Space Exploration

Discover timelines, data, slideshows, and features about space exploration, telescopes, the Columbia Disaster, Apollo 11, and more.

Major Space Explorations

Hubble Space Telescope

Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) (U.S.)

Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) (U.S.)

Ulysses (U.S. and European Space Agency)

Galileo (U.S.)

Mars Express (European Space Agency)

Genesis (U.S.)

The Dawning of the Space Age

Stardust (U.S.)

SELENE (SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) (Japan)

Future Missions

Ongoing Missions

Nozomi (Hope) (Japan)

Cassini-Huygens (U.S., the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency)

A Human Mission to Mars? Not Yet

Chandra: Exploring the Invisible Universe

China's Spacecraft Progress

2001 Mars Odyssey (U.S.)

Space Technology 5 (U.S.)

Herschel Space Observatory (European Space Agency)

Voyager (U.S.)

Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) (U.S.)

AIM (U.S.)

New Neptunian Moons

New Horizons (U.S.)

MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging mission) (U.S.)

Moon Walks

Deep Impact (U.S.)

To the Moon and Mars

Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter (MRO) (U.S.)

Dawn (U.S.)

Phoenix (U.S.)

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) (U.S.)

Mars Science Laboratory (U.S.)

Completed/Past Missions

What Curiosity Can Tell Us About Mars

MESSENGER to Enter Mercury's Orbit to Find Clues to the Mysteries of the Planet

New Planetary System

First U.S. Satellite

U.S. Unstaffed Planetary and Lunar Programs

U.S. Staffed Space Flight Programs

Soviet Staffed Space Flight Programs

Some Giant Telescopes

Notable Unstaffed Lunar and Interplanetary Probes

Notable Staffed Space Flights

NASA Ships and Space Stations - FamilyEducation

First People in Space - FamilyEducation