Space Travel Timeline

In 1961, the then President of the United States of America John F. Kennedy set a goal of human landing on moon by the end of that decade - a goal which was achieved on 21st July, 1969, when Neil Armstrong set foot on moon. This was undoubtedly one of the biggest achievements for mankind in the world of space exploration. Basically, the 20th century was the period when we pulled off some of the unimaginable feats in the realms of space exploration, and the space travel timeline that we have compiled hints at these very feats.

Space Travel Over the Years

Basically, space travel is a broad term which encompasses two ideas - spaceflight (i.e. the use of technology to fly a spacecraft into/through the outer space), and human spaceflight (i.e. spaceflight with human crew on board). However, the term is more often used in context of 'space exploration' which happens to be one of the two attributes of human spaceflight (the other being space tourism). It is virtually impossible to understand space exploration history without including the developments in spaceflight technology in the timeline. Taking into consideration all these things, we have compiled a list of the most important milestones of space travel in chronological order - going through which will help you trace man's journey into the space.

16th March, 1926: American rocket scientist - Robert H. Goddard successfully launched world's first liquid-fueled rocket.

3rd October, 1942: Nazi Germany launched the first rocket which makes it to the Kármán line - boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space, at an altitude of 62 mi above the mean sea level.

22nd May, 1946: The WAC Corporal becomes the first US designed rocket to reach the altitude of 49 mi - which was then considered to be the edge of space as per the US definition.

10th October, 1946: The first pictures of the Earth are taken from an altitude of 63 miles.

1947: The first instance of animals (fruit flies) being sent into the space with the intention of studying the effects of space travel on lifeforms.

4th October, 1957: The first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite - Sputnik 1, was launched by the Soviet Union.

3rd November, 1957: Soviet space dog - Laika, becomes the first dog in space and the first ever animal to orbit the Earth.

29th July, 1958: The US administration established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) by passing the National Aeronautics and Space Act.

7th August, 1959: The United States satellite - Explorer 6, takes the first pictures of the Earth from the orbit.

19th August, 1960: The first instance wherein animals (2 dogs, 2 rats and 40 mice) and plants returned alive after orbiting the Earth on Sputnik 5.

12th April, 1961: The first human spaceflight - cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth aboard the USSR spacecraft Vostok 1.

14th December, 1962: The first planetary flyby wherein the US spacecraft Mariner 2 flies by planet Venus. (Closest distance approached: 21,606.94 miles.)

16th June, 1963: Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space on board USSR spacecraft Vostok 6.

18th March, 1965: The first extra vehicular activity (EVA) or spacewalk performed by Soviet/Russian cosmonaut Alexey Leonov - who spent 12 minutes outside the Voskhod 2 spacecraft in space.

14th July, 1965: The first Mars flyby wherein the US spacecraft Mariner 4 flies by the planet at a distance of 6,118.02 miles.

15th December, 1965: The first orbital rendezvous - an orbital maneuver where two spacecraft arrive at the same orbit and close in on each other, is performed Gemini 6A and Gemini 7.

3rd February, 1966: The first soft landing on Moon by Luna 9 as a part of the Soviet Union's Luna program.

16th March, 1966: The first orbital rendezvous with docking performed by the US spacecraft Gemini 8 and Agena target vehicle (ATV).

3rd April, 1966: The Soviet robotic spacecraft mission Luna 10 orbits the Moon, thus becoming the first artificial satellite of any celestial body.

21st December, 1968: Apollo 8 becomes the first human spaceflight to leave Earth's orbit, to orbit the moon and return to the Earth from another celestial body.

21st July, 1969: Man sets foot on the Moon - NASA Astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon followed by Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr.

15th December, 1970: The Soviet spacecraft - Venera 7 successfully lands on the Venusian surface, thus marking the first ever soft landing on another planet.

23rd April, 1971: The first space station - Salyut 1, is launched by the USSR.

June, 1971: The Orion 1 Space Observatory launched by USSR becomes the first ever manned orbital observatory.

14th November, 1971: The NASA space orbiter - Mariner 9, becomes the first space orbiter to orbit another planet.

27th November, 1971: The first impact on planet Mars by the Soviet Union (Mars 2).

2nd December, 1971: The first instance of soft landing on Mars by the Soviet Union (Mars 3).

15th July, 1972: The robotic space probe launched by NASA - Pioneer 10, becomes the first mission to leave inner solar system and enter the asteroid belt.

3rd December, 1973: The Pioneer 10 becomes the first space mission to pass through the asteroid belt and flyby planet Jupiter approaching as close as 80,778.25 miles close to its surface.

29th March, 1974: The first Mercury flyby pulled off by NASA's robotic space probe Mariner 10 which came as close as 436.82 miles to the planet's surface.

15th July, 1975: The first multi-national manned mission - a collaboration between the United States of America and USSR, launched in form of Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

20th October, 1975: The USSR unmanned space mission to Venus - Venera 9, orbits the planet. It sent the first pictures of the Venusian surface on 22nd October, 1975.

20th July, 1976: The Viking Lander - a part of NASA's Viking program, sends first pictures of the surface along with some soil samples from planet Mars.

1st September, 1979: The Pioneer 11 robotic space probe launched by NASA pulls off Saturn flyby. (Closest distance approached 13,048.79 miles.)

1st March, 1982: Venera 13 sends first soil samples along with sound recording from planet Venus.

13th June, 1983: NASA's Pioneer 10 becomes the first mission to go beyond all the planets of the solar system.

24th January, 1886: The Voyager 2 spacecraft flies by planet Uranus from as close as 50,641.75 miles of the surface of the planet.

28th January, 1986: Challenger space tragedy - Space Shuttle Challenger explodes as a result of system failure shortly after its launch killing all the seven astronauts on board.

25th August, 1989: Voyager 2 completes the Neptune flyby.

14th February, 1990: The picture of the entire Solar System - which is referred to as the Family Portrait or Portrait of the Planets, is captured by NASA's Voyager 1.

24th April, 1990: The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) - the largest and most versatile space telescope ever developed, is successfully launched into its planned orbit by Space Shuttle Discovery.

8th February, 1992: The Ulysses robotic space probe - a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), completes a polar orbit around the Sun.

7th December, 1995: The unmanned spacecraft sent by NASA - Galileo, completes one orbit of planet Jupiter.

1998: The on-orbit construction of the International Space Station (ISS) - an internationally developed research facility, begins in low Earth orbit.

14th February, 2000: NASA's NEAR Shoemaker robotic space probe orbits the near-Earth asteroid 433 Eros. (It finally landed on the asteroid on 12th February, 2001.)

2003: NASA sends two Rovers - Spirit and Opportunity to planet Mars as a part of its Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER) to explore the surface and geology of the planet.

21st June, 2004: The first manned private spaceflight was completed by suborbital air-launched spaceplane - SpaceShipOne.

1st July, 2004: A collaboration between NASA, ESA and ASI (Italian space agency) - Cassini-Huygens robotic spacecraft mission orbits planet Saturn.

25th May, 2008: The unmanned US spacecraft - Phoenix, lands at the frozen northern plains of Mars as a part of the Mars Scout Program.

6th March, 2009: The Kepler Mission - the first space telescope which is programmed to search for Earth-like exoplanets, is launched by NASA.

9th October, 2009: NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) finds water near Cabeus cater region of the moon's south pole.

While the first few decades of space travel history hint at the dominance of large nations like the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, several developed and developing nations are expected to join the list within the next decade or so. The moment when man set foot on moon in 1969 was no doubt our biggest achievement in the world of space exploration, and going by the rapid progress in the field of technology, space travel in the future looks even more promising. It would be least surprising to see man set foot on Mars for the very first time within the next few decades. In fact, NASA - the pioneer organization in space research, already has its plans of space travel to Mars in place, going by which man is expected to set foot on Mars by 2037.