Landing Systems

Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space aboard a 15-minute suborbital flight.

John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, circling the planet three times.

Ed White performs the first American spacewalk, floating free for 23 minutes.

Neil Armstrong and David Scott achieve the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit.

The first humans to leave Earth orbit and circle the Moon, capturing the iconic Earthrise photograph.

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon.

An oxygen tank explosion turns a Moon landing into a legendary rescue of three astronauts.

The first international human spaceflight: an American Apollo docks with a Soviet Soyuz.

The first fully successful Mars landing returns years of images and searches for life.

The Space Shuttle’s daring first flight: the first crewed test of a reusable winged spacecraft.

The first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter discovers evidence of an ocean inside Europa.

Airbags bounce a lander onto Mars carrying Sojourner, the first rover on another planet.

Thirteen years at Saturn, and the first landing on a moon of another planet.

A 90-day rover mission that lasted six years and found evidence of ancient hot springs on Mars.

The record-breaking rover drives a marathon across Mars over nearly 15 years.

A polar lander digs into the Martian arctic and touches water ice for the first time.

A car-sized nuclear-powered rover lands via sky crane and proves ancient Mars was habitable.

A seven-year round trip brings back pristine samples of asteroid Bennu.

A seismometer on the Martian plains listens to marsquakes and maps the planet’s interior.

The fastest human-made object flies through the Sun’s atmosphere.

A sample-caching rover and the first aircraft to fly on another planet.

The Space Launch System and Orion fly a shakedown cruise around the Moon.