Space Exploration

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  • First photograph of the whole Solar System

    First photograph of the whole Solar System

    The cameras of Voyager 1 on Feb. 14, 1990, pointed back toward the Sun and took a series of pictures of the Sun and the planets,
  • First orbiting of and landing on an asteroid

    First orbiting of and landing on an asteroid

    February 12, 2001 flight controllers landed NASA's NEAR spacecraft on an asteroid called Eros. NEAR was the first spacecraft to orbit and touchdown on the surface of an asteroid.
  • First sample return beyond lunar orbit

    First sample return beyond lunar orbit

    Genesis was a NASA sample-return probe that collected a sample of solar wind particles and returned them to Earth for analysis.
  • First soft landing on Titan

    First soft landing on Titan

    Huygens was an atmospheric entry probe that landed successfully on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005. Built and operated by the European Space Agency, it was part of the Cassini–Huygens mission and became the first spacecraft to land on Titan and the farthest landing from Earth a spacecraft has ever made.
  • First sample return from comet by NASA.

    First sample return from comet by NASA.

    In January 2006, a conical capsule carrying the first samples of a comet and the first pristine traces of interstellar dust ever collected landed in the Utah desert. The capsule had been dropped from NASA's Stardust spacecraft.
  • First space telescope designated to search for Earth-like planets

    First space telescope designated to search for Earth-like planets

    The Kepler space telescope is a retired space telescope launched by NASA to discover Earth-size planets orbiting other stars.
  • First orbit of Mercury by NASA.

    First orbit of Mercury by NASA.

    NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft successfully achieved orbit around Mercury at approximately 9 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 17.
  • First man made probe in interstellar space

    First man made probe in interstellar space

    Voyager 1 spacecraft officially is the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space. The 36-year-old probe is about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from our sun.
  • First probe to make a planned and soft landing on a comet.

    First probe to make a planned and soft landing on a comet.

    Rosetta was a European deep space probe launched on what was originally projected to be an 11.5-year mission to rendezvous, orbit, study and to land on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
  • Parker solar probe launched to the sun

    Parker solar probe launched to the sun

    NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe: a spacecraft designed to travel to the edge of the sun’s corona to study solar winds.