2000s
- 2001 - USA - Sun - Partial Success - Genesis solar wind sample return - crash-landed on return
- 2001 - USA - Success - Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) performs cosmological observations.
- 2001 - USA - Mars - Success - Mars Odyssey
- 2003 - Canada - Earth - Success - MOST the smallest space telescope in orbit
- 2003 - USA - Comet Encke - Failure - CONTOUR launched, but lost during early trajectory insertion.
- 2003 - Europe - Moon - Success - Smart 1 orbiter
- 2003 - Europe - Mars - Partial Success - Mars Express orbiter (successfully reached orbit) and failed lander, the Beagle 2
- 2003 - USA - Mars - Success - Mars Exploration Rovers - successful launches, Spirit successfully landed, Opportunity successfully landed
- 2003 - UK - Success - UK-DMC orbiter, part of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation
- 2003 - Japan - 25143 Itokawa - Hayabusa - sample return - arrive at 2010
- 2004 - Europe - Comet 67P - Rosetta space probe launched - yet to arrive
- 2004 - USA - Mercury - MESSENGER orbiter - launched - in Mercury orbit
- 2004 - USA - Success - Launch of the Swift Gamma ray burst observatory.
- 2005 - Iran - Earth - Sinah-1 - launched, first Iranian-built satellite
- 2005 - USA - Comet Tempel 1 - Deep Impact - successful comet impact
- 2005 - USA - Mars - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - in orbit
- 2005 - Europe - Venus - Venus Express - in orbit
- 2006 - USA - Pluto - New Horizons - launched - yet to arrive
- 2006 - France/ESA - Earth - COROT - launched, telescope to search for extrasolar planets
- 2007 - USA - Mars - Success - Phoenix - launched and successfully landed in 2008
- 2007 - Japan - Moon - SELENE orbiter and lander - in lunar orbit since October 3, 2007
- 2007 - USA - Vesta/Ceres- Dawn - launched - solar powered ion engined probe to 4 Vesta and 1 Ceres.
- 2007 - China - Moon - Chang'e-I - success - lunar orbiter
- 2008 - USA - Earth - Success - IBEX - launched - operating
- 2009 - Europe - L2 - Planck (spacecraft) - launched, arrived, operating
- 2009 - Europe - L2 - Herschel Space Observatory - launched, arrived, operating
- 2009 - Iran - Earth - Omid - launched by Iranian made launcher Safir, first Iranian-launched satellite
- 2009 - USA - Earth - Success - Kepler - launched - operating
- 2009 - India - Earth - Success - RISAT-2 developed by Israel Aerospace Industries, launched by ISRO, India
- 2009 - India - Moon - Partial failure - Chandrayaan-1 developed and launched by ISRO, India
- 2009 - UK - Success - UK-DMC 2 orbiter, successor to UK-DMC part of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Artificial Satellites And Space Probes