Spacecraft History

Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957.

Yuri Gagarin was the first human to travel into space, aboard the Soviet spacecraft Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961.

Apollo 11 was the first spacecraft to land on the Moon, with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin becoming the first humans to walk on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969.

Viking 1 was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars, on July 20, 1976.

Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to successfully orbit Venus, on December 14, 1962.

Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to successfully orbit Jupiter, on December 4, 1973.

Pioneer 11 was the first spacecraft to successfully orbit Saturn, on September 1, 1979.

Voyager 2 was the first spacecraft to successfully orbit Uranus, on January 24, 1986.

Voyager 2 was the first spacecraft to successfully orbit Neptune, on August 25, 1989.

Giotto was the first spacecraft to successfully land on a comet, Comet Halley, on March 13, 1986.

NEAR Shoemaker was the first spacecraft to successfully land on an asteroid, Eros, on February 12, 2001.

Hayabusa was the first spacecraft to successfully return samples from an asteroid, Itokawa, in 2010.

Stardust was the first spacecraft to successfully return samples from a comet, Comet Wild 2, in 2006.

New Horizons was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Pluto, on July 14, 2015.