The age of exploration
How we explored the Solar System
Seven decades of firsts - from the first satellite to Europa Clipper’s launch toward Jupiter. Click any destination to open its world.
1950s
1957
The first artificial satellite launches the Space Age.
1959
First spacecraft to reach another world.
1960s
1961
Yuri Gagarin orbits Earth - the first human in space.
1962
The first successful planetary flyby.
1965
First close-up photographs of another planet.
1969
Humans walk on another world for the first time.
1970s
1970
First soft landing on another planet.
1971
First spacecraft to orbit another planet.
1973
First craft through the asteroid belt to Jupiter.
1974
The first close look at Mercury.
1976
First fully successful Mars landing.
1979
Io’s volcanoes and Jupiter’s rings revealed.
1980s
1981
The rings in unprecedented detail.
1986
The only Uranus encounter to date.
1989
The final stop of the Grand Tour.
1990s
1990
Radar-maps 98% of Venus through the clouds.
1995
First orbit of an outer planet.
1997
Sojourner - the first rover on Mars.
2000s
2004
Begins thirteen years in orbit at Saturn.
2005
The most distant landing ever made.
2010s
2011
First spacecraft to orbit Mercury.
2012
A nuclear-powered laboratory lands in Gale crater.
2015
Pluto’s heart revealed after a 9.5-year cruise.
2018
Sets off to touch the Sun’s corona.
2020s
2021
Perseverance & IngenuityMars The first powered flight on another planet.
2024
Launches toward Europa’s hidden ocean.