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NASA

American space and aeronautics agency

75 dated entries naming NASA, drawn from 46 separate years between 1908 CE and 2022 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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20th century

  • 1908This is the coldest recorded year since 1880, according to NASA reports.source
  • 1958October 1 – NASA starts operations and replaces the NACA in the United States.source
  • 1958October 11 – Pioneer 1, the second and most successful of the 3 project Able space probes, becomes the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed NASA.source
  • 1959April 9 – NASA announces its selection of seven military pilots to become the first U.S. astronauts, later known as the 'Mercury Seven'.source
  • 1960September 8 – In Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (which had been activated by NASA on July 1).source
  • 1962August 27 – NASA launches the Mariner 2 space probe.source
  • 1963July 26 – NASA launches Syncom 2, the world's first geostationary (synchronous) satellite.source
  • 1963May 15 – Project Mercury: NASA launches Gordon Cooper on Mercury-Atlas 9, the last Mercury mission (on June 12 NASA Administrator James E. Webb tells Congress the program is complete).source
  • 1964January 29 – Ranger 6 is launched by the US space agency NASA, on a mission to carry television cameras and crash-land on the Moon.source
  • 1965August 21 – NASA launches Gemini 5 (Gordon Cooper, Pete Conrad) on the first 1-week space flight, as well as the first test of fuel cells for electrical power on such a mission.source
  • 1965March 23 – Gemini 3: NASA launches the United States' first 2-person crew (Gus Grissom, John Young) into Earth orbit.source
  • 1966June 8 – A North American XB-70 Valkyrie strategic bomber prototype is destroyed in a mid-air collision with an F-104 Starfighter chase plane during a photo shoot. NASA pilot Joseph A. Walker and USAF test pilot Carl Cross are both killed.source
  • 1966March 16 – NASA spacecraft Gemini 8 (David Scott, Neil Armstrong) conducts the first docking in space, with an Agena target vehicle.source
  • 1967February 5 – NASA launches Lunar Orbiter 3.source
  • 1967May 18 – NASA announces the crew for the Apollo 7 space mission (the first in the Apollo series with a crew): Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele, and R. Walter Cunningham.source
  • 1967November 9 – Apollo program: NASA launches the first Saturn V rocket, successfully carrying the Apollo 4 test spacecraft from Cape Kennedy into Earth orbit.source
  • 1968October 11 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first crewed Apollo mission (Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, Walter Cunningham). Mission goals include the first live television broadcast from orbit and simulating lunar module rendezvous and docking, using the S-IVB rocket stage as a test target.source
  • 1969March 3 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 (James McDivitt, Rusty Schweickart, David Scott) to test the lunar module.source
  • 1969November 14 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 12 (Pete Conrad, Richard Gordon, Alan Bean), the second crewed mission to the Moon.source
  • 1970March 31 – NASA's Explorer 1, the first American satellite and Explorer program spacecraft, reenters Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.source
  • 1973November 16 – Skylab program: NASA launches Skylab 4 (Gerald Carr, William Pogue, Edward Gibson) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on an 84-day mission.source
  • 1973November 3 – Mariner program: NASA launches Mariner 10 toward Mercury (on March 29, 1974, it becomes the first space probe to reach that planet).source
  • 1975August 20 – Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.source
  • 1976July 31 – NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1.source
  • 1977August 12 – The NASA Space Shuttle, named Enterprise, makes its first test free-flight from the back of a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.source
  • 1979July 11 – NASA's first orbiting space station, Skylab, begins falling back Earth as its orbit decays after more than six years.source
  • 1980November 10–12 – Voyager program: The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn, when it flies within 77,000 mi km of the planet's cloud-tops and sends the first high-resolution images of the world back to scientists on Earth.source
  • 1981April 12 – The Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia, with NASA astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen, launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on April 14. It is the first time a crewed reusable spacecraft has returned from orbit.source
  • 1987December 1 – NASA announces the names of 4 companies awarded contracts to help build Space Station Freedom: Boeing Aerospace, General Electric's Astro-Space Division, McDonnell Douglas, and the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell.source
  • 1988September 29 – STS-26: NASA resumes Space Shuttle flights, grounded after the Challenger disaster, with Space Shuttle Discovery.source
  • 1989October 18 – NASA launches the uncrewed Galileo orbiter on a mission to study the planet Jupiter, via Atlantis mission STS-34.source
  • 1991October 29 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.source
  • 1993August 21 – NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Observer orbiter 3 days before the spacecraft is scheduled to enter orbit around Mars.source
  • 1993December 2 – STS-61: NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair an optical flaw in the Hubble Space Telescope.source
  • 1994June 23 – NASA's Space Station Processing Facility, a new state-of-the-art manufacturing building for the International Space Station, officially opens at Kennedy Space Center.source
  • 1995June 6 – U.S. astronaut Norman Thagard breaks NASA's space endurance record of 14 days, 1 hour and 16 minutes, aboard the Russian space station Mir.source
  • 1995November 1 – The last signal is received from NASA's Pioneer 11 spacecraft.source
  • 1996August 6 – NASA announces that the Allan Hills 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, may contain evidence of primitive lifeforms; further tests are inconclusive.source
  • 1996November 7 – NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor.source
  • 1997July 4 – NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.source
  • 1997November 27 – NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission is launched, the start of the satellite component of the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System.source
  • 1997October 15 – NASA launches the Cassini–Huygens probe to Saturn.source
  • 1998March 5 – NASA announces that the Clementine probe orbiting the Moon has found enough water in polar craters to support a human colony and rocket fueling station.source
  • 1999December 3 – NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander, moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.source
  • 1999January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA.source
  • 1999July 31 – NASA intentionally crashes the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the lunar surface.source
  • 1999September 23 – NASA permanently loses contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter during orbital insertion around Mars, resulting in the spacecraft's loss and the failure of the mission.source

21st century

  • 2001April 7 – The NASA orbiter 2001 Mars Odyssey launches on a Delta II rocket.source
  • 2002February 19 – NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.source
  • 2003January 23 – NASA loses contact with the Pioneer 10 probe after nearly 31 years.source
  • 2004August 3 – NASA's MESSENGER space probe is launched, with its primary mission being the study of Mercury.source
  • 2004March 9 – NASA releases the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field image of early galaxies.source
  • 2006August 24 – The International Astronomical Union defines 'planet' at its 26th General Assembly, removing Pluto's status as a planet and reclassifying it as a dwarf planet 76 years after its discovery. Ironically, this was in the same year when NASA sent its first probe to the celestial body.source
  • 2006January 15 – NASA's Stardust mission successfully ends, the first to return dust from a comet.source
  • 2006January 19 – NASA launches the first interplanetary space probe to Pluto, the New Horizons.source
  • 2006March 9 – NASA's Cassini–Huygens spacecraft announces a geyser-like emission of vapor, dust, and small ice crystals on Saturn's moon Enceladus, possibly indicating the presence of water.source
  • 2007June 5 – NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes its second fly-by of Venus on route to Mercury.source
  • 2008May 25 – NASA's uncrewed Phoenix spacecraft becomes the first to land on the northern polar region of Mars.source
  • 2009June 18 – NASA launches the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter / LCROSS probes to the Moon, the first American lunar mission since Lunar Prospector in 1998.source
  • 2009March 7 – NASA's Kepler Mission, a space photometer that will search for extrasolar planets in the Milky Way galaxy, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA.source
  • 2009November 13 – Having analyzed the data from the LCROSS lunar impact, NASA announces that it has found a "significant" quantity of water in the Moon's Cabeus crater.source
  • 2015March 6 – NASA's Dawn probe enters orbit around Ceres, becoming the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet.source
  • 2015September 28 – NASA announces that liquid water has been found on Mars.source
  • 2016July 5 – NASA's Juno spacecraft enters orbit around Jupiter and begins a 20-month survey of the planet.source
  • 2018August 12 – NASA launches the uncrewed Parker Solar Probe to study the Sun at close range and the solar wind.source
  • 2018May 5 – NASA's space probe InSight is launched. It landed on Mars on November 26 and uses a drill to conduct geological science.source
  • 2018October 30 – NASA's Kepler space telescope mission ends after the spacecraft runs out of fuel.source
  • 2019October 18 – NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch conduct the first all-female spacewalk outside of the International Space Station.source
  • 2020April 30 – NASA officially selects SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Dynetics to build its next-generation lunar lander to carry American astronauts to the Moon by 2024.source
  • 2020February 13 – NASA publishes a detailed study of Arrokoth, the most distant body ever explored by a spacecraft.source
  • 2020July 30 – NASA successfully launches its Mars 2020 rover mission to search for signs of ancient life and collect samples for return to Earth. The mission includes technology demonstrations to prepare for future human missions.source
  • 2020November 15 – NASA and SpaceX launch the SpaceX Crew-1 mission from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A to the ISS, the first operational flight of the Crew Dragon capsule.source
  • 2021December 25 – NASA, ESA, the Canadian Space Agency and the Space Telescope Science Institute launch the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor of the Hubble Space Telescope.source
  • 2021February 18 – NASA's Mars 2020 mission (containing the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter drone) lands on Mars at Jezero Crater, after seven months of travel.source
  • 2022September 26 – NASA's DART crashes into the asteroid Dimorphos in a first test of potential planetary defense.source

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