Space Exploration Timeline By 123456789HUNTER Oct 12, 1957 Russians launch the first satellite, Sputnik 1 Nov 12, 1957 A dog named Laika becomes the first living creature sent from Earth into space Jan 12, 1958 Launch of the first US satellite, Explorer 1 Oct 12, 1959 Russian probe Luna 3 sends the first pictures of thee far side of the Moon Jan 12, 1961 NASA launches a chimpanzee named Ham into space aboard a Mercury rocket Apr 12, 1961 Russian Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person in space in a 108 minute flight in Vostok 1 May 12, 1961 First American in space (Alan Shepard) Feb 12, 1962 First astronaut to orbit the Earth (John Glenn, USA) Dec 12, 1962 NASA's Mariner 2 scans the surface of Venus Jun 12, 1963 Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space Mar 12, 1965 Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov makes the first space walk Jul 12, 1965 Mariner 4 flies by Mars Feb 12, 1966 First Moon landing (by Soviet spacecraft, Luna 9) Jan 12, 1967 A fire on the launch pad of the Apollo 1 kills 3 people Apr 12, 1967 First death in space Oct 12, 1967 Soviet craft Venera 4 lands on Venus Dec 12, 1968 First crewed spacecraft to orbit the Moon (Apollo 8) Jul 12, 1969 First man on the Moon Nov 12, 1970 Russian rover the first vehicle to drive on the Moon Apr 12, 1971 Launch of the first space station Dec 12, 1973 First space probe to fly by Jupiter (Pioneer 10) Mar 12, 1974 First space probe to fly by Mercury (Mariner 10) Jul 12, 1975 First US and Soviet docking Jul 12, 1976 Fist successful landing on Mars Sep 12, 1979 First Saturn fly by (Pioneer 11) Apr 12, 1981 First space shuttle launch Jan 12, 1986 First Uranus fly by (Voyager 2) Jan 12, 1986 Space shuttle Challenger explodes during launch Feb 12, 1986 Launch of Russian space station Mir Mar 12, 1986 First fly by of Halley's Comet Aug 12, 1989 First Neptune fly by (Voyager 2) Apr 12, 1990 Space shuttle Discovery launches the Hubble Space Telescople Nov 12, 1998 The first part of the International Space Station is launched Sep 12, 1999 Mars Climate Orbiter disappears Dec 12, 1999 Mars Polar Lander disappears Mar 12, 2001 Mir space station is abandoned and crashes to Earth Apr 12, 2001 First tourist in space Jan 12, 2003 Twin Mars Lander missions land on Mars Feb 12, 2003 Space shuttle Columbia explodes on re entry Period: Feb 12, 2016 to Oct 12, 2017 People have seen three instances of gravitational waves coming from black holes merging Jun 12, 2017 NASA revealed ten new potentially habitable worlds Jul 12, 2017 Images from NASA's Juno spacecraft revealed Jupiter's red spot in a completely new level of detail