thumb|right|Charted timeline of Solar System exploration through December 2014

This is a timeline of Solar System exploration ordering events in the exploration of the Solar System by date of spacecraft launch.

It includes:

  • All spacecraft that have left Earth orbit for the purposes of Solar System exploration (or were launched with that intention but failed), including lunar probes.
  • A small number of pioneering or notable Earth-orbiting spacecraft.

It does not include:

  • Centuries of terrestrial telescopic observation.
  • The great majority of Earth-orbiting satellites.
  • Space probes leaving Earth orbit that are not concerned with Solar System exploration (such as space telescopes targeted at distant galaxies, cosmic background radiation observatories, and so on).
  • Probes that failed at launch.

The dates listed are launch dates, but the achievements noted may have occurred some time laterin some cases, a considerable time later (for example, Voyager 2, launched 20 August 1977, did not reach Neptune until 1989).

1950s

right|240px|thumb|[[Sputnik 1 – First Earth orbiter]]

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Mission name

!Launch date

!Description

!

|-

| Sputnik 1

|4 October 1957

|First Earth orbiter

|

|-

| Sputnik 2

|3 November 1957

|Earth orbiter, first animal in orbit, a dog named Laika

|

|-

| Explorer 1

|1 February 1958

|Earth orbiter; discovered Van Allen radiation belts

|

|-

| Vanguard 1

|17 March 1958

|Earth orbiter; oldest spacecraft still in Earth orbit

|

|-

| Luna 1

|2 January 1959

|First lunar flyby (attempted lunar impact?); first artificial satellite in heliocentric orbit.

|

|-

| Pioneer 4

|3 March 1959

|Lunar flyby

|

|-

| Luna 2

|12 September 1959

|First extraterrestrial impact and lunar impact, First artificial object on Moon

|

|-

| Luna 3

|4 October 1959

|Lunar flyby; First images of another celestial body taken from space, most notably, the far side of Moon

|

|}

1960s

right|240px|thumb|[[Vostok 1 – First crewed Earth orbiter]]

right|thumb|240px|[[Mariner 2 – First successful Venus flyby]]

right|thumb|240px|[[Mariner 4 – First successful Mars flyby]]

thumb|right|240px|[[Luna 9 – First successful lunar lander]]

thumb|right|240px|[[Zond 5 – First lunar flyby and return to Earth, first terrestrials to circle the Moon]]

right|thumb|[[Apollo 8 – First crewed lunar orbiter]]

240px|right|thumb|[[Apollo 11 – First crewed lunar landing]]

{| class="wikitable sticky-header"

|+

|-

!Mission name

!Launch date

!Description

!

|-

| Pioneer 5

|11 March 1960

|Interplanetary space investigations

|

|-

| Venera 1

|12 February 1961

|First probe to another planet; Venus flyby (contact lost before flyby)

|

|-

| Vostok 1

|12 April 1961

|First crewed Earth orbiter (Yuri Gagarin)

|

|-

| Ranger 1

|23 August 1961

|Attempted lunar test flight (failed to leave Earth orbit)

|

|-

| Ranger 2

|18 November 1961

|Attempted lunar test flight (failed to leave Earth orbit)

|

|-

| Ranger 3

|26 January 1962

|Attempted lunar impact (missed Moon)

|

|-

| Ranger 4

|23 April 1962

|Lunar impact (but unintentionally became the first spacecraft to hit the lunar farside and returned no data)

|

|-

| Mariner 2

|27 August 1962

|First successful planetary encounter, First successful Venus flyby

|

|-

| Ranger 5

|18 October 1962

|Attempted lunar impact (missed Moon)

|

|-

| Mars 1

|1 November 1962

|First probe to Mars: flyby (contact lost)

|

|-

| Luna 4

|2 April 1963

|Attempted lunar lander (missed Moon)

|

|-

| Cosmos 21

|11 November 1963

|Attempted Venera test flight?

|

|-

| Ranger 6

|30 January 1964

|Lunar impact (cameras failed)

|

|-

| Zond 1

|2 April 1964

|Venus flyby (contact lost)

|

|-

| Ranger 7

|28 July 1964

|Lunar impact (success)

|

|-

| Voskhod 1

|12 October 1964

|First orbiter with multimember crew

|

|-

| Mariner 3

|5 November 1964

|Attempted Mars flyby (failed to attain correct trajectory)

|

|-

| Mariner 4

|28 November 1964

|First successful Mars flyby (taking the first close-up image of another planet)

|

|-

| Zond 2

|30 November 1964

|Mars flyby (contact lost)

|

|-

| Ranger 8

|17 February 1965

|Lunar impact

|

|-

| Voskhod 2

|18 March 1965

|First space walk, by Alexei Leonov

|

|-

| Ranger 9

|21 March 1965

|Lunar impact

|

|-

| Lincoln Calibration Sphere 1

|6 May 1965

|Oldest spacecraft still in use

|

|-

| Luna 5

|9 May 1965

|Lunar impact (attempted soft landing)

|

|-

| Luna 6

|8 June 1965

|Attempted lunar lander (missed Moon)

|

|-

| Zond 3

|18 July 1965

|Lunar flyby

|

|-

| Luna 7

|4 October 1965

|Lunar impact (attempted soft landing)

|

|-

| Venera 2

|12 November 1965

|Venus flyby (contact lost)

|

|-

| Pioneer 6

|16 December 1965

|"Space weather" observations

|

|-

| Luna 9

|31 January 1966

|First extraterrestrial lander and lunar lander

|

|-

| Luna 10

|31 March 1966

|First extraterrestrial orbiter (except heliocentric) and first lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Surveyor 1

|30 May 1966

|Lunar lander

|

|-

| Explorer 33

|1 July 1966

|Attempted lunar orbiter (failed to attain lunar orbit)

|

|-

| Lunar Orbiter 1

|10 August 1966

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Pioneer 7

|17 August 1966

|"Space weather" observations

|

|-

| Luna 11

|24 August 1966

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Surveyor 2

|20 September 1966

|Attempted lunar lander (crashed into Moon)

|

|-

| Luna 12

|22 October 1966

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Lunar Orbiter 2

|6 November 1966

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Luna 13

|21 December 1966

|Lunar lander

|

|-

| Lunar Orbiter 3

|5 February 1967

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Surveyor 3

|17 April 1967

|Lunar lander

|

|-

| Lunar Orbiter 4

|4 May 1967

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Venera 4

|12 June 1967

|First functioning extraterrestrial atmospheric probe (Venus)

|

|-

| Mariner 5

|14 June 1967

|Venus flyby

|

|-

| Surveyor 4

|14 July 1967

|Attempted lunar lander (crashed into Moon)

|

|-

| Explorer 35 (IMP-E)

|19 July 1967

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Lunar Orbiter 5

|1 August 1967

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Surveyor 5

|8 September 1967

|Lunar lander

|

|-

| Surveyor 6

|7 November 1967

|Lunar lander, first lift-off from an extraterrestrial body

|

|-

| Apollo 4

|9 November 1967

|Lunar programme test flight in Earth orbit (uncrewed)

|

|-

| Pioneer 8

|13 December 1967

|"Space weather" observations

|

|-

| Surveyor 7

|7 January 1968

|Lunar lander

|

|-

| Apollo 5

| 22 January 1968

|Lunar programme test flight in Earth orbit (uncrewed)

|

|-

| Zond 4

|2 March 1968

|Lunar programme test flight out of Earth orbit (uncrewed)

|

|-

| Luna 14

|7 April 1968

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Zond 5

|14 September 1968

|First lunar flyby and return to Earth, first life forms to circle the Moon

|

|-

| Apollo 7

| 11 October 1968

|Lunar programme test flight in Earth orbit (crewed)

|

|-

| Pioneer 9

|8 November 1968

|"Space weather" observations

|

|-

| Zond 6

|10 November 1968

|Lunar flyby and return to Earth

|

|-

| Apollo 8

|21 December 1968

|First crewed spacecraft to leave Earth orbit, first crewed lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Venera 5

|5 January 1969

|Venus atmospheric probe

|

|-

| Venera 6

|10 January 1969

|Venus atmospheric probe

|

|-

| Mariner 6

|25 February 1969

|Mars flyby

|

|-

| Apollo 9

|3 March 1969

|Crewed lunar lander (LEM) flight test in Earth orbit

|

|-

| Mariner 7

|27 March 1969

|Mars flyby

|

|-

| Apollo 10

|18 May 1969

|Crewed lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Luna 15

|13 July 1969

|Second attempted lunar sample return

|

|-

| Apollo 11

|16 July 1969

|First crewed lunar landing and first successful sample return mission

|

|-

| Zond 7

|7 August 1969

|Lunar flyby and return to Earth

|

|-

| Apollo 12

|14 November 1969

|Crewed lunar landing

|

|}

1970s

right|220px|thumb|[[Mars 3 – First Mars lander]]

thumb|220x220px|[[Pioneer 10 – First Jupiter flyby]]

right|220px|thumb|[[Mariner 10 – First Mercury flyby]]

right|220px|thumb|[[Voyager 2 – First Uranus/first Neptune flyby]]

{| class="wikitable sticky-header"

|+

|-

!Mission name

!Launch date

!Description

!

|-

| Apollo 13

|11 April 1970

|Crewed lunar flyby and return to Earth (crewed lunar landing aborted).

|

|-

| Venera 7

|17 August 1970

|First Venus lander and the first spacecraft to "soft" land on another planet (with some data returned from the surface)

|

|-

| Luna 16

|12 September 1970

|First robotic lunar sample return

|

|-

| Zond 8

|20 October 1970

|Lunar flyby and return to Earth

|

|-

| Luna 17/Lunokhod 1

|10 November 1970

|First remote controlled rover

|

|-

| Apollo 14

|31 January 1971

|Crewed lunar landing

|

|-

| Salyut 1

|19 April 1971

|First space station

|

|-

| Mars 2

|19 May 1971

|First Mars impact, Mars orbiter and attempted lander; First rover (Prop-M) sent to another planet (Mars)

|

|-

| Mars 3

|28 May 1971

|Mars orbiter (arrived after Mariner 9); First Mars lander (first image taken from the surface of another planet, though the received image did not show anything); First rover (Prop-M) to be landed but not deployed on another planet (Mars)

|

|-

| Mariner 9

|30 May 1971

|First to orbit another planet (Mars)

|

|-

| Apollo 15

|26 July 1971

|Crewed lunar landing; First crewed lunar rover

|

|-

| Luna 18

|2 September 1971

|Attempted lunar sample return (crashed into Moon)

|

|-

| Luna 19

|28 September 1971

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Luna 20

|14 February 1972

|Lunar robotic sample return

|

|-

| Pioneer 10

|3 March 1972

|First Jupiter flyby

|

|-

| Venera 8

|27 March 1972

|Venus lander

|

|-

| Apollo 16

|16 April 1972

|Crewed lunar landing

|

|-

| Apollo 17

|7 December 1972

|Last crewed lunar landing

|

|-

| Luna 21/Lunokhod 2

|8 January 1973

|Lunar rover

|

|-

| Pioneer 11

|5 April 1973

|Jupiter flyby and First Saturn flyby

|

|-

| Explorer 49 (RAE-B)

|10 June 1973

|Lunar orbiter/radio astronomy

|

|-

| Mars 4

|21 July 1973

|Mars flyby (attempted Mars orbiter)

|

|-

| Mars 5

|25 July 1973

|Mars orbiter

|

|-

| Mars 6

|5 August 1973

|Mars flyby and attempted lander (failed due to damage on Mars landing)

|

|-

| Mars 7

|9 August 1973

|Mars flyby and attempted lander (missed Mars)

|

|-

| Mariner 10

|3 November 1973

|Lunar and Venus flybys in addition to the First Mercury flyby

|

|-

| Luna 22

|29 May 1974

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Luna 23

|28 October 1974

|Attempted lunar sample return (failed due to damage on lunar landing)

|

|-

| Helios-A

|10 December 1974

|Solar observations

|

|-

| Venera 9

|8 June 1975

|First Venus orbiter and lander; First successful images from the surface of another planet (Venus)

|

|-

| Venera 10

|14 June 1975

|Venus orbiter and lander

|

|-

| Viking 1

|20 August 1975

|Mars orbiter and lander; First clear pictures from Martian surface

|

|-

| Viking 2

|9 September 1975

|Mars orbiter and lander

|

|-

| Helios-B

|15 January 1976

|Solar observations

|

|-

| Luna 24

|9 August 1976

|Lunar robotic sample return

|

|-

| Voyager 2

|20 August 1977

|Jupiter/Saturn/first Uranus/first Neptune flyby

|

|-

| Voyager 1

|5 September 1977

|Jupiter/Saturn flyby, first to exit the heliosphere

|

|-

| Pioneer Venus 1

|20 May 1978

|Venus orbiter

|

|-

| Pioneer Venus 2

|8 August 1978

|Venus atmospheric probes

|

|-

| 23px ISEE-3

|12 August 1978

|Solar wind investigations; later redesignated International Cometary Explorer and performed Comet Giacobini-Zinner and Comet Halley flybys – First comet flyby

|

|-

| Venera 11

|9 September 1978

|Venus flyby and lander

|

|-

| Venera 12

|14 September 1978

|Venus flyby and lander

|

|}

1980s

thumb|240x240px|[[Galileo (spacecraft)|Galileo – Mission to Jupiter]]

{| class="wikitable sticky-header"

|+

|-

!Mission name

!Launch date

!Description

!

|-

| Venera 13

|30 October 1981

|Venus flyby and lander. First recording of sound on another planet.

|

|-

| Venera 14

|4 November 1981

|Venus flyby and lander

|

|-

| Venera 15

|2 June 1983

|Venus orbiter

|

|-

| Venera 16

|7 June 1983

|Venus orbiter

|

|-

| Vega 1

|15 December 1984

|Venus flyby, lander and first extraterrestrial aircraft (aerostat balloon); continued on to Comet Halley flyby

|

|-

| Vega 2

|21 December 1984

|Venus flyby, lander and balloon; continued on to Comet Halley flyby

|

|-

| Sakigake

|8 January 1985

|Comet Halley flyby

|

|-

|23px Giotto

|2 July 1985

|First close observation of comet (distance 596 kilometers), Comet Halley flyby

|

|-

| Suisei (Planet-A)

|18 August 1985

|Comet Halley flyby

|

|-

| Mir

|19 February 1986

|First modular space station (operational 1986–2000; final module added 1996)

|

|-

| Phobos 1

|7 July 1988

|Attempted Mars orbiter/Phobos landers (contact lost)

|

|-

| Phobos 2

|12 July 1988

|Mars orbiter/attempted Phobos landers (contact lost)

|

|-

| Magellan

|4 May 1989

|Venus orbiter

|

|-

| Galileo

|18 October 1989

|Venus flyby, first Asteroid flyby (Gaspra), first Asteroid moon discovery (Dactyl), first Jupiter orbiter, first Jupiter atmospheric probe

|

|}

1990s

240px|right|thumb|[[Mars Pathfinder – Mars lander and the first successful Mars rover, Sojourner]]

240px|right|thumb|[[Cassini–Huygens – First Saturn orbiter and first Titan lander]]

{| class="wikitable sticky-header"

|+

|-

!Mission name

!Launch date

!Description

!

|-

| Hiten (MUSES-A)

|24 January 1990

|Lunar flyby and orbiter

|

|-

| 23px Hubble Space Telescope

|24 April 1990

|Orbital space telescope (operational since 1990)

|

|-

| 23px Ulysses

|6 October 1990

|Solar polar orbiter

|

|-

| Yohkoh (Solar-A)

|30 August 1991

|Solar observations (1991–2001)

|

|-

| Mars Observer

|25 September 1992

|Attempted Mars orbiter (contact lost)

|

|-

| Clementine

|25 January 1994

|Lunar orbiter/attempted asteroid flyby (contact lost)

|

|-

| WIND

|1 November 1994

|Solar wind observations

|

|-

|23px SOHO

|2 December 1995

|Solar observatory (operational since 1996)

|

|-

| NEAR Shoemaker

|17 February 1996

|Eros orbiter, first near-Earth asteroid flyby, first asteroid orbit and first asteroid landing

|

|-

| Mars Global Surveyor

|7 November 1996

|Mars orbiter

|

|-

| Mars 96

|16 November 1996

|Attempted Mars orbiter/landers (failed to escape Earth orbit)

|

|-

| Mars Pathfinder

|4 December 1996

|Mars lander and first successful planetary rover

|

|-

| ACE

|25 August 1997

|Solar wind and "space weather" observations (operational since 1998)

|

|-

| 23px Cassini–Huygens

|15 October 1997

|First Saturn orbiter and first outer planet moon lander (on Titan)

|

|-

| Lunar Prospector

|7 January 1998

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Nozomi (Planet-B)

|3 July 1998

|Attempted Mars orbiter (failed to enter Mars orbit)

|

|-

| Deep Space 1 (DS1)

|24 October 1998

|Asteroid and comet flyby

|

|-

| 23px ISS

|20 November 1998

|International space station

|

|-

| Mars Climate Orbiter

|11 December 1998

|Attempted Mars orbiter (orbit insertion failed; entered atmosphere and was destroyed)

|

|-

| Mars Polar Lander/Deep Space 2 (DS2)

|3 January 1999

|Attempted Mars lander/penetrators (contact lost)

|

|-

| Stardust

|7 February 1999

|First comet coma sample return (returned 15 January 2006)

|

|}

2000s

220px|right|thumb|[[Mars Express/Beagle 2 – First planetary mission by the ESA]]

220px|right|thumb|[[MESSENGER – First Mercury orbiter]]

thumb|222x222px|[[Chandrayaan-1 – Water Around Fresh Moon Crater]]

{| class="wikitable sticky-header"

|+

|-

!Mission name

!Launch date

!Description

!

|-

| 2001 Mars Odyssey

|7 April 2001

|Mars orbiter

|

|-

| Genesis

|8 August 2001

|First solar wind sample return

|

|-

| CONTOUR

|3 July 2002

|Attempted flyby of comet nuclei (Encke, Schwassmann-Wachmann-3, and optionally a third one; lost in space)

|

|-

| Hayabusa (MUSES-C)

|9 May 2003

|Asteroid lander and first sample return from asteroid

|

|-

| Mars Exploration Rover Spirit

|10 June 2003

|Mars rover

|

|-

| Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity

|8 July 2003

|Mars rover

|

|-

|23px SMART-1

|27 September 2003

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

|23px Rosetta/Philae

|2 March 2004

|Asteroid Šteins and Lutetia flybys; first comet orbiter and lander (Landed in November 2014)

|

|-

| MESSENGER

|3 August 2004

|First Mercury orbiter (Achieved orbit 18 March 2011)

|

|-

| Deep Impact

|12 January 2005

|Comet flyby and impact

|

|-

| Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

|12 August 2005

|Mars orbiter

|

|-

|23px Venus Express

|9 November 2005

|Venus polar orbiter

|

|-

| New Horizons

|19 January 2006

|First Pluto/Charon flyby (on 14 July 2015); continued on to 486958 Arrokoth flyby (on 1 January 2019)

|'

|-

| Hinode (Solar-B)

|22 September 2006

|Solar orbiter

|

|-

| STEREO

|26 October 2006

|Two spacecraft, solar orbiters

|

|-

| Phoenix

|4 August 2007

|Mars polar lander (Mars landing on 25 May 2008)

|

|-

| SELENE (Kaguya)

|14 September 2007

|Lunar orbiters

|

|-

| Dawn

|27 September 2007

|Asteroid Ceres and Vesta orbiter (Entered orbit around Vesta on 16 July 2011 and around Ceres on 6 March 2015)

|

|-

| Chang'e 1

|24 October 2007

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Chandrayaan-1

|22 October 2008

|Lunar orbiter and impactor; discovered water on the Moon

|

|-

|23px Herschel Space Observatory

|14 May 2009

|Infrared space telescope at Sun–Earth L<sub>2</sub> Lagrange point

|

|-

| Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS

|18 June 2009

|Lunar polar orbiter and lunar impactor

|

|-

| WISE (NEOWISE)

|14 December 2009

|Infrared survey of celestial sky (WISE mission); later Near-Earth object survey (NEOWISE mission)

|

|}

2010s

220px|right|thumb|[[Mars Science Laboratory – Mars lander and large rover]]

220px|right|thumb|[[Mars Orbiter Mission|Mangalyaan – First Indian Mars orbiter]]

220px|right|thumb|[[ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter|Trace Gas Orbiter – ESA/Roscosmos Mars orbiter]]

{| class="wikitable sticky-header"

|+

|-

!Mission name

!Launch date

!Description

!

|-

| Solar Dynamics Observatory

|11 February 2010

|Continuous solar monitoring

|

|-

| Akatsuki (Planet-C)

|20 May 2010

|Venus orbiter (orbit insertion failed in 2010 / successful orbit insertion on 7 December 2015)

|

|-

| PICARD

|15 June 2010

|Solar monitoring

|

|-

| Chang'e 2

|1 October 2010

|Lunar orbiter, asteroid 4179 Toutatis flyby

|

|-

| Juno

|5 August 2011

|Jupiter orbiter

|

|-

| GRAIL

|10 September 2011

|Two spacecraft, Lunar orbiters

|

|-

| Fobos-Grunt and Yinghuo-1

|8 November 2011

|Phobos orbiter, lander and sample return (Russia), Mars orbiter (China)|Attempted Phobos sample return and Mars orbiter, respectively; both failed to escape Earth orbit

|

|-

| Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity rover)

|26 November 2011

|Mars rover (landed 6 August 2012)

|

|-

| Van Allen Probes (RBSP)

|30 August 2012

|Earth Van Allen radiation belts study

|

|-

| IRIS

|28 June 2013

|Solar observations

|

|-

| LADEE

|7 September 2013

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Hisaki

|14 September 2013

|Planetary atmosphere observatory

|

|-

| Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan)

|5 November 2013

|Mars orbiter

|

|-

| MAVEN

|18 November 2013

|Mars orbiter

|

|-

| Chang'e 3

|1 December 2013

|Lunar lander and rover (first lander since Soviet Luna 24 in 1976)

|

|-

| Chang'e 5-T1

|23 October 2014

|Circumlunar mission and Earth reentry; technology demonstration to prepare for Chang'e 5 mission

|

|-

| Hayabusa2 / MASCOT

|3 December 2014

|Asteroid lander and sample return (sample returned 5 December 2020), first asteroid rover

|

|-

| PROCYON

|3 December 2014

|Comet observer and attempted asteroid flyby (engine failure)

|

|-

| DSCOVR

|11 February 2015

|Solar observation

|

|-

|23px ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and EDM lander

|14 March 2016

|Mars orbiter and attempted lander (lander failure)

|

|-

| OSIRIS-REx

|8 September 2016

|Asteroid sample return mission (sample returned 24 September 2023)

|

|-

| InSight

|5 May 2018

|Mars lander

|

|-

| Queqiao

|20 May 2018

|Relay satellite for Chang'e 4 in Halo orbit around Earth–Moon L<sub>2</sub> Lagrange point

|

|-

| Parker Solar Probe

|12 August 2018

|Solar corona probe, closest solar approach ()

|

|-

|23px BepiColombo

|19 October 2018

|Two Mercury orbiters (orbit insertion planned in November 2026)

|

|-

| Chang'e 4

|7 December 2018

|Lunar lander and rover, first landing on the lunar far side

|

|-

| Beresheet

|22 February 2019

|Attempted lunar lander (crashed into Moon)

|

|-

| Chandrayaan-2

|22 July 2019

|Lunar orbiter; attempted lander and rover (contact lost during final stage of descent)

|

|}

2020s

right|thumb|NASA's [[Perseverance (rover)|Perseverance rover ]]

{| class="wikitable sticky-header"

|+

|-

!Mission name

!Launch date

!Description

!

|-

|23px Solar Orbiter

|10 February 2020

|Sun-observing satellite<!-- , closest solar approach (0.28 AU) -->

|

|-

| Mars Hope

|19 July 2020

|Mars orbiter

|

|-

| Tianwen-1 (Zhurong rover)

|23 July 2020

|Mars orbiter, lander, and rover

|

|-

| Mars 2020 (Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter)

|30 July 2020

|Mars rover and helicopter drone; first powered flight on another planet

|

|-

| Chang'e 5

|23 November 2020

|Lunar sample return

|

|-

| Lucy

|16 October 2021

|Flyby of six Jupiter trojans and two main belt asteroids

|

|-

| DART / LICIACube

|24 November 2021

|Asteroid 65803 Didymos flyby, asteroid moon Dimorphos impactor

|

|-

| 23px James Webb Space Telescope

|25 December 2021

|Infrared space telescope at Sun–Earth L<sub>2</sub>

|

|-

| CAPSTONE

|28 June 2022

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Danuri (KPLO)

|5 August 2022

|Lunar orbiter

|

|-

| Artemis 1 and 10 cubesats

|16 November 2022

|Uncrewed lunar orbital test of Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System. The cubesats are launched as rideshares and will execute their own missions.

|

|-

| Hakuto-R Mission 1 (Rashid rover) and Lunar Flashlight

| 11 December 2022

| Lunar lander technology demonstration, lunar rover, and lunar orbiter launched together (crashed into Moon)

|

|-

|23px JUICE

|14 April 2023

|Jupiter/Ganymede orbiter

|

|-

| Chandrayaan-3

|14 July 2023

|Lunar orbiter, lander and rover; first soft landing near the lunar South Pole

|

|-

| Luna 25

|10 August 2023

|Attempted lunar south pole lander (crashed into Moon)

|

|-

| Aditya-L1

|2 September 2023

|Sun-observing spacecraft at Sun–Earth L<sub>1</sub>

|

|-

| SLIM (LEV-1, LEV-2)

|6 September 2023

|Lunar flyby, lander and rovers

|

|-

| Psyche

|13 October 2023

|Asteroid 16 Psyche orbiter

|

|-

| Peregrine Mission One (including Iris and Colmena rovers)

|8 January 2024

|Lunar lander and rovers (landing precluded)

|

|-

| IM-1 Nova-C Odysseus (including EagleCam deployable camera)

|15 February 2024

|Lunar landers

|

|-

| DRO A/B

|13 March 2024

|Lunar orbiters

|

|-

| Queqiao-2 (including Tiandu-1 and 2)

|20 March 2024

|Lunar orbiters

|

|-

| Chang'e 6 (including Pakistan's ICUBE-Q cubesat)

|3 May 2024

|Lunar sample return, rover and orbiters; first sample return from the lunar far side

|

|-

|23px Hera (3 orbiters)

|7 October 2024

|Asteroid 65803 Didymos rendezvous

|

|-

| Europa Clipper

|14 October 2024

|Jupiter orbiter, Currently in transit.

|

|-

| Blue Ghost M1

|15 January 2025

|Lunar lander, first private company to soft land on the Moon

|

|-

| Hakuto-R Mission 2 (including Tenacious rover)

|15 January 2025

|Lunar lander and rover

|

|-

| Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1

| 24 September 2025

|heliophysics mission

|

|-

| Artemis II

| 1 April 2026

| Crewed lunar flyby; Farthest from Earth a human has gone (406,771 km)

|

|-

|23px SMILE

| 19 May 2026

| Solar storm research

|

|}

Planned or scheduled

See also

  • Discovery and exploration of the Solar System
  • Human presence in space
  • List of missions to the Moon
  • List of missions to Venus
  • List of missions to Mars
  • List of Solar System probes
  • List of interplanetary voyages
  • List of space telescopes
  • New Frontiers program
  • Out of the Cradle – 1984 book about scientific speculation on future missions.
  • Space Race
  • Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
  • Timeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their moons
  • Timeline of first orbital launches by country
  • Timeline of space exploration
  • Timeline of space travel by nationality
  • Timeline of spaceflight

References

  • NASA Lunar and Planetary Science
  • NASA Solar System Strategic Exploration Plans
  • Soviet Lunar, Martian, Venusian and Terrestrial Space Image Catalog
  • Comprehensive and interactive graphical history overview by Armchair Astronautics