Space

The universe began approximately 13.8 billion years ago in an event called the Big Bang — an expansion from an infinitely dense, hot singularity. The cosmic microwave background radiation is its "afterglow."

Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on April 12, 1961, orbiting Earth once aboard Vostok 1 in a flight lasting 108 minutes. He reached an altitude of 327 km.

Apollo 11 landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the lunar surface, followed by Buzz Aldrin 19 minutes later. The mission lasted 8 days.

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

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on 24 April 1990 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

The Soviet Union launched Salyut 1, the world first space station, on 19 April 1971, and the first crew (Soyuz 11) occupied it for 23 days in June 1971.

The ESA Rosetta spacecraft completed its mission on 30 September 2016 with a controlled crash-landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, after orbiting and studying the comet for over two years and deploying the Philae lander in 2014.

Fruit flies became the first animals in space on 20 February 1947, launched aboard a US V-2 rocket; the first mammal in orbit was Laika, a Soviet dog launched on Sputnik 2 on 3 November 1957.

Humans first landed on the Moon on 20 July 1969, when NASA Apollo 11 mission touched down and astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to step onto the lunar surface, followed by Buzz Aldrin.

The first wheeled vehicle to operate on the Moon was the Soviet robotic Lunokhod 1, which landed in November 1970; the first crewed lunar rover was driven by Apollo 15 astronauts in 1971.

The Space Race began in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, igniting fierce competition with the United States that culminated in the Moon landing in 1969.

The first image of a black hole was released to the public on 10 April 2019 by the Event Horizon Telescope team and showed the supermassive black hole at the centre of galaxy M87.

The first photographs of Earth taken from space were captured on 24 October 1946 by a camera aboard a captured V-2 rocket launched from White Sands, New Mexico.

The first known photograph of the Moon was made in 1840 by John William Draper in New York, using an early daguerreotype process.

The first successful weather satellite, TIROS-1, was launched by the United States on 1 April 1960 and sent back the first television images of clouds from orbit.

Halley's Comet orbits the Sun about every 75 to 76 years; it last passed closest to the Sun in February 1986 and is expected back in mid-2061.

Apollo 13 launched on 11 April 1970. An oxygen tank exploded two days later, and the crew returned safely to Earth on 17 April 1970.

The James Webb Space Telescope launched on 25 December 2021.

The Event Horizon Telescope captured the first image of a black hole, released on April 10, 2019.

The International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet on 24 August 2006.

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957.

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on 24 April 1990 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov performed the first spacewalk on 18 March 1965.

The first ISS module, Zarya, was launched on 20 November 1998.

The first confirmed direct image of an exoplanet was published in 2004 (2M1207 b).

Lunar Orbiter 1 captured the first photo of Earth from the Moon's vicinity on 23 August 1966.

Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space on 16 June 1963, aboard Vostok 6.

Neptune was discovered on 23 September 1846 by Johann Galle at the Berlin Observatory, using predictions made through mathematics.

Uranus was discovered on 13 March 1781 by astronomer William Herschel, the first planet found with a telescope.

The Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch on 28 January 1986, killing all seven crew members.

The Soviet probe Luna 9 made the first soft landing on the Moon on 3 February 1966 and sent back the first photos from the lunar surface.

On 30 June 1908, a huge explosion flattened forest near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Siberia.

Voyager 2 flew past Neptune on 25 August 1989, making it the only spacecraft ever to visit the planet.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft ended its mission on 15 September 2017 by diving into Saturn's atmosphere after 13 years orbiting the planet.

Gravitational waves were first directly detected on 14 September 2015 by the LIGO observatories in the US; the discovery was announced on 11 February 2016.

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto on 14 July 2015, giving humanity its first close-up images of the dwarf planet.

NASA's Curiosity rover landed in Mars's Gale Crater on 6 August 2012 (UTC), using a daring 'sky crane' landing system.

The Space Shuttle's final mission, STS-135 on Atlantis, launched on 8 July 2011 and landed on 21 July 2011, ending 30 years of shuttle flights.

The first weather satellite, TIROS-1, was launched on 1 April 1960. It proved that satellites could be used to observe Earth's weather.

One of the first widely accepted direct images of an exoplanet was published in 2004. It showed the planet 2M1207 b orbiting a brown dwarf.

The first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova in 1963.

The first image of a black hole was published on 10 April 2019.

The first black hole image was released in 2019. It showed the supermassive black hole in galaxy M87.

The first widely accepted exoplanet around a Sun-like star was discovered in 1995. It orbited 51 Pegasi.

The first soft landing on the Moon was achieved by Luna 9 on 3 February 1966. It was a Soviet spacecraft.

Sputnik 1 was launched on 4 October 1957 by the Soviet Union. It was the first human-made object to orbit Earth.

Luna 1 was launched on 2 January 1959 and became the first spacecraft to escape Earth's gravity and pass near the Moon.

Luna 2 reached the Moon on 13 September 1959. It became the first human-made object to impact the lunar surface.

Luna 9 made the first soft landing on 3 February 1966. It was the first spacecraft to survive landing and send images from the Moon’s surface.

Mariner 9 launched on 30 May 1971 and became the first spacecraft to orbit Mars. It reached Mars later that year.

Viking 1 landed on Mars on 20 July 1976. It was the first spacecraft to achieve a safe, successful landing on the planet.

The European Space Agency’s Philae lander touched down on comet 67P on 12 November 2014. It was the first landing on a comet nucleus.

Hayabusa landed on asteroid Itokawa in 2005. It became the first spacecraft to touch down on an asteroid and later return samples to Earth.

Hayabusa returned asteroid samples to Earth on 13 June 2010. It brought back material from asteroid Itokawa.

Rosetta’s Philae landing on 12 November 2014 was the first time a lander operated on a comet nucleus. It sent back data before its batteries ran out.

Pioneer 10 launched on 2 March 1972. It became the first spacecraft to fly past Jupiter and then leave the Solar System on a hyperbolic path.

Pioneer 11 flew past Saturn on 1 September 1979. It was the first spacecraft to observe Saturn up close.

Voyager 2 flew past Uranus on 24 January 1986. It remains the only spacecraft to have visited the planet up close.

Voyager 2 flew past Neptune on 25 August 1989. It was the first and so far only spacecraft to visit Neptune closely.

Mariner 10 first flew by Mercury on 29 March 1974. It was the first spacecraft to observe Mercury up close.

Giotto flew by Halley’s Comet on 14 March 1986. It was the first spacecraft to return close images of a comet nucleus.

Luna 16 returned lunar samples to Earth on 24 September 1970. It was the first robotic sample-return mission from the Moon.

Venera 7 landed on Venus on 15 December 1970. It was the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on another planet and transmit data back.

Venus was first orbited by Mariner 5’s flyby? No orbit came later: the first successful Venus orbiter was Venera 9 in 1975?

Lunar Orbiter 1 became the first U.S. spacecraft to orbit the Moon on 14 August 1966. It helped map landing sites for Apollo missions.

Alexei Leonov performed the first spacewalk on 18 March 1965. He left the Voskhod 2 spacecraft for about 12 minutes.

Valentina Tereshkova flew into space on 16 June 1963. She became the first woman to orbit Earth.

Salyut 1 was launched on 19 April 1971. It became the world’s first space station to host a crew.

The ISS began on 20 November 1998 with the launch of the Zarya module. It was the first piece of the International Space Station in orbit.

The Infrared Astronomical Satellite, or IRAS, launched on 25 January 1983. It was the first space telescope to survey the sky in infrared wavelengths.

Kepler launched on 7 March 2009. It was designed to find planets around other stars by watching for tiny dips in starlight.

The first widely accepted direct image of an exoplanet around a Sun-like star was captured in 2004, after earlier detections had been made by indirect methods.

The first direct detection of gravitational waves was announced on 11 February 2016. The signal was recorded by LIGO in September 2015.

The first image of a black hole was released on 10 April 2019. It showed the supermassive black hole in galaxy M87.

James Webb launched on 25 December 2021. It became the most powerful space telescope ever sent into space at that time.

In 1995, astronomers announced 51 Pegasi b, the first exoplanet found orbiting a Sun-like star.

Mariner 10 launched in 1973 and became the first spacecraft to visit Mercury.

MESSENGER entered Mercury orbit in 2011, becoming the first spacecraft to do so.

The Soviet probe Venera 1 launched in 1961 and became the first spacecraft sent toward Venus.

Lunar Orbiter 1 launched in 1966 and became the first American spacecraft to orbit the Moon.

In 1966, Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon.

Luna 16 returned the first robotic lunar samples to Earth in 1970.

Mars 3 made the first soft landing on Mars in 1971.

Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit Mars in 1971.

In 2014, the Rosetta mission’s Philae lander made the first landing on a comet.

Japan’s Hayabusa returned the first asteroid samples to Earth in 2010.

Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to fly by Jupiter in 1973.

Galileo entered orbit around Jupiter in 1995, becoming the first spacecraft to do so.

Pioneer 11 became the first spacecraft to fly by Saturn in 1979.

Cassini entered Saturn orbit in 2004 and became the first spacecraft to do so.

Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to fly by Uranus in 1986.

Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to fly by Neptune in 1989.

Uranus’s rings were first discovered in 1977 during a stellar occultation.

Neptune’s rings were confirmed in 1984, after early evidence had suggested their presence.

NASA’s Galileo mission launched in 1989 and later became the first spacecraft to encounter an asteroid in the main belt, Gaspra, in 1991.

Parker Solar Probe launched in 2018 and began its series of close solar encounters soon after, becoming the closest-ever mission to the Sun.

The first confirmed exoplanet around a Sun-like star was announced in 1995. It orbited 51 Pegasi and was discovered by Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz.

The first known exoplanet discovery was announced in 1992. It was found around the pulsar PSR B1257+12.

One of the earliest widely recognized direct images of an exoplanet was announced in 2004. It was 2M1207 b, orbiting a brown dwarf.

Astronomers reported one of the first strong candidates for a free-floating planet in 2000. It was detected in the star-forming region of Orion.

The first image of the Milky Way’s central black hole was released on 12 May 2022. It showed Sagittarius A* at the center of our galaxy.

The first direct detection of gravitational waves was made on 14 September 2015. It was announced publicly in February 2016.

The first neutron-star gravitational-wave event was detected on 17 August 2017. It was known as GW170817.

The first gravitational lens was identified in 1979. It involved the quasar Q0957+561.

The first complete Einstein ring was discovered in 1987. It is known as B1938+666.

One of the earliest strong pieces of evidence for dark matter in a galaxy cluster came in 1933. Fritz Zwicky studied the Coma Cluster.

Evidence for the accelerating expansion of the universe was published in 1998. Two teams studied distant Type Ia supernovae.

The cosmic microwave background was discovered in 1965. Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson made the detection by accident.

A widely cited precise age estimate came from the WMAP mission in 2003. It placed the universe at about 13.7 billion years old.

The first strong large-scale evidence for baryon acoustic oscillations was reported in 2005. It came from galaxy surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

One of the earliest major galaxy redshift surveys was published in 1977. It helped map the large-scale structure of the universe.

The first Hubble Deep Field image was released in 1996. It revealed thousands of galaxies in a tiny patch of sky.

Edwin Hubble showed in 1924 that the Andromeda “nebula” was outside the Milky Way. This established it as a separate galaxy.

The first quasar was identified in 1963. It was 3C 273, one of the brightest and most famous quasars.

X-ray observations in the 1970s revealed hot gas in galaxy clusters. One famous early example was the Coma Cluster studied with X-ray astronomy.

A pioneering black hole mass measurement was made in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It helped establish that galaxies can host supermassive black holes.

Early large-scale galaxy maps showing the cosmic web appeared in the 1980s. They revealed filaments and voids across enormous distances.

The first interstellar molecule, hydroxyl radical, was detected in 1963. It was found by radio astronomy.

Amino acids were reported in the Murchison meteorite after its fall in 1969. The findings were announced in the early 1970s.

Strong evidence for water on Mars was reported in 2002 by the Mars Odyssey mission. It detected hydrogen-rich regions near the surface.

The first spacecraft landing on an asteroid was achieved in 2005. Japan’s Hayabusa touched down on Itokawa.

The first asteroid samples were returned to Earth in 2010. Japan’s Hayabusa brought back material from Itokawa.

In April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope released the first image of the black hole in M87.

On 12 May 2022, astronomers released the first image of Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

The first weather image from space was received on 1 April 1960 from TIROS-1, the first weather satellite.

The first mammal in space was a monkey aboard a U.S. rocket in 1948, followed by the first in orbit in 1957.

Laika, a Soviet space dog, was launched aboard Sputnik 2 on 3 November 1957.

The Soviet Luna 1 mission was launched on 2 January 1959 and became the first spacecraft to fly past the Moon.

Luna 9 made the first soft landing on the Moon on 3 February 1966.

Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space on 16 June 1963.

Apollo 8 became the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon on 24 December 1968.

Apollo 11 landed on the Moon on 20 July 1969.

Syncom 3 became the first satellite in geostationary orbit on 19 August 1964.

The Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2, also called OAO-2, launched on 7 December 1968.

The Soviet Luna 3 mission took the first images of the Moon's far side in October 1959.

The Soviet Venera 1 was launched toward Venus on 12 February 1961.

The Soviet Mars 3 lander made the first successful landing on Mars on 2 December 1971.

The Lunar Roving Vehicle was first driven on the Moon on 31 July 1971 during Apollo 15.

China's Chang'e 3 landed on the Moon on 14 December 2013.

Salyut 1, the first space station, was launched on 19 April 1971.

NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia made its first flight on 12 April 1981.

NEAR Shoemaker launched on 17 February 1996 and later became the first spacecraft to orbit and land on an asteroid.

The first widely accepted direct image of an exoplanet was announced in 2004, for 2M1207 b.

NASA's New Horizons flew past Pluto on 14 July 2015.

The first direct detection of gravitational waves was announced on 11 February 2016.

The James Webb Space Telescope launched on 25 December 2021.

The first asteroid, Ceres, was discovered on 1 January 1801.

The first asteroid, Ceres, was discovered on 1 January 1801.

The first confirmed exoplanets around a Sun-like star were announced in 1995.

The first pulsar planets were discovered in 1992.

Uranus’s rings were first confirmed in 1977.

Neptune’s rings were first confirmed in 1984.

Mars’s polar caps were recognized in the 17th century, with detailed telescopic observations in the 1800s.

The Great Red Spot was first recorded in 1665.

Io was discovered on 8 January 1610.

Titan was discovered on 25 March 1655.

Enceladus was discovered on 28 August 1789.

Europa was discovered on 8 January 1610.

Ganymede was discovered on 7 January 1610.

Mercury was known in antiquity, with records dating back at least to the third millennium BCE.

The first spacecraft to visit Mercury was Mariner 10 in 1974.

The first spacecraft to visit Venus was Mariner 2 in 1962.

The first spacecraft to reach Mars was Mariner 4 in 1965.

The first spacecraft to fly by a comet was ICE in 1985, but the first dedicated comet encounter mission was Giotto in 1986.

The first asteroid landing was achieved by Hayabusa2’s touchdown on Ryugu in 2019.

In 1995, astronomers announced 51 Pegasi b, the first confirmed exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star.

In 1992, astronomers found the first known exoplanets around the pulsar PSR B1257+12.

In 2004, astronomers obtained the first widely accepted direct image of an exoplanet, 2M1207 b.

In 2011, Kepler-22b was announced as the first known planet in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star.

In 1929, Edwin Hubble published evidence that distant galaxies are receding, showing the universe is expanding.

In 1965, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation.

In 1992, the COBE satellite released the first detailed map showing tiny fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background.

In 1998, two teams reported that the universe’s expansion is speeding up, not slowing down.

In 1970, Vera Rubin and collaborators reported galaxy rotation data that strongly implied unseen mass, now called dark matter.

In the 1990s, precise infrared observations began revealing stars orbiting the Milky Way’s central black hole extremely fast.

In the early 1970s, Cygnus X-1 became the first widely accepted black hole candidate in a binary system.

In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope released the first image of a black hole, M87*.

In the 1960s, observations of active galaxies like M87 and quasars revealed evidence for supermassive black holes.

In 1967, Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish identified the first pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star.

In 1862, Alvan Clark discovered Sirius B, the first known white dwarf.

In 1967, the first pulsar was discovered, revealing neutron stars as a real class of object.

In 1995, astronomers confirmed Gliese 229B as one of the first known brown dwarfs.

In 1924, Edwin Hubble showed that the Andromeda Nebula was a separate galaxy beyond the Milky Way.

In the 1930s, astronomers began recognizing galaxy clusters such as the Coma Cluster as massive bound systems.

In the 1910s, Vesto Slipher measured the first major galaxy redshifts, revealing that many galaxies are moving away from us.

In 1946 and the early 1950s, scientists such as Fred Hoyle developed the idea that stars create many of the elements.

In the 1860s, spectroscopy revealed the chemical composition of stars, with pioneering work by astronomers like Gustav Kirchhoff and William Huggins.

In 1868, helium was first identified in the Sun’s spectrum during a solar eclipse.

In 1866, astronomers established that the Leonid meteor shower was connected to Comet Tempel-Tuttle.

Space-based observations of eruptions began in the satellite era, especially from the 1960s onward. Satellites later became crucial for tracking ash clouds and heat signatures.