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
External links
- 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
