Still , if you ’ve lost lead of those wonderful spacecrafts NASA has been launching for a half - century , here is an chance to catch up with a few of them .
1. Pioneer 3 & 4 (1958, 1959)
The quad subspecies was running its first lick when NASA direct for the moon and set up Pioneer 3 in former 1958 and Pioneer 4 in early 1959 . Pioneer 4 successfully excrete within 30,000 miles of the moon , and travel 407,000 miles from Earth before the ground station could no longer track it . Pioneer 4 became the first U.S. spacecraft to orbit the sun , which it is still doing . Pioneer 3 , however , was n’t as successful : a glitch sent it 63,000 mile into blank space , after which gravity bring it back to Earth . In the meantime , Pioneer 3 ’s Geiger counter discovered a second radiation belt around Earth .
2. Viking 1 & 2 (1975)
set in motion within weeks of each other in the summer of 1975 , the Vikings were the first spacecrafts to reach the surface of another major planet safely . Then , as now , the big wonder was about life on Mars , and the Vikings were send to look for for microorganisms in the Martian soil . The Viking ships were frame of two parts : orbiters , which circled the planet , and landers , which were directed to res publica on the airfoil of the major planet itself . Viking Lander 1 slam photographs that reveal the Martian sky is pinkish ; Viking Lander 2 commemorate a " Marsquake . " They continue to send data point to Earth until the early 1980s .
3. Voyager 1 & 2 (1977)
The Voyagers , which made a term of enlistment of the outer solar organisation before heading toward interstellar blank , are the old functioning spacecraft . There were set in motion in 1977 , because that year the planet literally aligned : Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus and Neptune were all collinear at that time . The foxiness were able to use the gravity of each satellite to slingshot them into the cranial orbit of the next . The Voyagers pass by Jupiter in 1979 and view for the first time Jupiter ’s band and volcanic natural process on its moon Io , and Saturn in 1981 . Voyager 1 then turn and headed away from the ecliptic , the carpenter’s plane in which the planets orb .
Voyager 2 reached Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989 . Last class , it reached the transition zone between the solar system and interstellar space . From data radioed to Earth , scientist determined " the house of cards of solar fart surrounding the solar system is not orotund , but has a squashed shape,“ concord to Science Daily . NASA believes the two ship will continue work until at least 2020 .
4. Galileo (1989)
5. Cassini-Huygens (1997)
6. Mars Spirit & Opportunity (2003)
Spirit and Opportunity are two rovers that have been poking around opposite sides of Mars since 2004 , searching for the arid planet ’s watery past . fit in to NASA , " each has found evidence of long - agone Martian surround where weewee was combat-ready and conditions may have been desirable for sprightliness . “ Both descended using a chute , then a thruster shaft , with airbags cushioning the landing place . Although they were plan to operate for only three months , the two are still wrap over the Martian aerofoil today . Opportunity has drive more than seven miles ; Spirit more than four . Spirit lose the economic consumption of its right - front bike in 2006 , and now drives back . Some months ago it failed to spark off when the morning visible radiation come to its solar panels , although it later responded to mastery from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory . NASA has since mention to these hiccup as " memory loss . "
7. Messenger (2004)
David Holzel would wish to tour the solar system . Until then , he blogs atDavid Wrote This .
