api: YAML JSON TOON Database
version: 1.0.0
format: yaml
dataset:
  id: 2899
  slug: space-missions-milestones
  title: Space Mission Milestones
  description: Landmark missions in the history of space exploration.
  summary: Milestones in space exploration from Sputnik 1 to the James Webb Space Telescope, each with its year and what it achieved. Added entries cover the first human in space, first Moon landings and orbits, the first planetary landers, comet landing, rovers and helicopter flight, and the Artemis I test flight.
  use_when:
    - You need a dated list of firsts in spaceflight and space science.
    - You are building a timeline of exploration.
  caveats:
    - The year is that of the headline achievement, which can differ from the launch year.
    - "'First' claims are specific: for example, the first human in space was Yuri Gagarin in 1961 and the first crewed lunar landing was Apollo 11 in 1969."
  related:
    - solar-system-planets
    - phases-of-moon
    - types-of-stars
  entry_count: 25
  fields:
    - section: data
      field: mission
      type: string
      example: Sputnik 1
    - section: data
      field: year
      type: integer
      example: "1957"
    - section: data
      field: achievement
      type: string
      example: First artificial Earth satellite.
  category: Astronomy
  category_slug: astronomy
  tags: astronomy,space,missions
  view_count: 50
  created_at: 1793403093
  updated_at: 1793403093
data:
  - mission: Sputnik 1
    year: 1957
    achievement: First artificial Earth satellite.
  - mission: Apollo 11
    year: 1969
    achievement: First crewed Moon landing.
  - mission: Voyager 1
    year: 1977
    achievement: First spacecraft to enter interstellar space.
  - mission: Hubble Space Telescope
    year: 1990
    achievement: Major space-based optical observatory.
  - mission: International Space Station
    year: 1998
    achievement: Continuously inhabited orbital laboratory.
  - mission: Curiosity Rover
    year: 2012
    achievement: Mars rover exploring Gale crater.
  - mission: James Webb Space Telescope
    year: 2021
    achievement: Infrared observatory successor to Hubble.
  - mission: Explorer 1
    year: 1958
    achievement: First United States satellite; detected the Van Allen radiation belts.
  - mission: Luna 2
    year: 1959
    achievement: First spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon.
  - mission: Vostok 1
    year: 1961
    achievement: First human in space and in orbit (Yuri Gagarin).
  - mission: Mariner 4
    year: 1965
    achievement: First close-up photographs of Mars during a flyby.
  - mission: Luna 9
    year: 1966
    achievement: First soft landing on the Moon and first pictures from its surface.
  - mission: Apollo 8
    year: 1968
    achievement: First crewed spacecraft to orbit the Moon.
  - mission: Venera 7
    year: 1970
    achievement: First spacecraft to land on another planet and transmit data from its surface (Venus).
  - mission: Pioneer 10
    year: 1973
    achievement: First spacecraft to fly past Jupiter, after crossing the asteroid belt.
  - mission: Viking 1
    year: 1976
    achievement: First successful Mars lander that operated for years.
  - mission: Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-1)
    year: 1981
    achievement: First orbital flight of a reusable crewed spacecraft.
  - mission: Mir
    year: 1986
    achievement: First modular space station; its core module was launched in 1986.
  - mission: Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner
    year: 1997
    achievement: First wheeled rover to operate on Mars.
  - mission: Cassini-Huygens
    year: 2005
    achievement: The Huygens probe made the first landing on a moon of another planet (Titan).
  - mission: Rosetta and Philae
    year: 2014
    achievement: First soft landing on a comet.
  - mission: New Horizons
    year: 2015
    achievement: First flyby of Pluto.
  - mission: Perseverance and Ingenuity
    year: 2021
    achievement: First powered, controlled flight on another planet (Ingenuity on Mars).
  - mission: Artemis I
    year: 2022
    achievement: Uncrewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft around the Moon on the Space Launch System rocket.
  - mission: Chandrayaan-3
    year: 2023
    achievement: First soft landing near the Moon's south polar region.