Timeline of space
1965-1982
1988-1920
October 4, 1957 - Sputnik 1, the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, is launched by the U.S.S.R., and remains in orbit until January 4, 1958.
July 15, 1972 - Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to travel through the asteroid belt.
July 12, 1989 - Soviet/International Phobos 2 launched, which orbits Mars to study its surface, atmosphere and magnetic field
May 17, 1974 - NASA launches the first Synchronous Meteorological Satellite, SMS-1
February 8, 1992 - Spacecraft Ulysses flies around Jupiter, on its way to the sun
March 5, 1958 - Explorer 2 is launched by a Jupiter-C rocket, and fails to reach orbit
May 15, 1958 - Sputnik 3 is launched by the U.S.S.R
September 1, 1979 - Pioneer 11 reaches Saturn, flying to within 13,000 miles and taking the first close-up photographs.
December 2, 1993 - Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-61, making the first on-orbit service of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
January 2, 1959 - Luna 1, first man-made satellite to orbit the moon, is launched by the U.S.S.R.
April 12, 1981 - The first manned mission of the Space Transportation System (STS-1), Columbia , is launched.
December 7, 1995 - The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, performing an orbit while dropping a probe into the atmosphere, and putting a satellite into orbit, which will spend the next two years orbiting the planet.
October 4, 1959 - Luna 3 translunar satellite is launched, orbiting the moon and photographing 70 percent of the far side of the moon