Space Exploration By slamlawson Period: Jan 1, 1957 to Jan 1, 2030 Space Exploration Oct 4, 1957 First Earth Orbiter Jan 2, 1959 First Lunar Fly By Sep 12, 1959 First Lunar Impact Oct 4, 1959 First Images of Far side of moon Apr 12, 1961 First manned obiter Aug 27, 1962 First successful Venus flyby and first successful planetary encounter Nov 28, 1964 First Mars flyby Nov 16, 1965 First Venus impact Jan 31, 1966 First lunar lander Mar 31, 1966 First lunar orbiter Jun 12, 1967 First Venus atmospheric probe Sep 15, 1968 First lunar flyby and return to Earth Dec 21, 1968 First manned lunar orbiter Jul 16, 1969 First manned lunar Landing Aug 17, 1970 First Venus lander Sep 12, 1970 First robotic lunar sample return Nov 10, 1970 First lunar rover May 19, 1971 first Mars impact May 28, 1971 first Mars lander (short-lived) and first Mars atmospheric probe May 30, 1971 First Mars orbiter Jul 26, 1971 first manned lunar rover Mar 3, 1972 First Jupiter flyby Apr 5, 1973 first Saturn flyby Nov 4, 1973 first Mercury flyby Jun 8, 1975 First Venus orbiter and lander; first images from surface of Venus Aug 20, 1975 Mars orbiter and lander; first long-lived lander and first pictures from Martian surface Jan 15, 1976 Closest solar approach Aug 20, 1977 Jupiter/Saturn/first Uranus/first Neptune flyby Sep 5, 1977 Jupiter/Saturn flyby, first to leave Solar System and farthest human-made object - currently more than 110 AU Aug 12, 1978 First comet flyby Oct 18, 1989 Venus flyby, first Asteroid flyby, first Asteroid moon discovery, first Jupiter orbiter/atmospheric probe/largest moons flybys Feb 17, 1996 Eros orbiter, first near-Earth asteroid flyby, first asteroid orbit and first asteroid landing Dec 4, 1996 Mars lander and first Mars rover Oct 15, 1997 First Saturn orbiter and first Titan lander Feb 7, 1999 First comet coma sample return, Aug 8, 2001 First solar wind sample return Jan 12, 2005 First comet impact Nov 2, 2011 Jupiter orbiter Aug 29, 2014 Mercury orbiters Jun 2, 2020 Joint NASA & ESA to orbit Titan, land on a lake, and will float in the atmosphere. Jun 2, 2020 Indian manned landing on Moon