| Spacecraft |
Mission |
Launch |
Arrival |
Results |
| Pioneer 4 |
Lunar flyby |
3/3/59 |
3/4/59 |
Collected radiation data near moon. |
| Pioneer 5 |
Solar orbit |
3/11/60 |
3/11/60 |
Data on radiation particles and fields. |
| Mariner 2 |
Venus flyby |
8/27/62 |
12/14/62 |
First craft to visit another planet. |
| Ranger 7 |
Lunar impact |
7/28/64 |
7/31/64 |
Photo resolution 1,000 times better than that of Earth-based
images. |
| Mariner 4 |
Mars flyby |
11/28/64 |
7/14/65 |
Data showed inhospitable world. |
| Ranger 8 |
Lunar impact |
2/17/65 |
2/20/65 |
Impact in the Sea of Tranquility. |
| Ranger 9 |
Lunar impact |
3/21/65 |
3/24/65 |
Photo resolutions as fine as 10 inches. |
| Pioneer 6 |
Solar orbit |
12/16/65 |
12/16/65 |
Data on the sun and interplanetary space. |
| Surveyor 1 |
Lunar Landing |
5/30/66 |
6/2/66 |
Simulated Apollo flight and landing. |
| Lunar Orbiter 1 |
Lunar orbit |
8/10/66 |
8/14/66 |
Found terrain rougher than expected. |
| Pioneer 7 |
Solar orbit |
8/17/66 |
8/17/66 |
Data on the sun and interplanetary space. |
| Lunar Orbiter 2 |
Lunar orbit |
11/6/66 |
11/10/66 |
Search for possible Apollo landing sites. |
| Lunar Orbiter 3 |
Lunar orbit |
2/4/67 |
2/8/67 |
Mapped surface; examined gravitational field. |
| Surveyor 3 |
Lunar landing |
4/17/67 |
4/20/67 |
Sampled soil; photographed Earth. |
| Lunar Orbiter 4 |
Lunar polar orbit |
5/4/67 |
5/8/67 |
Orbit allowed photos of polar regions. |
| Mariner 5 |
Venus flyby |
6/14/67 |
10/19/67 |
Confirmed harsh surface conditions. |
| Lunar Orbiter 5 |
Lunar polar orbit |
8/1/67 |
8/5/67 |
Completed orbital mapping project. |
| Surveyor 5 |
Lunar landing |
9/8/67 |
9/11/67 |
First chemical analysis of lunar soil. |
| Surveyor 6 |
Lunar landing |
11/767 |
11/10/67 |
Three dimensional photos. |
| Pioneer 8 |
Solar orbit |
12/13/67 |
12/13/67 |
Data on the sun and interplanetary space. |
| Surveyor 7 |
Lunar landing |
1/7/68 |
1/10/68 |
87,674 photos returned in Surveyor program. |
| Poineer 9 |
Solar orbit |
11/8/68 |
11/8/68 |
Data on the sun and interplanetary space. |
| Mariner 6 |
Mars flyby |
2/24/69 |
7/31/69 |
Concentrates on equatorial region. |
| Mariner 7 |
Mars flyby |
3/27/69 |
8/5/69 |
Concentrated on southern polar region. |
| Mariner 9 |
Mars orbit |
5/30/71 |
11/13/71 |
Mapped entire planet and two moons. |
| Pioneer 10 |
Jupiter flyby |
3/2/72 |
12/3/73 |
First examination of an outer planet. |
| Pioneer 11 |
Jupiter flyby
Saturn flyby |
4/5/73 |
12/2/74
9/1/79 |
Additional observations; used Jupiter's gravity to bend path
to Saturn. |
| Mariner 10 |
Venus flyby
Mercury flybys |
11/3/73 |
2/5/74
3/29/74
9/21/74
3/16/75 |
First photos of Venus; used Venus' gravity to bend path to
Mercury. Three successful flybys imaged half of Mercury. |
| Helios 1 |
Solar orbit |
12/10/74 |
12/10/74 |
Orbited close to Sun. Helios was joint mission with Germany. |
| Viking 1 |
Mars orbit and landing |
8/20/75 |
6/19/76
7/20/76 |
High resolution photos; soil sampling. |
| Viking 2 |
Mars orbit and landing |
9/9/75 |
8/7/76
9/3/76 |
Continued orbital and surface activity. |
| Helios 2 |
Solar orbit |
1/15/76 |
1/15/76 |
Continued studies of Helios 1 |
| Voyager 1 |
Jupiter flyby
Saturn flyby |
9/5/77 |
3/5/79
11/12/80 |
High-resolution images and data on planets and moons |
| Voyager 2 |
Jupiter flyby
Saturn flyby
Uranus flyby
Neptune flyby |
8/20/77 |
7/9/79
8/25/81
1/24/86
8/25/89 |
Additional observations. Voyager 1's success allowed
retargeting of Voyager 2 at Saturn to point spacecraft to Uranus
and Neptune. Flybys extremely successful. |
| Pioneer Venus Orbiter |
Venus orbit |
5/20/78 |
12/4/78 |
Detailed, long-term atmospheric observation; rough surface
mapping. |
| Pioneer Venus Multiprobe |
Venus atmospheric probes |
8/8/78 |
12/9/78 |
Main body and four probes profiled atmosphere. |
| International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE 3) |
Positioned between Sun and Earth |
8/12/78 |
8/12/78 |
Examined solar wind. Renamed ICE (see below) after mission was
accomplished. |
| International Cometary Explorer (ICE) |
Comet Giacobini-Zinner flyby |
8/12/78 |
9/11/85 |
Was ISEE 3 (see above). Renamed and retargeted to make first
comet flyby. |
| Magellan |
Venus orbit |
5/5/89 |
8/10/90 |
High-resolution radar mapping |
| Galileo |
Jupiter orbit and atmospheric probe |
10/18/89 |
12/7/95 |
Will make long term observations of Jovian system. |
| Ulysses |
Solar polar orbit |
10/6/90 |
6-11/64
6-9/95 |
Will study the Sun's northern and southern polar regions. |
