Space Exploration Project Timeline

  • Period: to

    Sputnik/Mercury/Gemini

    Sputnik
    October 4, 1957- Launch Mercury
    October 1958-1963 Gemini
    January 3, 1962- First established
    April 8, 1964- First take off
    November 15, 1966- Last landing
  • Period: to

    Pioneer Mission

    The first Pioneer (Pioneer 0) attempted to travel into space on August 17, 1958
    Pioneer 0 blew up 77 seconds after launch, due an explosion in the rocket’s first stage
    Pioneer 10 passes Jupiter on December 10, 1973
    Pioneer 10 sent the last signal to Earth from a Pioneer on January 22, 2003
  • Period: to

    Venera Probes Mission

    Project lasted from 1961-1983
    16 probes were sent out
    After 1978, probes were sent out in pairs
    12/15/1970 – first probe to send signals from the surface of another planet
    10/10/1983 – last probe arrived at Venus
  • Period: to

    Mariner Spacecraft mission

    Mariner 1 launched July 22, 1962 at 09:21:23
    Mariner 2 launched August 27, 1962 at 06:53:14
    Mariner 3 launched November 5, 1964 at 19:33:05
    Mariner 4 launched November 28, 1964 at 14:22:01
    Mariner 5 launched June 14, 1967 at 06:01:00
    Mariner 6 launched February 24, 1969 at 01:29:02
    Mariner 7 launched March 27, 1969 at 22:22:01
    Mariner 8 launched May 9, 1971 at 01:11:00
    Mariner 9 launched May 30, 1971 at 22:23:00
    Mariner 10 launched November 3, 1973 at 05:45:00
  • Period: to

    VIking Probes Mission

    The project was started in 1968 at the command of James Martin
    Viking 1 was launched on August 20, 1975 and arrived at Mars on June 19, 1976
    Three weeks later on September 9, 1975 Viking 2 was launched and entered Mars orbit on August 7, 1976
    The Viking 2 Lander ended communications on April 11, 1980
    The project officially ended on November 13, 1982 when they lost signal with the Viking 1
  • Period: to

    Space Stations Program

    April 19, 1971 - The first space station, Salyut, was launched from Russia
    May 14, 1973 - United States launches the Skylab
    February 20, 1986 - Russia launched the first models of the Mir space station
    November 20, 1998 – first module of the ISS is launched into space
    October 30, 2000 – the first crew to inhabit the ISS took off
    February 24, 2011 – the ISS is completed
    1971- Present – the timeline date of space stations
    Mission is still going
  • Period: to

    Voyager Probes Mission

    The Voyager 1 was deployed on September 5, 1977 and is still traveling out of the solar system as we speak at a speed of 3.6 AU, or 17 km/s.
    Mission is still going
  • Period: to

    Space Shuttle Program

    Idea started with NASA in 1970s
  • Period: to

    Magellan Mission

    The Magellan Spacecraft was deployed from the shuttle on May 5, 1989
    Mapping cycle 1 took place from September 15, 1990 to May 15, 1991
    Mapping Cycle 2 took place from May 15, 1991 to January 14, 1992
    Mapping cycle 3 took place from January 15, 1992 to September 13, 1992
    Mapping cycle 4 took place from September 14, 1992 to May 23, 1993
    Mapping Cycle 5 took place from May 24, 1993 to August 29, 1994
    Mapping cycle 6 took place from April16 1994 to October 13, 1994 (end of mission)
  • Period: to

    Galileo Spacecraft Mission

    • Launched to Jupiter October 19, 1989
    • Reached Jupiter December 7, 1995
    • Crashed into Jupiter September 21, 2003
  • Period: to

    Hubble Telescope Mission

    Mission is still going
  • Period: to

    N.E.A.R. Mission

    The N.E.A.R. Mission was launched on February 17, 1996, and entered into orbit around an asteriod called Eros on February14, 2000. The mission plan was to study from close orbit for one year, but near the end of the mission a decision was made to attempt to land on the asteroid. After landing on Eros a Gamma-ray spectrometer operated for two weeks after landing. On February 28, 2001 the last call to Earth was made.
  • Period: to

    Genesis Spacecraft Mission

    On August 2001 the Genesis Spacecraft launched On September 8, 2004 the Genesis Spacecraft crash landed in Utah In 2005 the solar wind that was collected was released to scientists to study
  • Period: to

    Mars Exploration Rover Mission

    Launched on June 10, 2003 and July 7, 2003
    Landed on Mars- January 4 and 24 of 2004
    Occurred from January 3, 2004 (Spirit landing) at 8:35 pm (Earth time) to May 25, 2011 (NASA ceased attempts to communicate with the unresponsive rover)
    Last communication with Spirit on March 22, 2010
    Launch/landings were 3 weeks apart, Spirit landed first
  • Period: to

    Cassini Mission

    Cassini Launched October 15th, 1997
    Cassini successfully entered orbit around Saturn on June 30, 2004
    Mission is still going
    Mission still going
    Cassini will go until September 2017
    Huygens probe Titan release date: December 24, 2004
    Huygens probe Titan descent date: January 14, 2005
    Huygens probe returned data to Earth for 90 minutes and then died