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 craft.
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 later—in some cases, a considerable time later (for example, Voyager 2, launched 20 August 1977, did not reach Neptune until 1989).
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
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
