Timeline (Per Audacia Ad Astra)

== 2020s ==
* The COVID-19 Pandemic
* 2020: Following the death of George Floyd by police, protests and riots demanding criminal justice reform erupted across the United States.
* 2020-2021: The Chaotic 2020 Election - following Joe Biden's defeat of incumbent Donald Trump in the polarizing 2020 United States Presidential election, Republicans including former President Donald Trump claimed that the election was fraudulent. In the months that followed, Trump put forward legal challenges against the election results and called his supporters to take action. This culminated in a mob of his supporters storming the US Capitol Building on January 7th, many armed with weapons, hoping to prevent the certification of Biden's victory by Congress. While a failure, it shocked the nation and energized far-right movements.
* 2021-2022: COVID-19 vaccines become widely available; however, anti-vaccine sentiment is high, especially among the right.
* 2021-2025: The Biden Presidency - Biden's years in office were marked by extreme challenges, such as the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan (2021), congressional gridlock, an unapologetically conservative Supreme Court, post-COVID inflation and recession, and high fuel prices. Despite this, he passed infrastructure and pandemic relief packages to create jobs and lower unemployment, and helped to unite NATO and US allies in the Pacific in the wake of increased hostility from Russia and China.
* 2022-2024: Russo-Ukrainian War - Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, following a decade of tensions between the two nations. The invasion caused the largest refugee crisis since WWII and global food shortages. By 2024, the war had drawn to a stalemate and a treaty was agreed upon in which Ukraine and its allies would recognize the Russian annexation of their occupied territories (Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson). While the war was considered a pyrrhic Russian victory, it put a lot of strain on Russia’s economy, triggered anti-government sentiment, and helped accelerate an ongoing period of Russian decline
* 2022: Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ended the nationwide guaranteed right to an abortion, sparking outrage from progressives across the country. States would be free to restrict or ban abortion until Planned Parenthood v. Stauder (2063), when it would be relegalized nationwide.
* 2022: Chinese economic recession, brought about by strict lockdown policies.
* 2023: Xi Jinping assumes another term as leader of China, effectively becoming dictator for life
* 2025-2029: DeSantis Presidency - Ron DeSantis entered the white house during a period of polarization and economic crisis. He is best remembered for implementing controversial voting laws, launching an attack on secularism and critical race theory in education, and escalating tensions with China.
* 2026-2027: Iranian civil war results in an end to the theocratic regime and the holding of mostly free elections.
==== Space ====
* 2010s-2030s: Second Space Race
** The United States/NASA and allies, including CSA (Canada), ESA (EU), UKSA (UK), JAXA (Japan), and private sector allies such as SpaceX and Boeing
** China/CNSA and allies, including Roscosmos (Russia), ISA (Iran) and private sector allies such as Space Pioneer and i-Space
** Independent groups such as ISRO (India), and private companies such as Blue Origin playing both sides
* 2018-2028: ESA-JAXA’s BepiColombo probe conducts research in orbit on Mercury and Venus
*CHINA
** 2020-2040: Tianwen Project - CNSA-led Mars, Asteroid Belt, and outer planet exploration program through unmanned robotic technology, via the Zhurong Martian rover, Martian/Asteroid sample-return missions, the Gan De Jovian exploration probe featuring a Callisto lander, and other Mars missions in preparation for the establishment of a manned Mars base
**2004-2036: Chang'e Project - CNSA-led effort to explore the moon with robotic missions and land humans on the moon in rivalry with the Artemis program. This project focused on the location, utilization and development of Lunar resources, notably helium-3, a highly valuable isotope used as the power source of early fusion reactors, among other applications in cryogenics and medical imaging. This project also utilized the Long March rocket program, 
***This project led into the construction and operation phase of the International Lunar Research Station (2036-).
**2023: Tiangong, China's first long-term space station, enters its permanently manned stage.
**2023: Xuntian space telescope launches
* 2022-2034: Artemis Program - NASA-led effort to return humans to the moon in partnership with private sector companies and national space agencies. Despite a tight space budget that delayed many plans, the mission objectives were eventually completed. Artemis 3 (2026) put humans on the moon for the first time in 50 years, and further surface missions helped to locate a location for a manned surface base.
** This effort was aided by the Lunar Gateway (launched in 2024, permanently manned 2028-2048) a space station in lunar orbit from which to launch missions to the surface. The station was a joint effort between NASA, ESA, CSA, JAXA, and more
* 2008-2047: Chandrayaan Program - ISRO project to explore the moon with robotic missions and eventually land humans on the moon in 2047
* 2013-2040: Mangalyaan Program - ISRO project to explore Mars with robotic missions and eventually land humans on Mars in 2054
* 2023: Tiangong, China's first long-term space station, enters its permanently manned stage.
* 2023: After many setbacks, the Russian Luna 25 lander reaches the moon. However, later missions would see limited success. Eventually, Russia would scrap the Luna program and its personal lunar base plans in order to focus its space budget on a joint moon base with China
* 2024: Russia exits the ISS after tensions with the west and intense budget strain.
* 2025: The Lunar Polar Exploration mission, a joint Indo-Japanese mission, explores the lunar South Pole
* 2028: NASA-ESA Mars sample-return mission
== 2030s ==
* Urban air mobility and space become trillion dollar industries, in-vitro meat is becomes a mature industry
* 2034: The first human ectogenesis occurs, raising controversies among the right.
* 2039: Following the death of president Vladmir Putin, the Russian government collapses. Incumbent Vice President Dmitry Kovalev became the President.
==== Space ====
* 2030-2080: The Einstein space telescope is operational
* 2030-2039: The High Def Space Telescope is operational
* 2030-2033: NASA’s Europa clipper explores Europa
* 2030: The International Space Station deorbits
* 2031-2035: ESA’s JUICE mission explores the Galilean moons and enters in orbit around Ganymede
* 2035: Moon Base Alpha (later: Armstrong Base), an American-led lunar base, is completed and operational.
* 2035-2041: CNSA's Gan De mission explores the Galilean moons, completing the first Callisto landing.
* 2037: The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a Sino-Russian led lunar base, is fully completed and operational
* 2037-2042: Ares Program - A NASA-SpaceX-led series of missions of manned Mars missions. Ares II (2039) landed the first men and women on Mars and established the beginnings of the first manned Mars base.
* 2039: Hawkins base, led by NASA-SpaceX, becomes the first manned Mars station.
* 2039: China lands its first person on Mars as part of the Tianwen project to establish a Mars base.
== 2040s ==
* 2040: A Pan-European hydrogen pipeline system emerges
* 2040: Global Temperatures have risen 2°C from pre-industrial levels
* 2042: Fusion power reaches commercial availability
==== Space ====
* 2041: Hongyi Station, the first Chinese martian base, enters its operational phase.
* 2045: Gan De II, a CNSA probe included in the Jovian Gan De mission of the 2030s, makes a fly by of Uranus.
* 2046: NASA’s Caelus flagship mission reaches Uranus
* 2048: JAXA-NASA’s Titan Submarine Explorer mission delivers new data about the Saturnian moon’s methane lakes
== 2050s ==
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== 2060s ==
* The oil market collapses as renewable energies increase.
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== 2070s ==
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== 2110s ==
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== 2120s ==
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== 2140s ==
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== 2190s ==
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