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__Time line of Planetary Exploration__
**1957- Sputnik 1 The USSR launched Sputnik 1 in 1957 making it the first artificial satellite. It transmitted radio signals for only a short period of time, but was an accomplishment. 1958- Explorer** America's first satellite Explorer 1 was launched in 1958. It discovered the radiation belts that surround the Earth. ** 1969- Apollo 11 On July 20 1969 Apollo was sent to the Moon. When Apollo landed Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr. became the first humans to step foot on another world. 1970- Luna 16 The Soviet spacecraft Luna 16 was sent to the Moon in september 1970, where it successfully returned the first lunar soil samples for analysis. 1972/73- Pioneers 10&11 Pioneer 10 was launched in 1972 and proved that the astroid belt could be successfully passed, it was also the first spacecraft to visit Jupiter. Pioneer 11 was launched in 1973 and was the first spacecraft to see Saturn close up. 1975- Venera 9 The Soviet probe Venera 9 was launched in 1975. It returned the very first images from Venus's surface, after landing on October 22nd 1975. 1975- Viking 1&2 ** The viking mission was launched in 1975, consisting of 2 spacecrafts and 2 landers put on the surface of Mars. Cameras on the spacecrafts mapped out the planet while the landers took photos of the ground. Viking 1 took and transmitted the first pictures of the Martian surface. The landers tested soil for sign of life, which most scientists believe showed no signs. ** 1977- Voyagers 1&2 ** NASA's Voyagers were launched into space in 1977, and have been returning amazing amounts of information about the outer planets. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have seen Uranus and Neptune up close, along with voyager 1, it has also travelled by Jupiter and Saturn. **1982- Venera 13** The soviet probe Venera 13 was the first probe to collect a sample of Venusian soil. Galileo was launched in 1989 and was sent into Jupiter's orbit to perform a long-term detailed study of the planet and its moons. A probe that was separated from the main part entered Jupiter's atmosphere, but the main Spacecraft returned the best information. It showed that Jupiter's moon, Europa, has a subsurface ocean of water, making it a great place to search for life. ** 1996- NEAR In 1996 the first landing on an astroid was achieved. This occurred when the NEAR spacecraft landed on 433 Eros in february 2001. 2003- Mars Rover Spirit and Opportunity were launched in 2003 to land on Mars. These two rovers outlasted their 90-day life spans and have discovered the best evidence that liquid water was present on the Martian surface in the past. **
 * 1989- Galileo**

__Contributions Made By Different Countries__
 Along with Canada, many other countries have contributed greatly in discovering and understanding our solar system and much more. We would not know everything that we do now if it was not for them. The major contributors are Russia ( soviet union) and the United States. With the help from these two countries we were able to land on the moon, create the ISS, take pictures of all our solar system's planets, and much more.


 * __Russia__**

Russia has become known for its excellent space programs and planetary missions. Russia was the first country to ever have a satellite touch the surface of the moon. Luna 2 landed on the moon on september 13th 1959 and continued to demonstrate their achievements by also being the first country to, send a person into space, retrieve and analyze lunar soil, and land a space craft on venus. One of the most important contributions that Russia has made to space exploration is their work on the ISS. They sent up the first portion of the station and have been collaborating on it since.


 * __ESA__

The [|European Space Agency (ESA)] was established in 1975. It became the first space agency in europe. ESA is formed of 18 state members from all across europe that decide together on space mission and contributions to space research. These 18 members are: Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Italy, United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, France, Ireland, Austria, Norway, Finland, Portugal, Greece, Luxembourg, and the Czech Republic. The ESA has previously been oriented toward space launchers and being a research agency, but they have also helped with many other missions and explorations. The ESA is currently a part of the ISS and they have doubled the amount of people on the ISS from 3 to six in may 2009. ESA and Canada have been collaborating for a long time and will continue to do so for a long time.

Thanks to many countries around the world we now know much more about the universe than we used to, and there is much more still to be discovered. ** 

"Space Exploration Timeline". Sea and Sky. . "New Member States". ESA. 2008 . Smith, Yvette. "Past Missions". NASA. . Shiga, David. "The 10 greatest space probes ever flown." 9 November 2007. NewScientist. 30 May 2009 .