Notable Unmanned Spaceflights
| In reference to: | Spacecraft | Event | Country | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earth | A-4(V-2) | First rocket to reach space (suborbital flight) | Germany | June 1944 |
| Earth | V-2 No. 20 | First living organisms (fruit flies) in space (suborbital flight) | USA | 20 February 1947 |
| Earth | R-1V | First animals (dogs) in space (suborbital flight) successfully recovered | USSR | 22 July 1951 |
| Earth | Sputnik 1 | First satellite in orbit | USSR | 4 October 1957 |
| Earth | Sputnik 2 | First animal in orbit, Laika the dog | USSR | 3 November 1957 |
| Earth | Vanguard 1 | Oldest satellite still in orbit— expected to stay in orbit 240 years. Ceased transmission in May 1964 | USA | 17 March 1958 |
| Earth | Jupiter AM-13 | First monkey in space | USA | 13 December 1958 |
| Earth | Luna 1 | First spacecraft to reach Earth's escape velocity | USSR | 4 January 1959 |
| Moon | Luna 1 | First flyby, dist. of 5,995 km | USSR | 4 January 1959 |
| Sun | Luna 1 | First spacecraft in heliocentric orbit | USSR | 4 January 1959 |
| Moon | Luna 2 | First impact | USSR | 14 September 1959 |
| Moon | Luna 3 | First image of lunar far-side | USSR | 7 October 1959 |
| Earth | Discoverer 13 | First satellite recovered from orbit | USA | 11 August 1960 |
| Earth | Korabl-Sputnik 2 | First living beings recovered from orbit. | USSR | 19 August 1960 |
| Venus | Venera 1 | First flyby, dist. of 100,000 km (lost communication contact before) | USSR | 19 May 1961 |
| Venus | Mariner 2 | First planetary flyby, dist. of 34,762 km (with communication contact) | USA | 14 December 1962 |
| Mars | Mariner 4 | First Mars flyby, first planetary imaging, dist. of 9,846 km | USA | 14 July 1965 |
| Moon | Luna 9 | First soft landing, first pictures from lunar surface | USSR | 31 January 1966 |
| Venus | Venera 3 | First impact | USSR | 1 March 1966 |
| Moon | Luna 10 | First orbiter | USSR | 3 April 1966 |
| Moon | Zond 5 | First to circle the Moon and return to land on Earth First animals to circle the Moon |
USSR | 15 September 1968 |
| Venus | Venera 7 | First soft landing | USSR | 1 August 1970 |
| Moon | Luna 16 | First automated sample return | USSR | 24 September 1970 |
| Moon | Luna 17 | First automated roving vehicle – Lunokhod 1 | USSR | 17 November 1970 |
| Mars | Mariner 9 | First orbiter | USA | 14 November 1971 |
| Mars | Mars 2 | First impact | USSR | 27 November 1971 |
| Mars | Mars 3 | First soft landing, telemetry signal for 20 seconds before transmissions ceased |
USSR | 2 December 1971 |
| Sun | Pioneer 10 | First spacecraft to reach Sun's escape velocity | USA | 3 December 1973 |
| Jupiter | Pioneer 10 | First flyby, dist. of 130,000 km | USA | 3 December 1973 |
| Mercury | Mariner 10 | First flyby, dist. of 703 km | USA | 29 March 1974 |
| Venus | Venera 9 | First orbiter First surface-level imaging of another planet |
USSR | 22 October 1975 |
| Sun | Helios 2 |
|
West Germany | 17 April 1976 |
| Mars | Viking 1 | First surface-level imaging of Mars | USA | 20 July 1976 |
| Saturn | Pioneer 11 | First flyby, dist. of 21,000 km | USA | 1 September 1979 |
| Venus | Venera 13 | First sound record on another planet | USSR | 1 March 1982 |
| Interstellar space | Pioneer 10 | First extra-solar spacecraft (disputed because only according to some definitions) | USA | 13 June 1983 |
| Venus | Vega 1 | First helium balloon atmospheric probe | USSR | 11 June 1985 |
| Comet Giacobini-Zinner | International Cometary Explorer (ICE) | First flyby through comet tail, dist. of 7,800 km, no pictures. | USA | 11 September 1985 |
| Uranus | Voyager 2 | First flyby, dist. of 81,500 km | USA | 24 January 1986 |
| Comet Halley | Vega 1 | First comet flyby with pictures returned, dist. of 8,890 km | USSR | 6 March 1986 |
| Orbital Spaceplane | Buran | First fully automated orbital flight of a spaceplane (with airstrip landing) | USSR | 15 November 1988 |
| Neptune | Voyager 2 | First flyby, dist. of 40,000 km | USA | 25 August 1989 |
| 951 Gaspra | Galileo probe | First asteroid flyby, dist. of 1,600 km | USA | 29 October 1991 |
| Jupiter | Galileo probe | First impact | USA | 21 September 2003 |
| Jupiter | Galileo probe | First orbiter | USA | 7 December 1995 |
| Mars | Mars Pathfinder | First automated roving vehicle – Sojourner | USA | 4 July 1997 |
| 433 Eros | NEAR Shoemaker | First asteroid orbiter | USA | 14 February 2000 |
| 433 Eros | NEAR Shoemaker | First asteroid soft landing | USA | 12 February 2001 |
| Saturn | Cassini orbiter | First orbiter | ESA USA |
1 July 2004 |
| Solar wind | Genesis | First sample return from farther than the Moon | USA | 8 September 2004 |
| Titan | Huygens probe | First soft landing | ESA USA |
14 January 2005 |
| Comet Tempel 1 | Deep Impact | First comet impact | USA | 4 July 2005 |
| 25143 Itokawa | Hayabusa | First asteroid ascent First interplanetary escape without undercarriage cutoff |
JPN | 19 November 2005 |
| 81P/Wild | Stardust | First sample return from comet | USA | 15 January 2006 |
| Farthest distance from Earth | Voyager 1 | At greatest distance from Earth, 17.4 billion km | USA | As of December 2010 |
| Longest time in operation | Pioneer 6 | Longest operating space probe, brief contact was reestablished on 8 December 2000, after nearly 35 years in space. |
USA | As of 2005 |
| Earth to Venus trajectory | IKAROS | First interplanetary solar sail | JPN | set sail on 10 June 2010 |
| 25143 Itokawa | Hayabusa | First sample return from asteroid | JPN | 13 June 2010 |
| Mercury | MESSENGER | First orbiter | USA | 17 March 2011 |
| Earth–Sun L2 Lagrangian point | Chang'e 2 | First object to reach the L2 Lagrangian point directly from lunar orbit. | China | August 25, 2011 |
| International Space Station | SpaceX Dragon | First commercial spacecraft to berth with the International Space Station. | SpaceX | May 25, 2012 |
Read more about this topic: List Of Spaceflight Records
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“a notable prince that was called King John;
And he ruled England with main and with might,
For he did great wrong, and maintained little right.”
—Unknown. King John and the Abbot of Canterbury (l. 2–4)