Eras

Eight decades of space exploration heritage, decade by decade

1950s

The dawn of the Space Age. Sputnik, Explorer, and the first satellites proved humanity could reach orbit.

The Space Race. Mercury, Vostok, Gemini, Apollo. Humanity went from minutes in space to walking on the Moon.

Space stations and deep space. Skylab, Salyut, Viking on Mars, Voyager's grand tour of the outer planets.

The Shuttle era. Reusable spaceflight became reality. Mir was assembled. Voyager 2 reached Uranus and Neptune.

Hubble transformed astronomy. The ISS began construction. Mars Pathfinder landed with the first rover.

The ISS became permanently occupied. Spirit and Opportunity explored Mars. SpaceX launched Falcon 1.

Rockets learned to land. Falcon 9 proved reusability. New Horizons reached Pluto. Curiosity explored Mars.

Starship became the most powerful rocket ever. Webb revealed the earliest galaxies. Artemis returned to the Moon.