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137 event(s), page 2 of 2, 37 uncited and 1 outside stories on this page

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  1. 23 March 1965 First crewed Gemini flight 0 cit. Gemini 3 carried two astronauts and began the program that tested the skills needed to reach the Moon. Gemini crews practiced docking, long flights, and working outside the spacecraft. exploration / science / technology ●●●
  2. 3 June 1965 Ed White's first American spacewalk 0 cit. During Gemini 4, Ed White floated outside his capsule for about twenty minutes in the first American spacewalk. It proved that astronauts could work in the vacuum of space. exploration / technology ●●●
  3. 11 October 1968 Apollo 7, first crewed Apollo mission 0 cit. After the Apollo 1 fire, Apollo 7 carried a crew into Earth orbit to test the redesigned command module. Its success put the Moon program back on track. exploration / technology ●●●
  4. 21 December 1968 Apollo 8 orbits the Moon 0 cit. Apollo 8 carried the first humans to leave Earth's orbit and circle the Moon. The crew's live broadcasts and the Earthrise photograph became lasting images of the era. culture / exploration / technology ●●●●
  5. 20 July 1969 Apollo 11 lands on the Moon 0 cit. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to walk on the Moon while Michael Collins orbited above. An estimated 600 million people watched the landing on television. culture / exploration / technology ●●●●●
  6. 19 November 1969 Apollo 12, second crewed lunar landing 0 cit. Apollo 12 made a precise landing near an earlier robotic probe on the Moon. The mission showed that lunar landings could be routine and accurate. exploration / technology ●●
  7. 11 April 1970 Apollo 13 survival 0 cit. An oxygen tank exploded on the way to the Moon, and the crew used the lunar module as a lifeboat to get home. The safe return became a famous story of improvised engineering under pressure. exploration / society / technology ●●●●
  8. 7 December 1972 Apollo 17, the last Moon landing 0 cit. Apollo 17 was the final crewed mission to the Moon and the only one to carry a trained geologist. No human has returned to the lunar surface since. exploration / science / technology ●●●●
  9. 14 May 1973 Skylab, America's first space station 0 cit. NASA launched Skylab, its first space station, built from leftover Apollo hardware. Three crews lived aboard and studied the Sun, the Earth, and how the body copes with long stays in space. exploration / science / technology ●●●
  10. 14 May 1973 Skylab, America's first space station, reaches orbit damaged 0 cit. NASA launches Skylab, the first American space station, on the last flight of a Saturn V rocket. During ascent the micrometeoroid and thermal shield tore away, ripping off one main solar wing and jamming the other, which left the station overheating and short of power. The orbital workshop reached orbit but could not be occupied until it was repaired. exploration / science / technology ●●●
  11. 25 May 1973 Skylab's first crew saves the crippled station 0 cit. Astronauts Charles Conrad, Paul Weitz and Joseph Kerwin fly to Skylab and rescue it in orbit. They deployed a parasol sunshade to cool the overheated workshop and freed the jammed solar wing during a spacewalk, restoring power. The crew spent 28 days aboard, then a record for human spaceflight, proving that astronauts could repair large structures in space. exploration / science / technology ●●
  12. 16 November 1973 Skylab 4 crew sets an 84-day endurance record 0 cit. Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson and William Pogue launch on the third and final crewed Skylab mission. They stayed in orbit for 84 days, a human spaceflight duration record that stood for years, and studied the Sun and the newly found Comet Kohoutek. The mission also saw the crew push back against an overloaded schedule set by ground control. exploration / science / technology ●●
  13. 6 April 1973 Pioneer 11 launches toward Jupiter and Saturn 0 cit. NASA launches the Pioneer 11 probe on a mission to the outer planets. It would fly past Jupiter in 1974 and become the first spacecraft to reach Saturn, in 1979. Like its twin Pioneer 10, it carried a plaque meant to describe humanity to any future finder. exploration / science / technology ●●
  14. 3 November 1973 Mariner 10 launches on the first mission to Mercury 0 cit. NASA launches Mariner 10, bound for Venus and Mercury. It was the first spacecraft to use a gravity assist, swinging past Venus to reach Mercury, and the first to visit two planets on one mission. It returned the first close-up images of Mercury during three flybys in 1974 and 1975. exploration / science / technology ●●
  15. 3 December 1973 Pioneer 10 makes the first flyby of Jupiter 0 cit. Pioneer 10 becomes the first spacecraft to fly past Jupiter, passing about 130,000 kilometres above the cloud tops. It sent back the first close-up images of the giant planet and measured its intense radiation belts, proving a probe could survive them. The mission was run from NASA's Ames Research Center in California. exploration / science / technology ●●●
  16. 7 March 1973 Comet Kohoutek is discovered and billed as the comet of the century 0 cit. Czech astronomer Lubos Kohoutek discovers a bright new comet at the Hamburg Observatory. Found far from the Sun, it was predicted to become spectacularly bright and was hyped as the comet of the century. It underwhelmed skywatchers at the end of 1973, though the Skylab 4 crew and other scientists studied it closely. exploration / science ●●
  17. c. June 1973 Cosmic gamma-ray bursts are revealed to science 0 cit. Scientists at Los Alamos publish the discovery of gamma-ray bursts, brief and powerful flashes of gamma rays from deep space. The bursts had been recorded years earlier by the Vela satellites, which were built to watch for secret nuclear weapon tests. The finding opened a new field of high-energy astrophysics whose origin stayed a mystery for decades. exploration / science ●●
  18. 30 May 1975 Founding of the European Space Agency 0 cit. no story Ten European states merge the earlier ESRO and ELDO organizations into the European Space Agency, headquartered in Paris, pooling Europe's civilian space programs. diplomacy / exploration / science ●●●
  19. 17 July 1975 Apollo-Soyuz handshake in orbit 0 cit. American and Soviet spacecraft docked in orbit and the crews shook hands, easing Cold War rivalry in space. The mission was the first international human spaceflight. exploration / politics / technology ●●●
  20. 12 April 1981 First Space Shuttle flight 0 cit. The Space Shuttle Columbia flew the program's first mission, the first reusable crewed spacecraft to reach orbit and glide back to a runway. It began three decades of shuttle flights. exploration / science / technology ●●●●
  21. 24 April 1990 Hubble Space Telescope launched 0 cit. The shuttle Discovery carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit, giving astronomers a clear view above the atmosphere. A flaw in its mirror was later fixed by a spacewalking crew. exploration / science / technology ●●●●
  22. 29 June 1995 First Shuttle-Mir docking 0 cit. The shuttle Atlantis docked with Russia's Mir station, joining the two former rivals in orbit. The Shuttle-Mir program taught both sides to work together before building the International Space Station. exploration / politics / technology ●●●
  23. 4 July 1997 Mars Pathfinder and the Sojourner rover 0 cit. NASA landed the Pathfinder probe on Mars and released Sojourner, the first rover to drive on another planet. The mission showed that cheap, fast robotic exploration could work. exploration / science / technology ●●●
  24. 2 November 2000 First crew arrives at the space station 0 cit. The Expedition 1 crew moved into the International Space Station, beginning a continuous human presence in orbit. People have lived aboard the station without a break ever since. exploration / society / technology ●●●●
  25. 2002 Founding of SpaceX 0 cit. Elon Musk founds SpaceX to cut the cost of spaceflight. Its reusable Falcon rockets and Starlink constellation make it the dominant commercial launch provider and the first private company to fly astronauts to orbit. economy / exploration / science / technology ●●●●
  26. c. March 2002 SpaceX founded 0 cit. Elon Musk founded SpaceX with the goal of cutting launch costs and eventually reaching Mars. The company grew into NASA's main partner for cargo and crew flights. economy / exploration / technology ●●●●
  27. 15 October 2003 China's first human spaceflight 0 cit. Yang Liwei orbited the Earth aboard Shenzhou 5, making China the third country to launch a person into space on its own. The flight announced China as a serious spacefaring nation. exploration / politics / technology ●●●
  28. 4 January 2004 Spirit and Opportunity land on Mars 0 cit. NASA's twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity reached Mars and found strong evidence that water once flowed there. Opportunity kept working for more than fourteen years. exploration / science / technology ●●●
  29. 6 August 2012 Curiosity rover lands on Mars 0 cit. NASA lowered the car-sized Curiosity rover onto Mars using a rocket-powered sky crane. It found that the planet could once have supported microbial life. exploration / science / technology ●●●
  30. 14 July 2015 New Horizons flies past Pluto 0 cit. After a nine-year journey, NASA's New Horizons probe made the first close flyby of Pluto. It revealed icy mountains and plains on a world once seen only as a dot. exploration / science / technology ●●●
  31. 3 January 2019 Chang'e 4 lands on the Moon's far side 0 cit. China's Chang'e 4 made the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon. The mission marked China's rise as a major power in space exploration. exploration / politics / technology ●●●
  32. 30 May 2020 Crew Dragon carries astronauts to orbit 0 cit. SpaceX flew NASA astronauts to the space station aboard its Crew Dragon capsule. It was the first crewed orbital launch from American soil since the shuttle retired in 2011. economy / exploration / technology ●●●●
  33. 18 February 2021 Perseverance and Ingenuity reach Mars 0 cit. NASA landed the Perseverance rover to search for signs of ancient life and collect rock samples. It carried the small Ingenuity helicopter, which made the first powered flight on another planet. exploration / science / technology ●●●●
  34. 25 December 2021 James Webb Space Telescope launched 0 cit. The James Webb Space Telescope launched as the largest and most powerful space observatory ever built. Its infrared instruments can see the earliest galaxies and study distant planets. exploration / science / technology ●●●●
  35. 16 November 2022 Artemis I flies around the Moon 0 cit. NASA launched the uncrewed Artemis I mission, sending its new Orion capsule around the Moon on the giant Space Launch System rocket. It was the first step in the plan to return astronauts to the lunar surface. exploration / politics / technology ●●●●
  36. c. November 2022 China completes the Tiangong space station 0 cit. China finished assembling its Tiangong space station with the docking of its final module. The outpost gave China a permanent crewed presence in orbit and sharpened its rivalry with the United States. exploration / politics / technology ●●●
  37. 20 April 2023 First flight test of SpaceX Starship 0 cit. SpaceX launched the first full test of Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. The vehicle is central to plans for carrying people to the Moon and Mars. economy / exploration / technology ●●●