67 events spanning launches, landings, missions, discoveries, and milestones
Showing 67 events
SpaceX's Starship completed its fourth integrated flight test, achieving a full orbital-class trajectory with a successful controlled splashdown of both the booster and upper stage for the first time.
Boeing's CST-100 Starliner launched its first crewed mission to the ISS, carrying astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Thruster issues led NASA to extend their stay and return them on a SpaceX Crew Dragon instead.
India's Chandrayaan-3 successfully soft-landed near the lunar south pole, making India the fourth country to land on the Moon. The Pragyan rover conducted in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar regolith.
SpaceX launched the fully stacked Starship/Super Heavy vehicle for the first time from Boca Chica, Texas. The rocket was destroyed minutes after launch, but the test provided invaluable data for the world's most powerful rocket.
NASA launched Artemis I on the Space Launch System rocket, sending an uncrewed Orion capsule on a 25-day mission around the Moon.
NASA's DART spacecraft deliberately impacted the asteroid Dimorphos, successfully altering its orbit in the first planetary defense test.
President Biden unveiled JWST's first image — SMACS 0723 — followed by a suite of full-color science releases from the new observatory.
Axiom Space launched Axiom-1 aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon, the first fully private astronaut mission to the International Space Station.
The James Webb Space Telescope launched aboard an Ariane 5 from French Guiana, bound for the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point.
Virgin Galactic launched founder Richard Branson aboard VSS Unity, followed days later by Blue Origin launching founder Jeff Bezos aboard New Shepard, inaugurating the era of commercial suborbital space tourism.
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter completed the first powered, controlled flight on another planet, a 39-second hover over Jezero Crater.
NASA's Perseverance rover landed in Jezero Crater, carrying the Ingenuity helicopter and instruments to search for signs of ancient life.
Eight founding nations signed the Artemis Accords, establishing principles for the peaceful exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond, building on the Outer Space Treaty for responsible resource utilization.
SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 launched Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS, the first crewed orbital flight from US soil since 2011.
The United States Space Force was signed into law as the sixth branch of the US military, consolidating military space operations under a dedicated service branch.
Israel's SpaceIL attempted to land Beresheet, the first privately funded lunar lander, which crashed during descent — but demonstrated that nations and private entities beyond traditional space powers could attempt lunar missions.
The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration released the first direct image of a black hole's shadow, in galaxy M87, using a planet-scale array of eight radio telescopes to confirm predictions of general relativity.
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew past Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth (2014 MU69), the most distant object ever visited.
SpaceX successfully landed a Falcon 9 first stage at Cape Canaveral after delivering 11 ORBCOMM satellites to orbit, proving rocket reusability and beginning to transform launch economics.
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto after a nine-year, three-billion-mile journey, revealing Pluto's heart-shaped nitrogen ice plain and complex geology.
Dragon CRS-1 launched on Falcon 9 — the first fully operational commercial cargo delivery to the International Space Station.
NASA's Curiosity rover landed in Gale Crater using the revolutionary sky crane system, beginning the Mars Science Laboratory mission.
SpaceX's Dragon (COTS Demo Flight 2) became the first commercial spacecraft to berth with the International Space Station, validating NASA's strategy of partnering with private companies for ISS resupply.
SpaceShipOne, funded by Paul Allen and designed by Burt Rutan, completed its second qualifying suborbital flight within two weeks to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize, proving private companies could reach space.
NASA released the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field — one of the deepest views of the universe ever taken, revealing ~10,000 galaxies.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit landed in Gusev Crater, beginning a mission that far exceeded its 90-day design life.
Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-31) deployed the Hubble Space Telescope into low Earth orbit, revolutionizing astronomy.
From 6 billion kilometers away, Voyager 1 photographed Earth as a tiny pale blue dot in a sunbeam, at the request of Carl Sagan.
Apollo 11's Lunar Module Eagle landed in the Sea of Tranquility. Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface, followed by Buzz Aldrin.
Apollo 11 lifted off atop a Saturn V rocket, beginning the mission that would land humans on the Moon for the first time.
President John F. Kennedy announced the goal of landing an American on the Moon and returning safely before the decade ended.
Alan Shepard flew a suborbital Mercury-Redstone flight aboard Freedom 7, becoming the first American in space.
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin completed a single orbit of Earth aboard Vostok 1, becoming the first human in space.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, establishing NASA on July 29, 1958.
The United States launched its first satellite, Explorer 1, which discovered the Van Allen radiation belts around Earth.
Aboard Sputnik 2, the Soviet dog Laika became the first living creature to orbit the Earth, paving the way for human spaceflight.
The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, Earth's first artificial satellite, marking the beginning of the Space Age and igniting the Space Race.