Timeline of Space Exploration - 1995 to 1999 - Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System

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Timeline of Space Exploration

As the Twentieth Century drew to a close, Mars started to become a more popular destination for space exploration. Despite some failed missions, Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Pathfinder were highly successful, paving the way for more missions to the planet throughout the next decade.

LAUNCH DATE	NAME	DESTINATION	COUNTRY	MISSION DETAILS	MAIN ACHIEVEMENT	CURRENT STATUS
2nd December 1995	SOHO (Solar and Heliospehric Observatory)	Sun (from Earth orbit)	USA and Europe	Orbiting the Sun at a distance of 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, SOHO was designed to observe the Sun. it analyses information about the internal make-up of the Sun, the outer layers of its atmosphere and the solar wind. It has also discovered half of all known comets in the Solar System. SOHO was only intended to last for two years but still operates to this day. It was very nearly lost in 1998 but scientists found ways to keep it working.	.	SOHO is still in operation.
17th February 1996	NEAR Shoemaker (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - Shoemaker)	Eros	USA	Space craft which was put into orbit of Eros, an asteroid which orbits relatively closely to Earth, crossing the orbit of Mars. NEAR entered orbit of Eros on 14th February 2000. While in orbit, it imaged the asteroid and sent back data about it. On 12th February 2001, NEAR soft-landed on the surface of Eros. It continued to send back information until 28th February 2001.	First soft landing on an asteroid.	Final communication was on 28th February 2001. A final attempt to resume communications on 10 December 2002 was unsuccessful.
7th November 1996	Mars Global Surveyor	Mars	USA	Mars Global Surveyor is an orbiter which reached Mars on 12th September 1997. After gradually trimming its orbit to put it in a low level circular orbit around Mars, Global Surveyor began mapping the entire surface of the planet from March 1999. It has studied the weather on Mars and has revealed regular weather patterns. The atmosphere, temperature, magnetic fields have all been analysed by Mars Global Surveyor, providing essential information for future missions to Mars. Up to the loss of contact with it at the end of 2006, Mars Global Surveyor has also operated as a communications satellite for more recent landers and rovers on Mars.	First successful mission to Mars in over 20 years.	Mars Global Surveyor completed its primary mission in January 2001. After several extended missions, contact with the space craft was lost in November 2006 after the craft received incorrect instructions from computers on Earth, causing it to position itself so that one of its batteries became exposed to the Sun, causing it to overheat and its power to deplete, therefore preventing any further operation of the space craft.
16th November 1996	Mars 96 (also unofficially called Mars 8)	Mars	Russia	First Russian attempt to reach Mars after the collapse of the USSR. Based on the Phobos missions of the 1980s, Mars 96 was an ambitious mission which would have analysed the evolutionary history of Mars' surface (it other words, how it developed into the planet it is now). The probe separated from the rocket it was to launch from while in Earth orbit, but accelerated into Earth's atmosphere instead of on its way to Mars. This was due to the failure of an earlier rocket burn which would have pointed the probe in the right direction. The mission was a complete failure, although equipment designed for it has been used on more recent missions.	First Russian attempt to get to Mars. The country had cooperation from other nations, including France, Germany and the USA.	The probe burnt up during descent through Earth's atmosphere.
4th December 1996	Mars Pathfinder	Mars	USA	Originally designed as a demonstration of cheap(er) space exploration and the technology needed to successfully land a lander and rover on Mars. Pathfinder exceeded all expectations and paved the way for a flood of visits to Mars in the early 21st Century. The lander reached Mars' surface on 4th July 1997 using a system of parachutes and giant airbags to ensure a safe, soft landing. It landed in Ares Vallis, an ancient flood plane in the Northern Hemisphere. The lander (named the Carl Sagan Memorial Station) and rover (named Sojourner) spent their time taken pictures and analysing rock and soil samples, as any tourist on a new planet would do! They confirmed that Mars was once a warm, wet planet, which probably had liquid water and a thicker atmosphere. It didn't find any signs of life however although it did prove that successful space exploration could be done "on the cheap"!	NASA's Pathfinder website was the first internet site to achieve 1 million hits! Both the lander and rover lasted much longer than expected.	Communications were lost with the lander and rover on 27th September 1997, much later than originally anticipated. If communications with Pathfinder were lost, the rover was programmed to circle it to allow scientists to locate the lander. The final resting place of the rover and how long it operated for is not known. It could be circling the lander even now! The last communications attempt was on 10th March 1998.
15th October 1997	Cassini-Huygens	Jupiter and Saturn	USA, Europe and Italy	Launched as a probe to explore Saturn, its rings and its moons (in particular, Titan), At the end of 2000, Cassini-Huygens passed by Jupiter and took over 26,000 highly detailed images of the planet. After spending about a month at Jupiter, Cassini-Huygens went on to visit Saturn.	.	Cassini-Huygens left Jupiter early in 2001 and is now orbiting Saturn. The Huygens probe landed on Saturn's moon Titan and lies inactive on its surface, whereas the orbiter is still operational around Saturn.
6th January 1998	Lunar Prospector	Moon	USA	Orbiter sent to enter a polar orbit of the Moon, mainly to try to find evidence of water in its craters. It entered orbit on 11th January and spent 570 days orbiting the Moon before being deliberately crashed into its surface on 31st July 1999 in a crater in the Moon's South Pole. It didn't find any evidence of water. However, information from Lunar Prospector did suggest that Earth and the Moon may have once been one object which was split into two by a collision with an object the size of Mars.	Lunar Prospector's website claims this mission was the first NASA mission to the Moon in over 20 years, despite the launch of Clementine 4 years earlier!	Lunar Prospector's mission ended when it was deliberately crashed into the Moon's surface on 31st July 1999.
4th July 1998	Nozomi (Planet B)	Mars	Japan	Japan's first attempt at space exploration was an orbiter sent to Mars. During its five year journey, Nozomi experienced several problems, most of which were overcome. On arrival at Mars, it would examine the planet's upper atmosphere and explore its relationship with the solar wind. Early in the mission, as additional burn was done to put the spacecraft on the correct trajectory to Mars. This used up a large amount of fuel and, despite a change to the trajectory which saved some fuel consumption, there was simply not enough left to place it into an orbit around Mars. The craft was instead diverted away from Mars to prevent it from crashing (to avoid possible contamination) and into an orbit around the Sun.	Japan became the third Space Nation with the launch of Nozomi, its first attempt at space exploration.	FAILED MISSION: Mission cancelled on 9th December 2003. Now in orbit around the Sun.
24th October 1998	Deep Space 1	Asteroid Braille and Comet Borrelly	USA	Deep Space 1's main use was to test new technologies for space flight but amongst its other objectives, it completed fly-bys of the asteroid Braille and the comet Borrelly. Images of Braille were disappointing, due to a software crash and the camera not focussing on its target.	.	NASA decided to switch Deep Space 1 off after itS fly-by of Borrelly. The craft is now in orbit around the Sun.
20th November 1998	International Space Station	Earth	USA, Russia, Japan, Canada, Europe	The first component of the International Space Station was launched. The Zarya Control Module was launched from Kazakhstan and was built by Russia. America's first module was taken to the International Space Station by space shuttle Endeavour on 4th December 1998. Since then many more modules have been added to the space station with work due to be completed by 2010.	The International Space Station is visible from Earth and can be the brightest object after the Sun and the Moon.	The International Space Station is now operational but not yet complete. Work was postponed after the Columbia shuttle disaster in 2003 although it is expected that ISS will be completed in 2010 when the space shuttles are retired. ISS itself is expected to remain operational until at least 2016.
11th December 1998	Mars Climate Orbiter	Mars	USA	Mars Climate Orbiter was sent to explore the atmosphere and surface of Mars while in orbit. Unfortunately, the wrong units of measurement (English units instead of metric) were used and the spacecraft fell into the planet's atmosphere and burnt up. Contact was lost on 23rd September 1999. That's what happens when you get inches and centimetres mixed up!	Not an achievement, but I suppose it proves that even highly intelligent scientists are human!	Craft burnt up in Mars' atmosphere. Some parts may have reached the surface.
7th February 1999	Stardust	Comet Wild 2	USA	Stardust visited comet Wild 2 to investigate its make-up. It also released a sample material capsule which collected dust from the comet's coma and from space, including dust believed to have originated from outside the Solar System. The sample was successfully returned to Earth on 15th January 2006 for analysis.	First sample return of comet and interstellar dust.	Mission ended when samples were returned on 15th January 2006 although are still being analysed. A follow-up mission to visit comet Tempel 1 was approved on 3rd July 2007.
3rd January 1999	Mars Polar Lander	Mars	USA	American lander which was to be the first to land in a polar region of Mars (the South Pole) where it would analyse the soil and take pictures. Everything seemed to be going to plan until contact was suddenly lost as the craft started its descent onto Mars on 3rd December 1999. It is assumed that the craft crashed on Mars, but its location is not known.	.	Crashed somewhere on Mars.
3rd January 1999	Deep Space 2	Mars	USA	A separate mission to Mars Polar Lander, but the 2 microprobes of Deep Space 2, hitched a ride on the Polar Lander. They were to search for water ice in the South Pole of Mars, but because Mars Polar Lander mysteriously went missing before landing on Mars, so too did the Deep Space 2 probes.	.	Crashed on Mars with Mars Polar Lander.