1609 |
Lippershey invented the telescope. |
| 1610 |
Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei made the first telescopic observation
of the moon.
|
| 1610 |
Thomas Harriot and Galilei drew first telescopic representation of moon. |
| 1645 |
Michael Florent van Langren made first map of moon. |
| 1647 |
Johannes Hevelius published first treatise devoted to the moon. |
| 1651
|
Giovanni Battista Riccioli named craters after philosophers and astronomers. |
| 1824 |
Franz von Gruithuisen thought craters were formed by meteor strikes. |
| 1920 |
Robert Goddard suggested sending rockets to the moon. |
| 1959
|
Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 reached the moon, impacting near the crater Autolycus.
|
| 1961 |
President John F. Kennedy proposed a manned lunar program. |
| 1964 |
Ranger 7 produced the fist close-up TV pictures of the lunar surface. |
| 1966 |
Luna 9 made the first soft landing on the moon.
|
| 1967 |
Lunar Orbiter missions completed photographic mapping of the moon. |
| 1968 |
Apollo 8 made the first manned flight to the moon, circling it 10 times
before returning to Earth. |
| 1969 |
Apollo 11 mission made the first landing on the moon and returned samples. |
| 1972
|
Apollo 17 made the last manned landing of the Apollo Program.
|
| 1976 |
Soviet Luna 24 returned the last sample of the moon. |
| 1990 |
Galileo spacecraft obtained multispectral images of the western limb and part of the far side of the moon. |
| 1994
|
Clementine mission conducted multispectral mapping of the moon.
|
| 1998 |
Lunar Prospector launched. |
| 2004 |
NASA's Vision for Space Exploration unveiled |
| 2007 |
Japanese SELENE (Kaguya) launched. |
| 2007 |
Chinese Chang'e 1 launched. |
| 2008 |
Indian Chandrayaan 1 launched. |
| 2009 |
NASA's 'Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter' launched. |
