Mission Archive

NASA/ASI · 2021

Didymos, Dimorphos

The first planetary defence test. NASA deliberately crashed the spacecraft into Dimorphos, the small moon of the asteroid Didymos, and shortened its orbit by 32 minutes.

NASA · 2021

Dinkinesh, Donaldjohanson

A NASA mission on a twelve-year tour of the Trojan asteroids that share Jupiter's orbit. On the way it has flown past two main-belt asteroids, finding that the first, Dinkinesh, has a small moon.

NASA · 2006

Jupiter, Pluto, Arrokoth

The first spacecraft to explore Pluto, flying past it and its moon Charon in July 2015, and later the small Kuiper belt object Arrokoth, the most distant world ever visited.

NASA · 2005

Tempel 1, Hartley 2

A NASA mission that fired a 372 kg impactor into comet Tempel 1 to expose material from beneath its surface. The flyby spacecraft later visited a second comet, Hartley 2, as the EPOXI mission.

NASA · 1999

Wild 2, Tempel 1

The first mission to bring back samples from a comet, catching dust from comet Wild 2 in aerogel and returning it to Earth in 2006. The spacecraft then flew on to visit comet Tempel 1.

ESA · 1985

Halley's Comet, Grigg–Skjellerup

ESA's first deep-space mission, which passed within 600 km of the nucleus of Halley's Comet in 1986 and returned the first close-up images of a comet's core. It later flew past a second comet, Grigg–Skjellerup.

USSR · 1984

Venus, Halley's Comet

A Soviet-led international mission that dropped a lander and a balloon at Venus, then flew on to pass within 9,000 km of Halley's Comet.

NASA · 1977

Jupiter, Saturn, Interstellar space

A spacecraft that performed flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, and Saturn's moon Titan. Currently exploring interstellar space.

NASA · 1977

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Interstellar space

A spacecraft that performed flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Currently exploring interstellar space.

NASA · 1973

Venus, Mercury

The first spacecraft to visit Mercury and the first to use one planet's gravity to reach another, swinging past Venus on the way. It flew past Mercury three times and imaged almost half its surface.

NASA · 1973

Jupiter, Saturn

The second spacecraft to fly past Jupiter and the first to reach Saturn, passing within 21,000 km of its cloud tops in 1979.

NASA · 1972

Jupiter

The first spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt and fly past Jupiter, and the first sent on a path out of the Solar System.

NASA · 1964

Mars

The first spacecraft to return close-up pictures of another planet, sending back 21 images of a cratered Mars from its flyby in July 1965.

NASA · 1962

Venus

The first spacecraft to fly past another planet and return data. Its measurements showed that Venus has a very hot surface beneath its clouds.

USSR · 1959

Moon

The first spacecraft to photograph the far side of the Moon, returning images that covered about 70% of it.