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Sputnik 1
On October 4, 1957, Sputnik 1 became the first satellite to be launched by man, inaugurating the space age.This leadership persisted into the era of manned spaceflight, and, exploiting a minimalistic but sophisticated approach to technology, it continued in the pioneering era of space vehicles and space stations. -
Venera probes
The Venera missions have been Russia’s most successful space exploration missions to date, 23 separate probes were launched to the hottest planet in our Solar System- Venus 10 landed on the surface, whilst the rest remained in orbit or entered the scorching planet’s atmosphere Each Venera lander was a technical marvel, withstanding temperature of up to 462 degrees Celsius to remain operational on the surface of Venus for up to two hours. -
Vostok 1 spacecraft
Yury A. Gagarin became the first human in space. The voyage, which began with launch at 9:07 am Moscow time, entailed one orbit around Earth, lasting 1 hour 29 minutes, and ended at 10:55 am in the Soviet Union with his safe return to Earth. -
Apollo 11
The Apollo 11 spaceflight, achieved its goal of landing the first humans on the Moon,It was launched atop the most powerful rocket of all time, the Saturn V, The flight, landing, and return of the spacecraft to Earth was witnessed on television by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. -
Pioneer 10 and 11
The purpose of Pioneer missions was to learn about the outer reaches of the Solar System. These two spacecraft were, at the time of their launch, the most scientifically advanced vehicles to venture into the Solar System. Communication was lost in 2003 (Pioneer 10) and 1995 (Pioneer 11) the probes continue to make their way out of the Solar System, with each possessing an on board plaque detailing the origins of the spacecraft lest they are ever discovered by intelligent life-forms -
Voyager 1 and 2
The Pioneer spacecraft may have been the first deep space probes but they were not the last. The Voyager program was designed to explore Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, but as the probes remained in operation the mission was extended to include the study of the edge of the Solar System, the boundary into interstellar space, which they are currently entering. -
The Space Shuttle
NASA’s five space-faring Space Shuttles were the largest spacecraft of all time, and each completed numerous key missions that defined them as some of the most important vehicles to enter Earth orbit.
Their various accolades include taking the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit (and later repairing it) and launching more than 80% of the modules for the International Space Station. -
Galileo
NASA’s Galileo spacecraft was taken into space by Space Shuttle Atlantis, and sent on its way to study Jupiter following flybys of Venus and Earth. It was the first spacecraft to obit Jupiter, in addition to performing the first flyby of an asteroid on its way to the gas giant. It also carried the Galileo Space Probe, which it released into the atmosphere of Jupiter in 1995, providing unprecedented data about the composition of the atmosphere of the largest planet in our Solar System. -
Hubbel Space Telescope
On April 25, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope, named after Edwin Powell Hubble, was placed into orbit by crew members of the space shuttle Discovery. The large reflecting telescope was the most sophisticated optical observatory ever to orbit Earth, and the photographs it collected ultimately revolutionized the field of astronomy. -
Cassini-Huygens
Cassini-Huygens probe is a joint mission between, NASA, the ESA and ASI (Italian Space Agency). The orbiting component of the probe flew by Jupiter and became the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, although it was only the fourth spacecraft to visit the latter. The landing vehicle was the Huygens probe, which landed on Saturn’s moon Titan on 14 January 2005 and returned images of the surface, the first and only successful landing in the outer Solar System.
