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Apollo 13 is launched,but the SM oxygen tank explodes. Its Moon landing is aborted, and the crew return safely.
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Soviet Luna 16 is launched, conducting the first successful return of lunar soil samples by an automatic spacecraft.
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The United States launches Mariner 9, which becomes the first spacecraft to survey Mars from orbit.
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Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin drive the first moon rover.
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American Mariner 9 is the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, Mars. Over the next year, it maps 100 percent of the Martian surface.
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Pioneer 10 is launched on an Atlas/Centaur/TE364-4 towards Jupiter by the U.S., designed to familiarize alien life with humans. It returns the first close-up images of Jupiter in 1973.
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First Black Hole Candidate Astronomers designate Cygnus X-1 as the first probable black hole This binary star system emits strong bursts as X-rays as matter is crushed out of existence by the black hole.
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Pioneer 11 is launched on an Atlas/Centaur/TE364-4, flying past Jupiter in 1974, and Saturn in 1979, where it discovers new rings.
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American Mariner 10 is launched, on the first dual-planet mission. Over the next year, it returned photographs of Venus and Mercury.
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NASA launches the first Synchronous Meteorological Satellite, SMS-1.
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Soviet Salyut 3, their first military space station, is launched. It remains in orbit until January 1975.
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American Apollo (18) and Soviet Soyuz 19 dock, the first international spacecraft rendezvous.
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Soviet Venera 9 and 10 send the first pictures of the Venusian surface to Earth.
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Pictures of the Martian surface are taken by Viking 1, the first U.S. attempt to soft land a spacecraft on another planet.
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Viking 2 lands on Mars on the Plain of Utopia, where it discovered water frost.
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August-September, 1977 - Voyagers 1 and 2 leave Earth to meet with Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980.
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Soviet Salyut 6 space station is launched. Its crews include members from Czechoslovakia, Poland, GDR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Vietnam, Cuba, Mongolia, and Romania.
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The Einstein Observatory begins its 30-day mission.
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Two Pioneer spacecrafts reach Venus. One drops four probes into the atmosphere, while the other maps the surface.
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Pioneer 11 reaches Saturn, flying to within 13,000 miles and taking the first close-up photographs.