Timeline of spaceflight

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This is the timeline of known spaceflights, both crewed and uncrewed, sorted chronologically by launch date. Owing to its large size, the timeline is split into smaller articles, one for each year since 1951. There is a separate list for all flights that occurred before 1951.

Contents

The 2024 list and lists for subsequent years contain planned launches, but statistics only include past launches.

For the purpose of these lists, a spaceflight is defined as any flight that crosses the Kármán line, the FAI-recognized edge of space, which is 100 kilometres (62 miles) above mean sea level (AMSL). The timeline contains all flights which have crossed the edge of space, were intended to do so but failed, or are planned in the near future. Significant test flights of spaceflight systems may be listed even if they were not planned to reach space. Some lists are further divided into orbital launches (sending a payload into orbit, whether successful or not) and suborbital flights (e.g. ballistic missiles, sounding rockets, experimental spacecraft).

Orbital and Suborbital launches by year

Before 1951

1951-1959

1960-1969

1970-1979

1980-1989

1990-1999

2000-2009

2010-2019

2020-2029

Spaceflight after 2029

Launch Statistics (1957-2024)

Number of successful and unsuccessful orbital launches by country of launch. See or edit source data.

Extracted from launch data. [1]

50
100
150
200
250
300
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020
2025
  •   Failure
  •   Partial failure
  •   Success
  •   Planned

Deep-space rendezvous after 2029

Date (UTC)SpacecraftEventRemarks
26 December 2030 Lucy Third gravity assist at EarthTarget altitude 660 km
July 2031Hayabusa2Arrival at asteroid 1998 KY26 [2]
July 2031 JUICE Flyby of Ganymede
July 2031JUICE Jupiter orbit insertion
July 2032JUICEFlyby of Europa
2 March 2033LucyFlyby of binary asteroid 617 Patroclus-Menoetius Target altitude 1000 km
December 2034JUICEGanymede orbit insertionPlanned first orbit of a moon other than Earth's

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1967 in spaceflight</span>

The year 1967 in spaceflight saw the most orbital launches of the 20th century and more than any other year until 2021, including that of the first Australian satellite, WRESAT, which was launched from the Woomera Test Range atop an American Sparta rocket. The United States National Space Science Data Center catalogued 172 spacecraft placed into orbit by launches which occurred in 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1968 in spaceflight</span>

The United States National Space Science Data Center catalogued 157 spacecraft placed into orbit by launches which occurred in 1968. The first crewed Apollo missions occurred in 1968. It was also the year in which Earth lifeforms first left low Earth orbit, during the successful Zond 5 mission to the Moon and the Zond 6 lunar mission which crashed upon return, and the year that humans first left low Earth orbit, during the successful Apollo 8 mission to the Moon.

Japan and China each launched their first satellites in 1970, bringing the total number of nations with independent launch capability to five.

Luna 1 was the first spacecraft to leave the gravitational influence of Earth. Also in 1959, Luna 2 was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another celestial body, impacting the Moon, and Luna 3 returned the first images of the far side of the Moon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1958 in spaceflight</span>

Explorer 1 was the first American satellite to reach orbit on 31 January 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1981 in spaceflight</span>

The following is an outline of 1981 in spaceflight.

The following is an outline of 1983 in spaceflight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1994 in spaceflight</span>

This article outlines notable events occurring in 1994 in spaceflight, including major launches and EVAs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1974 in spaceflight</span>

On 29 March 1974 Mariner 10 became the first spacecraft to fly by Mercury, that saw a spacecraft for the first and last time in the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1977 in spaceflight</span>

Spaceflight in 1977 included some important events such as the roll out of the Space Shuttle orbiter, Voyager 1 and Voyager space probes were launched. NASA received the Space Shuttle orbiter later named Enterprise, on 14 January. This unpowered sub-orbital space plane was launched off the top of a modified 747 and was flown uncrewed until 13 August until a human crew landed the Enterprise for the first time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1975 in spaceflight</span>

In 1975, several notable events occurred in spaceflight, including the launches of Venera 9 and 10 and their Venus arrivals, the launches of the Viking Mars missions, the joint American-Soviet Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), the failure of Soyuz 7K-T 39, and the launch of Aryabhatta, India's first satellite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1978 in spaceflight</span>

1978 saw the launch of the Pioneer Venus missions launched by the United States, on 20 May and 8 August. The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe landed four spacecraft on the planet, one of which transmitted data for 67 minutes before being destroyed by atmospheric pressure. ISEE-C, which was launched on 8 December, flew past comet 21P/Giacobini–Zinner in 1985, and Halley's Comet in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1976 in spaceflight</span>

The following is an outline of 1976 in spaceflight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1987 in spaceflight</span>

The following is an outline of 1987 in spaceflight.

This is a list of spaceflights launched between July and September 1964. For launches in the rest of the year, see 1964 in spaceflight (January–March), 1964 in spaceflight (April–June) and 1964 in spaceflight (October–December). For an overview of the whole year, see 1964 in spaceflight.

This is a list of spaceflights launched between January and June 1961. For launches between July and December, see 1961 in spaceflight (July–December). For an overview of the whole year, see 1961 in spaceflight.

This is a list of spaceflights launched between July and December 1961. For launches between January and June, see 1961 in spaceflight (January–June). For an overview of the whole year, see 1961 in spaceflight.

This is a list of spaceflights launched between April and June 1962. For launches in the rest of the year, see 1962 in spaceflight (January–March), 1962 in spaceflight (July–September) and 1962 in spaceflight (October–December). For an overview of the whole year, see 1962 in spaceflight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020s in spaceflight</span>

This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the 2020s.

References

  1. "Launch log". Jonathans space report. 23 May 2019.
  2. "はやぶさ2、次のミッションは小惑星「1998KY26」…JAXA". The Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). 13 September 2020. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
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