Missions

NASA • Launched 1977

The twin Voyager probes launched in 1977 on a grand tour of the outer planets. Voyager 2 remains the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus and Neptune. Both probes have now crossed into interstellar space, becoming the most distant human-made objects, and still send back data over 45 years later. Each carries a Golden Record with sounds and images of Earth.

• Only spacecraft to visit all four giant planets (Voyager 2).
• First close-up images of Jupiter's rings, Io's volcanoes, and Neptune's Great Dark Spot.
• Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object, over 24 billion km away.
• Both carry the Golden Record: a message from humanity to the cosmos.

science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

NASA • Launched 2020 (landed Feb 2021)

Perseverance is NASA's most advanced Mars rover, exploring Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient river delta. Its mission is to search for signs of ancient microbial life and cache rock samples for a future return to Earth. It carried the Ingenuity helicopter, which made the first powered, controlled flight on another planet, and its MOXIE experiment produced oxygen from the Martian atmosphere.

• Searching for signs of ancient life in a dried-up river delta.
• Collecting and caching samples for future return to Earth.
• Delivered Ingenuity, the first aircraft to fly on another planet (72 flights).
• MOXIE produced oxygen from Mars' CO2 atmosphere — a first.

science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance/mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

NASA (with ESA, JAXA, CSA) • Launched Artemis I: 2022

Artemis is NASA's program to return humans to the Moon and establish a lasting presence there, as a stepping stone to Mars. Artemis I flew an uncrewed Orion capsule around the Moon in 2022. Artemis II will carry the first crew around the Moon since Apollo, and Artemis III aims to land the first woman and first person of color near the lunar south pole, where water ice waits in shadowed craters.

• Artemis I sent Orion farther than any human-rated spacecraft has flown (2022).
• Aims to land astronauts near the Moon's south pole.
• Plans include the Gateway, a small space station orbiting the Moon.
• The Moon program is designed as a proving ground for future Mars missions.

www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/artemis/www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Orion

NASA / ESA / ASI • Launched 1997 (arrived 2004)

Cassini orbited Saturn for 13 years, revolutionizing our understanding of the ringed planet, its rings, and its moons. The European Huygens probe it carried made the first landing in the outer solar system, touching down on Titan in 2005. Cassini discovered water geysers on Enceladus and methane seas on Titan before deliberately plunging into Saturn's atmosphere in 2017 to protect those moons from contamination.

• Huygens made the first landing in the outer solar system (Titan, 2005).
• Discovered water-ice geysers erupting from Enceladus.
• Revealed liquid methane lakes and seas on Titan.
• Ended with a deliberate "Grand Finale" plunge into Saturn in 2017.

science.nasa.gov/mission/cassini/www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Cassini-Huygens

NASA • Launched 2006

New Horizons made the first-ever flyby of Pluto in July 2015, revealing a shockingly active world with nitrogen glaciers, water-ice mountains, and a giant heart-shaped plain. In 2019 it flew past Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored up close. The spacecraft continues outward through the Kuiper Belt, studying the icy frontier of the solar system.

• First spacecraft to visit Pluto (2015).
• Revealed Pluto's heart-shaped nitrogen glacier, Sputnik Planitia.
• Flew past Arrokoth, the most distant world ever explored (2019).
• Fastest launch speed of any spacecraft at the time (58,500 km/h).

science.nasa.gov/mission/new-horizons/pluto.jhuapl.edu/