Moon Landing Timeline

Moon Landing 26

1957 Sputnik First Earth satellite The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957 — the first artificial Earth satellite — shocking the West and igniting the Space Race.
1961 Gagarin in space First human orbit Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on April 12, 1961, completing one orbit of Earth in 108 minutes aboard Vostok 1.
1969 Apollo 9 First crewed test of Lunar Module Apollo 9 was the first crewed flight of the Lunar Module, testing the spacecraft that would eventually land on the Moon.
1969 Apollo 10 Dress rehearsal for Moon landing Apollo 10 flew to the Moon and descended to within 15km of the lunar surface — a full dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 landing.
1969 Apollo 11 mission Full duration of Moon mission Apollo 11 launched on July 16 and splashed down on July 24, 1969, completing the first crewed lunar landing mission.
1969 Armstrong & Aldrin prepare for EVA Astronauts suit up for moonwalk After landing, Armstrong and Aldrin spent several hours eating, resting and preparing their equipment before Armstrong depressurised the cabin and opened the hatch.
1969 Armstrong steps onto the Moon "One small step for man..." At 02:56 UTC on July 21 (evening of July 20 in USA), Neil Armstrong descended the ladder and became the first human to set foot on the Moon. His words: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Buzz Aldrin followed 20 minutes later.
1969 Eagle lands on the Moon "The Eagle has landed" — Sea of Tranquility At 20:17 UTC on July 20, 1969, Apollo 11's Lunar Module Eagle touched down in the Sea of Tranquility. Neil Armstrong reported: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." 600 million people watched worldwide.
1969 Nixon calls the Moon President makes historic telephone call President Nixon placed a telephone call to the Moon from the Oval Office, telling Armstrong and Aldrin: "This certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made."
1969 Apollo 12 Second Moon landing Apollo 12 achieved the second crewed Moon landing on November 19, 1969, making a precision landing near the Surveyor 3 probe.
1970 Apollo 13 Near-fatal moon mission "Houston, we have a problem." An oxygen tank explosion crippled Apollo 13 en route to the Moon. The three astronauts survived thanks to improvised solutions.
1976 Viking 1 lands on Mars First successful Mars landing NASA's Viking 1 spacecraft successfully landed on Mars on July 20, 1976 — the seventh anniversary of the Moon landing — becoming the first spacecraft to successfully operate on the Martian surface.
1977 Space Shuttle Enterprise glide test First free flight of Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle prototype Enterprise made its first free flight on August 12, 1977, released from a Boeing 747 at 22,000 feet and gliding to a successful landing at Edwards Air Force Base.
1977 Voyager 2 launched Probe begins grand tour of solar system NASA launched Voyager 2 on August 20, 1977, beginning a grand tour of the outer solar system. It has since flown past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and is now in interstellar space.
1977 Voyager 1 launched Will become most distant human object NASA launched Voyager 1 on September 5, 1977. It flew past Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980, and in 2012 became the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space.
1995 Apollo 13 Ron Howard's acclaimed drama — $355m Directed by Ron Howard, starring Tom Hanks. The dramatic true story of the 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission crisis.
2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster 7 astronauts killed on re-entry Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on February 1, 2003, killing all seven crew members. The accident was caused by foam damage to the heat shield.
2003 Mars Exploration Rovers launched Spirit and Opportunity sent to Mars NASA launched the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity in June 2003. Both successfully landed on Mars in January 2004, far exceeding their 90-day mission lifetimes.
2004 Mars rovers land Spirit touches down on Mars NASA's Mars rover Spirit landed successfully on January 4, 2004, followed by Opportunity on January 25. Both rovers discovered evidence of ancient water on Mars.
2011 Curiosity rover launched Car-sized Mars rover departs NASA launched the Curiosity rover on November 26, 2011. It landed on Mars on August 6, 2012 and has been exploring Gale Crater ever since, returning extraordinary geological data.
2015 New Horizons flies past Pluto First close-up images of dwarf planet NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, sending back the first detailed images of the dwarf planet, revealing a heart-shaped nitrogen ice plain.
2019 First black hole image Event Horizon Telescope captures M87 The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration published the first ever image of a black hole on April 10, 2019 — the supermassive black hole at the centre of galaxy M87, 55 million light-years away.
2021 Perseverance lands on Mars Most sophisticated Mars rover arrives NASA's Perseverance rover successfully landed in Jezero Crater on Mars on February 18, 2021. It carried the Ingenuity helicopter, which made the first powered flight on another planet.
2021 James Webb Space Telescope launched Most powerful telescope ever built The James Webb Space Telescope was launched on December 25, 2021, the most powerful space telescope ever built. Its first images, released in July 2022, showed the deepest views of the universe ever captured.
2022 James Webb first images Deepest view of universe revealed NASA released the first full-colour scientific images from the James Webb Space Telescope on July 12, 2022, showing galaxies formed just 600 million years after the Big Bang.
2023 India lands on Moon south pole Chandrayaan-3 first lunar south pole landing India's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft made the first successful soft landing at the lunar south pole on August 23, 2023, making India the fourth country to land on the Moon.