1970s
1970
- Apollo 13 – 11 April 1970 – Manned lunar flyby and return to Earth (manned lunar landing aborted)
- Venera 7 – 17 August 1970 – First Venus lander
- Cosmos 359 – 22 August 1970 – Attempted Venus probe (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Luna 16 – 12 September 1970 – First robotic lunar sample return
- Zond 8 – 20 October 1970 – Lunar flyby and return to Earth
- Luna 17/Lunokhod 1 – 10 November 1970 – First lunar rover
1971
- Apollo 14 – 31 January 1971 – Manned lunar landing
- Salyut 1 – 19 April 1971 – First space station
- Cosmos 419 – 10 May 1971 – Attempted Mars orbiter (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Mariner 9 – 30 May 1971 – First Mars orbiter
- Mars 2 – 19 May 1971 – Mars orbiter and attempted lander; First Mars impact
- Mars 3 – 28 May 1971 – Mars orbiter, First Mars lander (lost contact after 14.5s) and First Mars atmospheric probe
- Apollo 15 – 26 July 1971 – Manned lunar landing; First manned lunar rover
- Luna 18 – 2 September 1971 – Attempted lunar sample return (crashed into Moon)
- Luna 19 – 28 September 1971 – Lunar orbiter
1972
- Luna 20 – 14 February 1972 – Lunar robotic sample return
- Pioneer 10 – 3 March 1972 – First Jupiter flyby
- Venera 8 – 27 March 1972 – Venus lander
- Cosmos 482 – 31 March 1972 – Attempted Venus probe (failed to escape Earth orbit)
- Apollo 16 – 16 April 1972 – Manned lunar landing
- Apollo 17 – 7 December 1972 – Last manned lunar landing
1973
- Luna 21/Lunokhod 2 – 8 January 1973 – Lunar rover
- Pioneer 11 – 5 April 1973 – Jupiter flyby and First Saturn flyby
- Skylab – 14 May 1973 – First American space station
- Explorer 49 (RAE-B) – 10 June 1973 – Lunar orbiter/radio astronomy
- Mars 4 – 21 July 1973 – Mars flyby (attempted Mars orbiter)
- Mars 5 – 25 July 1973 – Mars orbiter
- Mars 6 – 5 August 1973 – Mars orbiter and attempted lander (failed due to damage on Mars landing)
- Mars 7 – 9 August 1973 – Mars flyby and attempted lander (missed Mars)
- Mariner 10 – 4 November 1973 – Venus flyby and First Mercury flyby
1974
- Luna 22 – 2 June 1974 – Lunar orbiter
- Luna 23 – 28 October 1974 – Attempted lunar sample return (failed due to damage on lunar landing)
- Helios-A – 10 December 1974 – Solar observations
1975
- Venera 9 – 8 June 1975 – First Venus orbiter and lander; First images from surface of Venus
- Venera 10 – 14 June 1975 – Venus orbiter and lander
- Viking 1 – 20 August 1975 – Mars orbiter and lander; First lander returning data and First pictures from Martian surface
- Viking 2 – 9 September 1975 – Mars orbiter and lander
1976
- Helios-B – 15 January 1976 – Solar observations, Closest solar approach (0.29 AU)
- Luna 24 – 9 August 1976 – Lunar robotic sample return
1977
- Voyager 2 – 20 August 1977 – Jupiter/Saturn/first Uranus/first Neptune flyby
- Voyager 1 – 5 September 1977 – Jupiter/Saturn flyby, Furthest human-made object – currently (2012) over 120 AU
1978
- Pioneer Venus 1 – 20 May 1978 – Venus orbiter
- Pioneer Venus 2 – 8 August 1978 – Venus atmospheric probes
- ISEE-3 – 12 August 1978 – Solar wind investigations; later redesignated International Cometary Explorer and performed Comet Giacobini-Zinner and Comet Halley flybys – First comet flyby
- Venera 11 – 9 September 1978 – Venus flyby and lander
- Venera 12 – 14 September 1978 – Venus flyby and lander
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Solar System Exploration