The Greatest Outer Space Missions In History

Some outer space missions make us marvel and inspire their sheer scale, complexity, and ingenuity. Some of them were launched decades ago, even when an aus casino no deposit bonus hadn’t started being used. Yet, they made new history every time they took off in space, orbiting endlessly around Earth or even beyond its orbit. Humanity has faced both great and collapse space travelings to the Milky Way galaxy and even further with the help of different satellites and spacecraft to explore the Solar system and discover new worlds.

Here we list seven of the most outstanding NASA and Soviet/Russian missions ever:

1. Pioneer 10 (the USA);
2. Voyager 2 (the USA);
3. Cassini–Huygens (ESA, NASA);
4. Saturn V (the USA);
5. The Soyuz TMA-16 (the Soviet Union/the Russian Federal Space Agency);
6. Shenzhou 7 (China);
7. Space Shuttle Columbia (the USA).

Pioneer 10 (the USA)

At a distance of nearly 19.3 billion kilometers from Earth today, Pioneer 10 is currently more than twice as far away from our planet than Pluto. NASA launched this crewless spacecraft on March 2, 1972, to study interplanetary space between Earth and Jupiter. It was the first artificial object to pass through the asteroid belt – a ring of debris and rocks that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Pioneer 10’s last signal was received on January 23, 2003, when it had traveled several billion kilometers after its launch 42 years ago, easily breaking all distance records for human-made objects.

Voyager 2 (the USA)

Launched on August 20, 1977, by NASA to study Saturn and Jupiter up close, Voyager 2 has also explored Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989 as a part of the Grand Tour mission. It is now exploring interstellar space, composed of highly energized ions flowing outward from the Sun. To date, Voyager 2 is still sending radio signals back to Earth even if they are expected to fade out any day now.

Cassini–Huygens (ESA, NASA)

This joint project is a cooperation between ESA and NASA to explore Saturn’s largest moon, Titan – a world with features resembling those of Earth before life – as well as Saturn itself. The Cassini spacecraft was launched on October 15, 1997, by NASA launched and it entered into an orbit around Saturn in 2004. It dropped the Huygens probe onto Titan’s surface in 2005, making it the first spacecraft ever to land on an outer planet moon.

Saturn V (the USA)

The rocket that took Apollo astronauts to the Moon had 11 stages, generated 7.6 million pounds of thrust during lift-off, and weighed 6,200 tons, making it one of the most powerful rockets ever built. The Saturn V launched for the first time on November 9, 1967, and carried out 13 successful missions – all of which were uncrewed – until its retirement in 1973 after Apollo 17 (NASA).

The Soyuz TMA-16 (Soviet/Russian Federal Space Agency)

Launched on September 30, 2009, from Kazakhstan by Russia’s Federal Space Agency, this spacecraft transported two members of Russia’s Expedition 19 to the International Space Station. They spent six months conducting a variety of scientific experiments on board before returning to Earth. This mission was significant because it represented a crucial step towards creating a permanently human-crewed space station.

Before the Soyuz TMA-16, there was the Soyuz TMA-15 mission (Soviet/the Russian Federal Space Agency). It was launched on 27 May 2009 from Kazakhstan by Russia’s Federal Space Agency. The spacecraft transported three members of Russia’s Expedition 19 to the International Space Station, where they spent six months conducting a variety of scientific experiments before returning to Earth on December 1, 2009.

Shenzhou 7 (China)

China’s first crewed space mission took place on October 25, 2008, with three Chinese astronauts traveling to orbit and back. During a flight lasting around three days, China tested its orbital vehicle for future missions to be conducted as part of a planned space station that is currently under construction. The spacecraft was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia by what was then called “Project 921-2”.

Space Shuttle Columbia (the USA)

The Space Shuttle Columbia entered Earth’s orbit for the first time ever on April 12, 1981. It completed 28 successful flights – including those bringing American astronauts into space and servicing and repairing the Hubble Telescope – before disintegrating during re-entry on February 1, 2003: this tragic accident led to the program’s immediate suspension. At the time of its retirement, Columbia was the youngest of NASA’s three Shuttles in service after Atlantis and Discovery.

Fascinating Facts About the Outer Space Missions

Just like it is with almost every exciting thing, several facts around outer space missions can leave you in awe. Here are some of the facts you may find really interesting.

• Contrary to what most people think, the first spacecraft to land on Mars was not the Viking 1 Lander in 1976, but rather Mariner 4, which flew by Phobos on July 14-15, 1965. It took some time before humanity achieved this feat because of technological limitations that had to be overcome first. For example, unmanned mission planning needed a lot more computing power back then than it does today.
• The first probe ever to be sent to Mars was the Soviet Union’s ‘Mars 1’, which was launched in 1960 though they didn’t find success in achieving the orbit. It is regarded as a failed mission because it never contacted Earth again.
• NASA conducted the first successful mission to Mars in 1976 with Viking 1, which reached the Red Planet on July 20.
• The first probe ever sent to Mercury is NASA’s Messenger, which flew by Venus once and Earth twice before entering orbit around Mercury in 2011.
• NASA has already tried sending spacecraft to Neptune without much success: Voyager 2 flew by it once but did not enter еру orbit because it was near to the Sun at that time, so it did not have enough speed.
• The last outer space mission in 2013 was performed by China’s Change 5 T1 probe, which successfully landed on the Moon on December 14 for a series of scientific experiments. The result should be sent back to Earth via orbital probe Change 5 T1.
• The first probe ever to land on an asteroid was Japan’s Hayabusa, which spent more than a year exploring the surface of Itokawa before returning to Earth with dust samples on June 13, 2010.
• NASA flew by Comet Halley in 1986, and one of its chief scientists declared that it looked like ‘a chicken bone’ (probably because of how bumpy it looked).

In сlosing, it can be said that outer space missions have made the advancement of science and technology possible to such an extent that we take many things for granted. It is so impressive that nowadays, we can reach outer space planets, explore them, and use this new knowledge to our advantage. But, on a darker note, these same outer space missions could also lead to the extinction of humanity: just one giant asteroid hitting Earth would be enough to do it.