PIONEERING SPACE MISSIONS

1957 USSR: Sputnik I - First Satellite in Space

• first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4
October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program.
1959 USSR: Luna 1 - First spacecraft to escape Earth’s gravity
• Launched on January 2, 1959, Luna 1 was the first human-made object to escape the grip of the Earth’s
gravity.
• First spacecraft in human history that could reach the vicinity of the moon
1959 USSR: Luna 2 - first to contact another planetary body (Moon)
• Launched on Sept. 12, 1959 and impacted the moon two days later.
• Provided information that the moon has no appreciable magnetic field and no evidence of radiation belts on
the moon.
1959 USSR: Luna 3 - photographed lunar surface for the first time

1961 USSR: Vostok I - First Man in Space

• Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space on April 12, 1961, when he
circled the Earth in Vostok I (lasting 1 hour 29 minutes)
1963 USSR: Vostok 6 - First Woman in Space
• Valentina Tereshkova 26-year-old Soviet cosmonaut became the first woman to visit space on
June 16, 1963 on a three-day mission.
• She completed a total of 41 orbits around Earth
1965 NASA: Mariner 4 - First Image of Another Planet (Mars)
• Launched in 1964

1969 NASA: Apollo 11 - First Man on the Moon

• Neil Armstrong, on July 20, 1969, became the first human to walk on the
moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission.
• Less than 20 minutes later, Buzz Aldrin also joined his commander. Michael
Collins did not walk on moon.
• The two explored the moon on foot for three hours
• Eugene Cernan became the last man to step off from the lunar surface in the
Apollo 17 mission ending on December 14, 1972.
1970 USSR: Venera 7 - First Landing on Another Planet (Venus)
• Highlighted the harsh world of Venus.
1977 NASA: Voyager 1 - Mission to Interstellar Space
• Primary mission was to explore Jupiter and Saturn
• Not only did it snap a photo of our entire solar system in 1990, but it crossed into
interstellar space in 2012, becoming the most distant human-made object.
1990 NASA: Hubble Space Telescope
• Named after Edwin Powell Hubble
• Launched for Lower Earth Orbit on April 24, 1990
• The observatory is the first major optical telescope to be placed in space. Since
then, it has snapped breathtaking images of the universe’s most distant
galaxies, supernovae and our planetary neighbours.
• The Hubble Space Telescope, which was later joined by an illustrious cadre of
new observatories like the James Webb Space Telescope, reshaped
our fundamental understanding of the universe
1996 NASA: Mars Pathfinder - First Rover on Mars
• Launched on December 4, 1996
• Sojourner rover reached Mars on July 4, 1997
• It analyzed its atmosphere, climate, and geology.
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• The mission collected evidence suggesting that Mars once had flowing water and that the atmosphere is
heated by the planet’s surface
2000: International Space Station - A Critical Laboratory
• It was part of a multilateral agreement between NASA, Russian Space Agency,
European Space Agency, Canada and Japan.
• The first pieces of ISS, one from Russia and the other from the United States, left
Earth in 1998.
• The two were attached in space and added to, piece by piece, until November 2,
2000, when the first crew arrived.
• In 2018, legislation was approved to extend ISS operations through 2030.
• Russia announced to withdraw from ISS in 2024
2009 NASA: Kepler - Exploring Distant Worlds
• The mission was to “explore the structure and diversity of planetary systems.”
• By the end of its nine years, Kepler found over 2,600 planets among more than half a million stars.

2021: James Webb Space Telescope

• a large infrared telescope with an approximately 6.5 meter primary
mirror. Webb successfully launched from ESA's spaceport in French Guiana
on December 25, 2021
• It does not orbit around the Earth like the Hubble Space Telescope, it orbits
the Sun.
• Webb is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space
Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
• Webb revealed the first clear glimpses of thousands of galaxies in an unprecedented deep-field view.

NASA - Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

• NASA has renamed its Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), a flagship
observatory set to launch in 2025, to honor the renowned astronomer Nancy
Grace Roman, also known as the "mother of Hubble."
• The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope—or Roman Space Telescope for short—
will help astronomers answer some of the biggest questions of cosmology, like
why the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate.

Important Facts
Woman spending most time in space (cumulative) - Peggy Annette Whitson American astronauts – cumulative 675
days.
Record for the longest spaceflight by a woman – Christina Koch (NASA)-328 days
Man spending most time in space (cumulative)- Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka (Russian)- a little more than 878
days in 5 missions
Most consecutive days spent in space (consecutive) - Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent 437 days in
space.

1957: Dog ‘Laika’ the first animal launched into orbit, aboard Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2
1961: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space.
1963: Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space.

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1965: Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov becomes the first person to walk in space.
1968: The US's Apollo 8 becomes the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon.
1969: American astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to step on moon.
1971: Salyut 1 becomes the first space station in orbit.
1975: The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project flight becomes the first US-Soviet collaboration in space.
1977: The Voyager program launches the first satellites to reach interstellar space.
1997: Mars Pathfinder becomes the first spacecraft to successfully land on the red planet.

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