Chronology of Lunar and Planetary Exploration (1980 - )

Mission Timeline


| 1957 - 1964
| 1965 - 1969
| 1970 - 1979
| 1980
| 1981
|-- Venera 13 - 30 October 1981 - Venus Orbiter and Lander
|-- Venera 14 - 4 November 1981 - Venus Orbiter and Lander
| 1982
| 1983
|-- Venera 15 - 2 June 1983 - Venus Orbiter
|-- Venera 16 - 7 June 1983 - Venus Orbiter
| 1984
|-- Vega 1 - 15 December 1984 - Venus Lander and Balloon/Comet Halley Flyby
|-- Vega 2 - 21 December 1984 - Venus Lander and Balloon/Comet Halley Flyby
| 1985
|-- Sakigake - 7 January 1985 - Comet Halley Flyby
|-- Giotto - 2 July 1985 - Comet Halley Flyby
|-- Suisei (Planet-A) - 18 August 1985 - Comet Halley Flyby
| 1986
| 1987
| 1988
|-- Phobos 1 - 7 July 1988 - Attempted Mars Orbiter/Phobos Landers
|-- Phobos 2 - 12 July 1988 - Mars Orbiter/Attempted Phobos Landers
| 1989
|-- Magellan - 4 May 1989 - Venus Orbiter
|-- Galileo - 18 October 1989 - Jupiter Orbiter and Probe
| 1990
|-- Hiten - 24 January 1990 - Lunar Flyby and Orbiter
|-- Hubble Space Telescope - 25 April 1990 - Earth Orbiting Observatory
|-- Ulysses - 06 October 1990 - Jupiter Flyby and Solar Polar Orbiter
| 1991
| 1992
|-- Mars Observer - 25 September 1992 - Attempted Mars Orbiter (Contact Lost)
| 1993
| 1994
|-- Clementine - 25 January 1994 - Lunar Orbiter/Attempted Asteroid Flyby
| 1995
| 1996
|-- NEAR - 17 February 1996 - Asteroid Eros Orbiter
|-- Mars Global Surveyor - 07 November 1996 - Mars Orbiter
|-- Mars 96 - 16 November 1996 - Attempted Mars Orbiter/Landers
|-- Mars Pathfinder - 04 December 1996 - Mars Lander and Rover
| 1997
|-- Cassini - 15 October 1997 - Saturn Orbiter
|-- Huygens - 15 October 1997 - Titan Probe
|-- AsiaSat 3/HGS-1 - 24 December 1997 - Lunar Flyby
| 1998
|-- Lunar Prospector - 7 January 1998 - Lunar Orbiter
|-- Nozomi (Planet-B) - 3 July 1998 - Mars Orbiter
|-- Deep Space 1 (DS1) - 24 October 1998 - Asteroid and Comet Flyby
|-- Mars Climate Orbiter - 11 December 1998 - Attempted Mars Orbiter
| 1999
|-- Mars Polar Lander - 3 January 1999 - Attempted Mars Lander
|-- Deep Space 2 (DS2) - 3 January 1999 - Attempted Mars Penetrators
|-- Stardust - 7 February 1999 - Comet Coma Sample Return
| 2000
| 2001
|-- 2001 Mars Odyssey - 7 April 2001 - Mars Orbiter
|-- Genesis - 8 August 2001 - Solar Wind Sample Return
| 2002
|-- CONTOUR - 3 July 2002 - Fly-by of three Comet Nuclei
| 2003
|-- Hayabusa (Muses-C) - 9 May 2003 - Asteroid Orbiter and Sample Return
|-- Mars Express - 2 June 2003 - Mars Orbiter and Lander
|-- Spirit (MER-A) - 10 June 2003 - Mars Rover
|-- Opportunity (MER-B) - 7 July 2003 - Mars Rover
|-- SMART 1 - 27 September 2003 - Lunar Orbiter
| 2004
|-- Rosetta - 2 March 2004 - Comet Orbiter and Lander
|-- MESSENGER - 3 August 2004 - Mercury Orbiter
| 2005
|-- Deep Impact - 12 January 2005 - Comet Rendezvous and Impact
|-- Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter - 12 August 2005 - Mars Orbiter
|-- Venus Express - 09 November 2005 - ESA Venus Orbiter
| 2006
|-- New Horizons - 19 January 2006 - Pluto/Charon and Kuiper Belt Flyby
| 2007
|-- Phoenix - 04 August 2007 - Small Mars Scout Lander
|-- Kaguya (SELENE) - 14 September 2007 - Lunar Orbiter
|-- Dawn - 27 September 2007 - Asteroid Ceres and Vesta Orbiter
|-- Chang'e 1 - 24 October 2007 - CAST (China) Lunar Orbiter
| 2008
|-- Chandrayaan-1 - 22 October 2008 - ISRO (India) Lunar Orbiter
| Future Missions
|

Other Missions

If you don't see a mission listed here, you may wish to query the NSSDC Master Catalog by typing in a name in the space below.

Spacecraft Name:

[NASA Logo]
Author/Curator:
Dr. David R. Williams, dave.williams@nasa.gov
NSSDC, Mail Code 690.1
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
+1-301-286-1258

NASA Official: Ed Grayzeck, edwin.j.grayzeck@nasa.gov
Last Updated: 23 October 2008, DRW