Famous launches

The first artificial satellite — opened the space age, 4 October 1957.

Carried Laika, the first animal to orbit Earth.

America's first satellite; discovered the Van Allen radiation belts.

Alexei Leonov performed the first spacewalk.

First crewed flight to orbit the Moon; "Earthrise."

First crewed Moon landing, 20 July 1969.

The "successful failure" — a crippled mission brought safely home.

The last crewed mission to the Moon, December 1972.

First successful Mars landing and surface operations.

The only spacecraft to visit all four giant planets.

The most distant human-made object; now in interstellar space.

Saturn orbiter; the Huygens Titan landing.

The largest space telescope ever launched.

America's first space station.

Columbia — the Space Shuttle's first flight.

The first module of the International Space Station.

First flight of NASA’s Space Launch System, around the Moon.

Maiden Falcon Heavy flight — the Tesla Roadster.