space exploring time line

1957: Sputnik 1 – First artificial satellite launched by the Soviet Union. Started the Space Age.

1961: Yuri Gagarin – First human in space and orbiting Earth (Vostok 1).

1961: Alan Shepard – First American in space (suborbital flight).

1962: John Glenn – First American to orbit Earth (Mercury-Atlas 6)

1969: Apollo 11 – Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become first humans to land on the Moon.

1972: Apollo 17 – Last manned Moon landing; samples brought back helped understand lunar geology.

1965: Mariner 4 – First successful flyby of Mars, providing close-up photos.

1973: Pioneer 10 – First probe to travel through the asteroid belt and make direct observations of Jupiter.

1974: Mariner 10 – First spacecraft to visit Mercury.

1976: Viking 1 and Viking 2 – First successful landers on Mars, searching for signs of life.

1977: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 – Launched to study outer planets; Voyager 1 is now the farthest human-made object from Earth.

1990: Hubble Space Telescope launched – Revolutionized our view of the universe with deep space images.

2009: Kepler Space Telescope – Discovered thousands of exoplanets, expanding our knowledge of planets beyond our solar system.

1971: Salyut 1 – First space station launched by the USSR.

1998: International Space Station (ISS) assembly begins – Ongoing international effort for long-term human presence in space.

2012: Curiosity Rover lands on Mars – Studied Martian climate and geology, finding evidence Mars once had conditions suitable for life.

2015: New Horizons flyby of Pluto – First close-up images and data of Pluto and its moons.

the first animal to enter space called laika.