Humans have been leaving Earth for less than 70 years. In that time, we’ve walked on the Moon, landed robots on Mars, and sent a probe past the edge of the solar system. Here’s how it happened.
The beginning: 1957–1961
October 4, 1957 — Sputnik. The Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite. It was the size of a beach ball, weighed 83 kg, and orbited Earth every 98 minutes. The beeping signal it transmitted was picked up by amateur radio operators worldwide. The space age started with a beep.
November 3, 1957 — Laika. A stray dog from the streets of Moscow became the first living creature in orbit aboard Sputnik 2. She didn’t survive the journey — the technology to bring her back didn’t exist yet. It would be years before anyone admitted this publicly.
April 12, 1961 — Yuri Gagarin. The first human in space. His entire flight lasted 108 minutes — one single orbit. When he returned, he was a global celebrity overnight. He was 27 years old.
May 25, 1961 — Kennedy’s speech. “Before this decade is out,” President Kennedy told Congress, the United States would land a man on the Moon and return him safely. At the time, the US had logged a grand total of 15 minutes of spaceflight.
The race: 1962–1968
February 20, 1962 — John Glenn orbits Earth. The first American to orbit the planet. He circled it three times in just under five hours. Glenn later returned to space in 1998 at age 77, becoming the oldest person in orbit.
June 16, 1963 — Valentina Tereshkova. The first woman in space. She orbited Earth 48 times over nearly three days. It would be 19 years before another woman followed her.
March 18, 1965 — First spacewalk. Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov floated outside his spacecraft for 12 minutes. His suit inflated so much in the vacuum that he couldn’t fit back through the airlock. He had to manually release air pressure to squeeze back in.
December 24, 1968 — Apollo 8. The first humans to orbit the Moon. Astronaut William Anders took Earthrise — a photograph of Earth from lunar orbit that became one of the most influential images in history. It changed how humanity saw itself.
The Moon: 1969–1972
July 20, 1969 — Apollo 11. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon. An estimated 600 million people watched live. Armstrong’s “one small step” line was composed on the way there — he hadn’t planned it in advance.
April 13, 1970 — Apollo 13. An oxygen tank exploded en route to the Moon, forcing the crew to abort and use the lunar module as a lifeboat. The improvised CO2 filter they built from spacecraft parts — using a flight manual, plastic bags, and duct tape — remains one of the greatest engineering feats in history.
December 14, 1972 — Apollo 17. The last humans on the Moon. Gene Cernan’s final words on the surface: “We leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return.” As of 2026, no one has been back.
The stations: 1971–2000
April 19, 1971 — Salyut 1. The first space station. Soviet cosmonauts lived aboard for 23 days. The station operated for 175 days before being intentionally deorbited.
May 14, 1973 — Skylab. America’s first space station. During launch, a critical heat shield tore off. The first crew’s primary mission was to repair the station — they used a parasol deployed through an airlock as a sun shield.
February 20, 1986 — Mir. The Soviet (later Russian) space station that became the first long-term research station in orbit. It operated for 15 years and hosted astronauts from 12 different countries. It was also famous for its aging systems — a fire, a collision, and repeated computer failures made it notorious.
November 20, 1998 — International Space Station. The first module launched. Assembly took over a decade and involved 15 nations. The ISS has been continuously occupied since November 2000 — more than 25 years of unbroken human presence in space.
The robots: 1997–2020
July 4, 1997 — Sojourner. The first rover on Mars. It was the size of a microwave oven and operated for 83 days, far exceeding its 7-day planned mission.
January 14, 2005 — Huygens lands on Titan. The European probe landed on Saturn’s largest moon and transmitted images of an alien landscape with methane rivers and hydrocarbon rain. It remains the most distant landing ever achieved.
August 6, 2012 — Curiosity. NASA’s car-sized rover landed on Mars using a “sky crane” that lowered it on cables — a maneuver so audacious that engineers called it “seven minutes of terror.” Curiosity is still operating.
January 1, 2019 — New Horizons at Arrokoth. After its 2015 Pluto flyby, New Horizons reached the most distant object ever visited — 6.5 billion kilometers from Earth. Arrokoth looks like a snowman made of ancient ice.
February 18, 2021 — Perseverance and Ingenuity. The latest Mars rover brought a helicopter. Ingenuity’s first flight lasted 39 seconds and covered 3 meters. It was the first powered flight on another planet.
What’s next
Artemis. NASA’s program to return humans to the Moon. Artemis II will carry astronauts around the Moon. Artemis III aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface.
Mars. Multiple agencies and private companies are developing plans for crewed Mars missions. The journey takes about seven months each way. Whoever goes first will be further from Earth than any human has ever been.
Europa and Enceladus. Jupiter’s and Saturn’s icy moons may have liquid oceans beneath their surfaces — and possibly life. Future missions aim to drill through the ice and find out.
The timeline keeps going. Every decade pushes the boundary further. Every mission teaches us something about where we came from and where we might go.
Space Exploration is one of the first collections coming to CardsList — 60 cards charting humanity’s reach beyond Earth. Get early access.