Chronologies

• A Chronology of Mars Exploration In light of the recent Mars Pathfinder landing, this chronology covers both successful and unsuccessful, past and planned, U.S. and Russian/Soviet probes over the years.
• Chronology of Lunar and Planetary Exploration, 1957-present

Probes

• Mariner : Series of planetary spacecraft flown between 1962 and 1975.
• Pioneer 10 : Jupiter flyby, 1972-1973, continued outside the Solar System thereafter.
• Pioneer 11 : Jupiter and Saturn flyby, 1973-1979, continued outside the Solar System thereafter.
• Viking 1 and 2 : Mars landers and orbiters, 1975-1983.
• Pioneer Venus 1 and 2 :Venus probes, 1978, mapped the planet's surface, imaged its cloud systems, and explored its magnetic environment.
• Voyager 1 and 2 : Grand Tour of the outer Solar System that imaged Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, launched in 1977 and it is still traveling outward. Also check out the NSSDC's Voyager information .
• Magellan : Venus probe that made the most highly detailed maps of the planet using sophisticated imaging radar, 1989-1994.
• Galileo : Mapping mission to Jupiter, also imaged Moon and asteroids, 1989-present.
• Cassini-Huygens : A joint NASA, ESA, and ASI mission that will orbit Saturn and land a probe on Titan, Saturn's largest moon.
• Explorer : A listing of varied missions carrying the designation Explorer, conducted between 1958 and the early 1980s.

Steve Garber, NASA History Web Curator
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