SpaceFive famous NASA missions
NASA, the space agency of the United States, has flown hundreds of missions. This page describes five that nearly everyone has heard of. Every date below is taken from NASA's own page for the mission, read on 12 November 2026, and each section links that page.
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 carried out the first crewed landing on the Moon and the safe return to Earth. Its astronauts were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. It was launched on 16 July 1969. NASA marks 20 July 1969 as the day of the "one giant leap", the first steps on the Moon. The crew splashed down on 24 July 1969.
Source: NASA, read on 12 November 2026.
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2
The twin Voyager spacecraft were launched in 1977 to fly past the outer planets. They are the only spacecraft ever to operate outside the heliosphere, the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields made by the Sun. Voyager 1 reached that boundary with interstellar space in 2012 and Voyager 2 in 2018. NASA lists both as still working, on an extended mission.
Source: NASA, read on 12 November 2026.
Hubble Space Telescope
Hubble is a large observatory in space. It was launched and deployed by the space shuttle Discovery in 1990, and NASA says it has changed our understanding of the cosmos since then.
Source: NASA, read on 12 November 2026.
James Webb Space Telescope
Webb is the largest and most powerful space telescope, built to see in infrared light. It is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. It was launched on 25 December 2021. Unlike Hubble it does not circle Earth. It orbits the Sun about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, at a place called the second Lagrange point, or L2. It is so big that it had to be folded to fit in its rocket.
Source: NASA, read on 12 November 2026.
Mars 2020 Perseverance rover
Perseverance is a rover that was launched on 30 July 2020 and landed in Jezero Crater on Mars on 18 February 2021. Its job is to look for signs of ancient life and to collect samples of rock and soil that a later mission might bring back to Earth. It carried a small helicopter, Ingenuity, strapped to its belly as a technology test.
Source: NASA, read on 12 November 2026.
A timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1969 | Apollo 11: launch on 16 July, splashdown on 24 July |
| 1977 | The two Voyagers are launched |
| 1990 | Hubble is launched and deployed by the shuttle Discovery |
| 2012 | Voyager 1 reaches the boundary of interstellar space |
| 2018 | Voyager 2 reaches it too |
| 2020 | Perseverance is launched on 30 July |
| 2021 | Perseverance lands on 18 February. Webb is launched on 25 December |
How far is that?
The Moon, where Apollo 11 landed, is on average 384,000 km from Earth. Mars, where Perseverance works, circles the Sun at 228 million km, against Earth's 149.6 million km. Webb sits about 1.5 million km from Earth, roughly 4 times as far away as the Moon.
For India's missions, see ISRO missions. For the latest news of any NASA mission, see nasa.gov.