{"dataset":{"slug":"spaceflight-milestones","title":"Spaceflight Milestones & Records","description":"Milestone firsts and standing records of spaceflight — first satellite, first human in space, most distant spacecraft, and more.","version":"1.0.0","lastGenerated":"2026-06-29","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","entityCount":22,"sources":["nasa"]},"entities":[{"id":"record:farthest-humans-from-earth","name":"Farthest Humans from Earth","type":"record","domain":"science","description":"The crew of Apollo 13 travelled farther from Earth than any humans before or since, swinging around the far side of the Moon on a free-return trajectory after their spacecraft was crippled.","entryPath":"/timeline/farthest-humans-from-earth"},{"id":"record:fastest-human-made-object","name":"Fastest Human-Made Object","type":"record","domain":"science","description":"The Parker Solar Probe is the fastest human-made object, reaching speeds of hundreds of thousands of kilometres per hour as the Sun's gravity accelerates it through its closest approaches.","entryPath":"/timeline/fastest-human-made-object"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-artificial-satellite","name":"First Artificial Satellite","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"Sputnik 1 was the first human-made object placed in orbit around the Earth, opening the space age.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-artificial-satellite"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-asteroid-sample-return","name":"First Asteroid Sample Return","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"Hayabusa returned the first samples ever collected from an asteroid, from Itokawa, to Earth.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-asteroid-sample-return"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-comet-landing","name":"First Comet Landing","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"Rosetta's Philae lander made the first soft landing on the nucleus of a comet.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-comet-landing"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-human-in-space","name":"First Human in Space","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"Yuri Gagarin was the first person to travel into space and orbit the Earth, aboard Vostok 1.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-human-in-space"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-humans-on-the-moon","name":"First Humans on the Moon","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"Apollo 11 landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, the first humans to walk on another world.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-humans-on-the-moon"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-landing-on-another-planet","name":"First Landing on Another Planet","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"Venera 7 returned data from the surface of Venus, the first successful landing on another planet.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-landing-on-another-planet"},{"id":"record:first-object-to-reach-interstellar-space","name":"First Object to Reach Interstellar Space","type":"record","domain":"science","description":"Voyager 1 was the first spacecraft to cross the heliopause and enter interstellar space, the region between the stars.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-object-to-reach-interstellar-space"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-planetary-defense-demonstration","name":"First Planetary Defence Demonstration","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"DART was the first mission to change the orbit of an asteroid, demonstrating a technique for planetary defence.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-planetary-defense-demonstration"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-powered-flight-on-another-world","name":"First Powered Flight on Another World","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"The Ingenuity helicopter made the first powered, controlled flight by an aircraft on another planet.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-powered-flight-on-another-world"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-privately-launched-crew-to-orbit","name":"First Privately-Launched Crew to Orbit","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"SpaceX's Crew Dragon Demo-2 was the first crewed orbital spaceflight launched by a private company.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-privately-launched-crew-to-orbit"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-reusable-crewed-spacecraft","name":"First Reusable Crewed Spacecraft","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"The Space Shuttle was the first crewed spacecraft designed to fly to orbit and return to be flown again.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-reusable-crewed-spacecraft"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-rover-on-another-planet","name":"First Rover on Another Planet","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"Sojourner, delivered by Mars Pathfinder, was the first wheeled rover to operate on another planet.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-rover-on-another-planet"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-space-station","name":"First Space Station","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"Salyut 1 was the first space station, the beginning of humans living and working in orbit.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-space-station"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-spacewalk","name":"First Spacewalk","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"Alexei Leonov made the first extravehicular activity, floating outside his Voskhod 2 capsule.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-spacewalk"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-successful-mars-landing","name":"First Successful Mars Landing","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"Viking 1 was the first spacecraft to land and operate successfully on the surface of Mars.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-successful-mars-landing"},{"id":"mission_milestone:first-woman-in-space","name":"First Woman in Space","type":"mission_milestone","domain":"science","description":"Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to fly in space, aboard Vostok 6.","entryPath":"/timeline/first-woman-in-space"},{"id":"record:longest-continuous-human-presence-in-space","name":"Longest Continuous Human Presence in Space","type":"record","domain":"science","description":"The International Space Station has been continuously inhabited since November 2000, the longest unbroken human presence in space.","entryPath":"/timeline/longest-continuous-human-presence-in-space"},{"id":"record:longest-single-human-spaceflight","name":"Longest Single Human Spaceflight","type":"record","domain":"science","description":"The longest single spaceflight was flown by cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent about 437 days continuously aboard the Mir space station in 1994–1995.","entryPath":"/timeline/longest-single-human-spaceflight"},{"id":"record:longest-operating-interplanetary-spacecraft","name":"Longest-Operating Interplanetary Spacecraft","type":"record","domain":"science","description":"The two Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977, are the longest-operating interplanetary spacecraft, still returning data from beyond the planets after more than four decades.","entryPath":"/timeline/longest-operating-interplanetary-spacecraft"},{"id":"record:most-distant-human-made-object","name":"Most Distant Human-Made Object","type":"record","domain":"science","description":"Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object from Earth, over 24 billion kilometres away and still receding, having crossed into interstellar space in 2012.","entryPath":"/timeline/most-distant-human-made-object"}]}