This is a timeline of Solar System exploration ordering events in the exploration of the Solar System by date of spacecraft launch. It includes:

• All spacecraft that have left Earth orbit for the purposes of Solar System exploration (or were launched with that intention but failed), including lunar probes.
• A small number of pioneering or notable Earth-orbiting craft.^[vague]

It does not include:

• Centuries of terrestrial telescopic observation.
• The great majority of Earth-orbiting satellites.
• Space probes leaving Earth orbit that are not concerned with Solar System exploration (such as space telescopes targeted at distant galaxies, cosmic background radiation observatories, and so on).
• Probes that failed at launch.

The dates listed are launch dates, but the achievements noted may have occurred some time later—in some cases, a considerable time later (for example, Voyager 2, launched 20 August 1977, did not reach Neptune until 1989).

Mission name	Launch date	Description	Ref(s)
Sputnik 1	4 October 1957	First Earth orbiter	[1][2]
Sputnik 2	3 November 1957	Earth orbiter, first animal in orbit, a dog named Laika	[2][3][4]
Explorer 1	1 February 1958	Earth orbiter; discovered Van Allen radiation belts	[5]
Vanguard 1	17 March 1958	Earth orbiter; oldest spacecraft still in Earth orbit	[6]
Luna 1	2 January 1959	First lunar flyby (attempted lunar impact?); first artificial satellite in heliocentric orbit.	[7][8][9][10]
Pioneer 4	3 March 1959	Lunar flyby	[11][12]
Luna 2	12 September 1959	First extraterrestrial impact and lunar impact, First artificial object on Moon	[10][13]
Luna 3	4 October 1959	Lunar flyby; First images of another celestial body taken from space, most notably, the far side of Moon	[10][14]

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Mission name	Launch date	Description	Ref(s)
Pioneer 5	11 March 1960	Interplanetary space investigations	[15][16]
Venera 1	12 February 1961	First probe to another planet; Venus flyby (contact lost before flyby)	[17][18][19]
Vostok 1	12 April 1961	First crewed Earth orbiter (Yuri Gagarin)	[20][21]
Ranger 1	23 August 1961	Attempted lunar test flight (failed to leave Earth orbit)	[22][23][24]
Ranger 2	18 November 1961	Attempted lunar test flight (failed to leave Earth orbit)	[24][25][26]
Ranger 3	26 January 1962	Attempted lunar impact (missed Moon)	[24][27][28]
Ranger 4	23 April 1962	Lunar impact (but unintentionally became the first spacecraft to hit the lunar farside and returned no data)	[24][29][30][31]
Mariner 2	27 August 1962	First successful planetary encounter, First successful Venus flyby	[32][33][34]
Ranger 5	18 October 1962	Attempted lunar impact (missed Moon)	[24][35][36]
Mars 1	1 November 1962	First probe to Mars: flyby (contact lost)	[37][38]
Luna 4	2 April 1963	Attempted lunar lander (missed Moon)	[39][40]
Cosmos 21	11 November 1963	Attempted Venera test flight?	[41]
Ranger 6	30 January 1964	Lunar impact (cameras failed)	[42][43]
Zond 1	2 April 1964	Venus flyby (contact lost)	[44][45][46]
Ranger 7	28 July 1964	Lunar impact (success)	[47][48][49]
Voskhod 1	12 October 1964	First orbiter with multimember crew	[50][51]
Mariner 3	5 November 1964	Attempted Mars flyby (failed to attain correct trajectory)	[52][53]
Mariner 4	28 November 1964	First successful Mars flyby	[54][55]
Zond 2	30 November 1964	Mars flyby (contact lost)	[46][56][57]
Ranger 8	17 February 1965	Lunar impact	[58][59]
Voskhod 2	18 March 1965	First space walk, by Alexei Leonov	[51][60]
Ranger 9	21 March 1965	Lunar impact	[61][62]
Lincoln Calibration Sphere 1	6 May 1965	Oldest spacecraft still in use[citation needed]	[63]
Luna 5	9 May 1965	Lunar impact (attempted soft landing)	[64]
Luna 6	8 June 1965	Attempted lunar lander (missed Moon)	[65]
Zond 3	18 July 1965	Lunar flyby	[46][66][67]
Luna 7	4 October 1965	Lunar impact (attempted soft landing)	[68]
Venera 2	12 November 1965	Venus flyby (contact lost)	[69][18]
Venera 3	16 November 1965	Venus lander (contact lost) – First spacecraft to reach another planet's atmosphere and surface, First Venus impact	[70][18]
Luna 8	3 December 1965	Lunar impact (attempted soft landing?)	[71]
Pioneer 6	16 December 1965	"Space weather" observations	[72][73][74][75]
Luna 9	31 January 1966	First extraterrestrial lander and lunar lander	[10][76]
Luna 10	31 March 1966	First extraterrestrial orbiter and first lunar orbiter	[77]
Surveyor 1	30 May 1966	Lunar lander	[78][79][80]
Explorer 33	1 July 1966	Attempted lunar orbiter (failed to attain lunar orbit)	[81][82]
Lunar Orbiter 1	10 August 1966	Lunar orbiter	[83][84][85]
Pioneer 7	17 August 1966	"Space weather" observations	[75][86][87]
Luna 11	24 August 1966	Lunar orbiter	[88]
Surveyor 2	20 September 1966	Attempted lunar lander (crashed into Moon)	[89][90]
Luna 12	22 October 1966	Lunar orbiter	[91]
Lunar Orbiter 2	6 November 1966	Lunar orbiter	[92][93]
Luna 13	21 December 1966	Lunar lander	[94]
Lunar Orbiter 3	5 February 1967	Lunar orbiter	[95][96]
Surveyor 3	17 April 1967	Lunar lander	[97][98]
Lunar Orbiter 4	4 May 1967	Lunar orbiter	[99][100]
Venera 4	12 June 1967	First functioning extraterrestrial atmospheric probe (Venus)	[18][101]
Mariner 5	14 June 1967	Venus flyby	[102][103]
Surveyor 4	14 July 1967	Attempted lunar lander (crashed into Moon)	[104][105]
Explorer 35 (IMP-E)	19 July 1967	Lunar orbiter	[106]
Lunar Orbiter 5	1 August 1967	Lunar orbiter	[85][107][108]
Surveyor 5	8 September 1967	Lunar lander	[109][110]
Surveyor 6	7 November 1967	Lunar lander, first lift-off from an extraterrestrial body	[79][111][112]
Apollo 4	9 November 1967	Lunar programme test flight in Earth orbit (uncrewed)	[113]
Pioneer 8	13 December 1967	"Space weather" observations	[75][114][115]
Surveyor 7	7 January 1968	Lunar lander	[116][117]
Apollo 5	22 January 1968	Lunar programme test flight in Earth orbit (uncrewed)	[118][119]
Zond 4	2 March 1968	Lunar programme test flight out of Earth orbit (uncrewed)	[46][120][121][122]
Luna 14	7 April 1968	Lunar orbiter	[123]
Zond 5	14 September 1968	First lunar flyby and return to Earth, first life forms to circle the Moon	[46][124][125][126][127]
Apollo 7	11 October 1968	Lunar programme test flight in Earth orbit (crewed)	[128][129]
Pioneer 9	8 November 1968	"Space weather" observations	[75][130][131]
Zond 6	10 November 1968	Lunar flyby and return to Earth	[46][132][133]
Apollo 8	21 December 1968	First crewed spacecraft to leave Earth orbit, first crewed lunar orbiter	[129][134][135]
Venera 5	5 January 1969	Venus atmospheric probe	[18][136]
Venera 6	10 January 1969