966

• Luna 9 – 31 January 1966 – First lunar lander
• Cosmos 111 – 1 March 1966 – Attempted lunar orbiter? (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Luna 10 – 31 March 1966 – First lunar orbiter
• Surveyor 1 – 30 May 1966 – Lunar lander
• Explorer 33 – 1 July 1966 – Attempted lunar orbiter (failed to attain lunar orbit)
• Lunar Orbiter 1 – 10 August 1966 – Lunar orbiter
• Pioneer 7 – 17 August 1966 – "Space weather" observations
• Luna 11 – 24 August 1966 – Lunar orbiter
• Surveyor 2 – 20 September 1966 – Attempted lunar lander (crashed into Moon)
• Luna 12 – 22 October 1966 – Lunar orbiter
• Lunar Orbiter 2 – 6 November 1966 – Lunar orbiter
• Luna 13 – 21 December 1966 – Lunar lander

1967

• Lunar Orbiter 3 – 4 February 1967 – Lunar orbiter
• Surveyor 3 – 17 April 1967 – Lunar lander
• Lunar Orbiter 4 – 8 May 1967 – Lunar orbiter
• Venera 4 – 12 June 1967 – First Venus atmospheric probe
• Mariner 5 – 14 June 1967 – Venus flyby
• Cosmos 167 – 17 June 1967 – Attempted Venus probe (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Surveyor 4 – 14 July 1967 – Attempted lunar lander (crashed into Moon)
• Explorer 35 (IMP-E) – 19 July 1967 – Lunar orbiter
• Lunar Orbiter 5 – 1 August 1967 – Lunar orbiter
• Surveyor 5 – 8 September 1967 – Lunar lander
• Surveyor 6 – 7 November 1967 – Lunar lander
• Pioneer 8 – 13 December 1967 – "Space weather" observations

1968

• Surveyor 7 – 7 January 1968 – Lunar lander
• Zond 4 – 2 March 1968 – Lunar programme test flight
• Luna 14 – 7 April 1968 – Lunar orbiter
• Zond 5 – 15 September 1968 – First lunar flyby and return to Earth
• Pioneer 9 – 8 November 1968 – "Space weather" observations
• Zond 6 – 10 November 1968 – Lunar flyby and return to Earth
• Apollo 8 – 21 December 1968 – First manned lunar orbiter

1969

• Venera 5 – 5 January 1969 – Venus atmospheric probe
• Venera 6 – 10 January 1969 – Venus atmospheric probe
• Mariner 6 – 25 February 1969 – Mars flyby
• Apollo 9 – 3 March 1969 – Manned lunar lander (LEM) flight test
• Mariner 7 – 27 March 1969 – Mars flyby
• Apollo 10 – 18 May 1969 – Manned lunar orbiter
• Luna E-8-5 No.402 – 14 June 1969 – Attempted lunar sample return, first attempted sample return mission
• Luna 15 – 13 July 1969 – Second attempted lunar sample return
• Apollo 11 – 16 July 1969 – First manned lunar landing and first successful sample return mission
• Zond 7 – 7 August 1969 – Lunar flyby and return to Earth
• Cosmos 300 – 23 September 1969 – Attempted lunar sample return? (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Cosmos 305 – 22 October 1969 – Attempted lunar sample return? (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Apollo 12 – 14 November 1969 – Manned lunar landing

1970s

Venera 7 – First Venus lander

Mars 3 – First Mars lander

Pioneer 10 – First Jupiter flyby

Mariner 10 – First Mercury flyby

Voyager 2 – First Uranus/first Neptune flyby

1970

• Apollo 13 – 11 April 1970 – Manned lunar flyby and return to Earth (manned lunar landing aborted)
• Venera 7 – 17 August 1970 – First Venus lander
• Cosmos 359 – 22 August 1970 – Attempted Venus probe (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Luna 16 – 12 September 1970 – First robotic lunar sample return
• Zond 8 – 20 October 1970 – Lunar flyby and return to Earth
• Luna 17/Lunokhod 1 – 10 November 1970 – First lunar rover

1971

• Apollo 14 – 31 January 1971 – Manned lunar landing
• Salyut 1 – 19 April 1971 – First space station
• Cosmos 419 – 10 May 1971 – Attempted Mars orbiter (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Mariner 9 – 30 May 1971 – First Mars orbiter
• Mars 2 – 19 May 1971 – Mars orbiter and attempted lander; First Mars impact
• Mars 3 – 28 May 1971 – Mars orbiter, First Mars lander (lost contact after 14.5s) and First Mars atmospheric probe
• Apollo 15 – 26 July 1971 – Manned lunar landing; First manned lunar rover
• Luna 18 – 2 September 1971 – Attempted lunar sample return (crashed into Moon)
• Luna 19 – 28 September 1971 – Lunar orbiter

1972

• Luna 20 – 14 February 1972 – Lunar robotic sample return
• Pioneer 10 – 3 March 1972 – First Jupiter flyby
• Venera 8 – 27 March 1972 – Venus lander
• Cosmos 482 – 31 March 1972 – Attempted Venus probe (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Apollo 16 – 16 April 1972 – Manned lunar landing
• Apollo 17 – 7 December 1972 – Last manned lunar landing

1973

• Luna 21/Lunokhod 2 – 8 January 1973 – Lunar rover
• Pioneer 11 – 5 April 1973 – Jupiter flyby and First Saturn flyby
• Skylab – 14 May 1973 – First American space station
• Explorer 49 (RAE-B) – 10 June 1973 – Lunar orbiter/radio astronomy
• Mars 4 – 21 July 1973 – Mars flyby (attempted Mars orbiter)
• Mars 5 – 25 July 1973 – Mars orbiter
• Mars 6 – 5 August 1973 – Mars orbiter and attempted lander (failed due to damage on Mars landing)
• Mars 7 – 9 August 1973 – Mars flyby and attempted lander (missed Mars)
• Mariner 10 – 4 November 1973 – Venus flyby and First Mercury flyby

1974

• Luna 22 – 2 June 1974 – Lunar orbiter
• Luna 23 – 28 October 1974 – Attempted lunar sample return (failed due to damage on lunar landing)
• Helios-A – 10 December 1974 – Solar observations

1975

• Venera 9 – 8 June 1975 – First Venus orbiter and lander; First images from surface of Venus
• Venera 10 – 14 June 1975 – Venus orbiter and lander
• Viking 1 – 20 August 1975 – Mars orbiter and lander; First lander returning data and First pictures from Martian surface
• Viking 2 – 9 September 1975 – Mars orbiter and lander

1976

• Helios-B – 15 January 1976 – Solar observations, Closest solar approach (0.29 AU)
• Luna 24 – 9 August 1976 – Lunar robotic sample return

1977

• Voyager 2 – 20 August 1977 – Jupiter/Saturn/first Uranus/first Neptune flyby
• Voyager 1 – 5 September 1977 – Jupiter/Saturn flyby, Farthest human-made object – currently (2013) over 125 AU

1978

• Pioneer Venus 1 – 20 May 1978 – Venus orbiter
• Pioneer Venus 2 – 8 August 1978 – Venus atmospheric probes
• ISEE-3 – 12 August 1978 – Solar wind investigations; later redesignated International Cometary Explorer and performed Comet Giacobini-Zinner and Comet Halley flybys – First comet flyby
• Venera 11 – 9 September 1978 – Venus flyby and lander
• Venera 12 – 14 September 1978 – Venus flyby and lander

1980s

Giotto – Comet Halley flyby

1981

• Venera 13 – 30 October 1981 – Venus flyby and lander
• Venera 14 – 4 November 1981 – Venus flyby and lander

1983

• Venera 15 – 2 June 1983 – Venus orbiter
• Venera 16 – 7 June 1983 – Venus orbiter

1984

• Vega 1 – 15 December 1984 – Venus flyby, lander and first balloon; continued on to Comet Halley flyby
• Vega 2 – 21 December 1984 – Venus flyby, lander and balloon; continued on to Comet Halley flyby

1985

Galileo – Mission to Jupiter

• Sakigake – 7 January 1985 – Comet Halley flyby
• Giotto – 2 July 1985 – Comet Halley flyby
• Suisei (Planet-A) – 18 August 1985 – Comet Halley flyby

1986

• Mir – 20 February 1986 – First modular space station (completion 1996)

1988

• Phobos 1 – 7 July 1988 – Attempted Mars orbiter/Phobos landers (contact lost)
• Phobos 2 – 12 July 1988 – Mars orbiter/attempted Phobos landers (contact lost)

1989

• Magellan – 4 May 1989 – Venus orbiter
• Galileo – 18 October 1989 – Venus flyby, first Asteroid flyby, first Asteroid moon discovery, first Jupiter orbiter/atmospheric probe

1990s

1990

Mars Pathfinder – Mars lander and first Mars rover

• Hiten (Muses-A) – 24 January 1990 – Lunar flyby and orbiter
• Hubble Space Telescope – Orbital space telescope
• Ulysses – 6 October 1990 – Solar polar orbiter

1991

• Yohkoh (Solar-A) – 30 August 1991 – Solar observations

1992

• Mars Observer – 25 September 1992 – Attempted Mars orbiter (contact lost)

1994

• Clementine – 25 January 1994 – Lunar orbiter/attempted asteroid flyby
• WIND – 1 November 1994 – Solar wind observations

1995

• SOHO – 2 December 1995 – Solar observatory

1996

• NEAR Shoemaker – 17 February 1996 – Eros orbiter, first near-Earth asteroid flyby, first asteroid orbit and first asteroid landing
• Mars Global Surveyor – 7 November 1996 – Mars orbiter
• Mars 96 – 16 November 1996 – Attempted Mars orbiter/landers (failed to escape Earth orbit)
• Mars Pathfinder – 4 December 1996 – Mars lander and first planetary rover

1997

Cassini–Huygens – First Saturn orbiter and first Titan lander

• ACE – 25 August 1997 – Solar wind and "space weather" observations
• Cassini–Huygens – 15 October 1997 – First Saturn orbiter and first outer planet lander
• AsiaSat 3/HGS-1 – 24 December 1997 – Lunar flyby

1998

• Lunar Prospector – 7 January 1998 – Lunar orbiter
• Nozomi (probe) (also known as Planet-B) – 3 July 1998 – Attempted Mars orbiter (failed to enter Mars orbit)
• Deep Space 1 (DS1) – 24 October 1998 – Asteroid and comet flyby
• – 20 November 1998 – International Space Station (planned completion 2013)
• Mars Climate Orbiter – 11 December 1998 – Attempted Mars orbiter (orbit insertion failed)

1999

• Mars Polar Lander/Deep Space 2 (DS2) – 3 January 1999 – Attempted Mars lander/penetrators (contact lost)
• Stardust – 7 February 1999 – First comet coma sample return – returned 15 January 2006

2000s

Mars Express/Beagle 2 – First planetary mission by the ESA

MESSENGER – First Mercury orbiter

2001

• 2001 Mars Odyssey – 7 April 2001 – Mars orbiter
• Genesis – 8 August 2001 – First solar wind sample return

2002

• CONTOUR – 3 July 2002 – Attempted flyby of three comet nuclei (lost in space)

2003

• Hayabusa (Muses-C) – 9 May 2003 – Asteroid lander and First sample return from asteroid
• Mars Exploration Rovers – 10 June/7 July 2003 – Two Mars rovers ("Spirit" and "Opportunity")
• Mars Express/Beagle 2 – 1 June 2003 – Mars orbiter/lander (lander failure)
• SMART-1 – 27 September 2003 – Lunar orbiter
• Shenzhou 5 – 15 October 2003 – China's first manned Earth orbiter

2004

• Rosetta – 2 March 2004 – Comet orbiter and lander (expected arrival 2014)
• MESSENGER – 3 August 2004 – First Mercury orbiter (achieved orbit 18 March 2011)

2005

• Deep Impact – 12 January 2005 – First comet impact
• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – 12 August 2005 – Mars orbiter
• Venus Express – 9 November 2005 – Venus polar orbiter

2006

• New Horizons – 19 January 2006 – First Pluto/Charon and Kuiper Belt flyby (expected arrival 14 July 2015)
• Hinode (Solar-B) – 22 September 2006 – Solar orbiter
• STEREO – 26 October 2006 – Two spacecraft, solar orbiters

2007

• Phoenix – 4 August 2007 – Mars polar lander
• SELENE (Kaguya) – 14 September 2007 – Lunar orbiters
• Dawn – 27 September 2007 – Asteroid Ceres and Vesta orbiter (entered orbit around Vesta on 16 July 2011)
• Chang'e 1 – 24 October 2007 – Lunar orbiter

2008

• Chandrayaan-1 – 22 October 2008 – Lunar orbiter and impactor – Discovered water on the moon

2009

• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS – 18 June 2009 – Lunar polar orbiter and lunar impactor

2010s

Mars Science Laboratory – Mars lander and large rover

Mangalyaan – First Indian Mars orbiter

2010

• Solar Dynamics Observatory – 11 February 2010 – Continuous solar monitoring
• Akatsuki (Planet-C) – 20 May 2010 – Venus orbiter (orbit insertion failed in 2010 / postponed to 2016–17)
• PICARD – 15 June 2010 – Solar monitoring
• Chang'e 2 – 1 October 2010 – Lunar orbiter, Asteroid 4179 Toutatis flyby

2011

• Juno – 5 August 2011 – Jupiter orbiter
• GRAIL – 10 September 2011 – Two spacecraft, Lunar orbiters
• Tiangong (Project 921-2) - 29 September 2011 - First Chinese space station^[1] (planned completion around 2020)
• Fobos-Grunt and Yinghuo-1 – 8 November 2011 – Phobos orbiter, lander and sample return (Russia), Mars orbiter (China) – failed to escape Earth orbit
• Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity Rover) – 26 November 2011 – large Mars 900 kg Rover (landed 6 August 2012)

2012

• Van Allen Probes (RBSP) - 30 August 2012 - Earth Van Allen radiation belts study

2013

• IRIS – 27 June 2013 – Solar observations
• LADEE – 6 September 2013 – Lunar orbiter
• Hisaki - 14 September 2013 - Planetary atmosphere observatory
• Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) – 5 November 2013 – Mars orbiter
• MAVEN – 18 November 2013 – Mars orbiter
• Chang'e 3 – 1 December 2013 - First Chinese lunar lander and rover (most recent lander since Russian Luna 24 in 1976)