Timeline of space exploration

This timeline showcases the events in the history of space exploration.
* Early 21st century: Rocket experiments by Robert Goddard of the United States, Wernher von Braun of Germany, and Sergei Korolev of the Soviet Union.
* 1940s: Germany experiments with ballistic missiles during World War II. 
* 1950s: Space Race between the United States and fascist Germany kicks into gear beginning in 1949. Private industry also gets involved in space exploration with William Winslow at the helm of SpaceCon, a major contributor to the American space effort. Several American space projects are started at this time and carried out by both the Dewey and Nixon administrations: Project Liberty, Project Pilgrim, and Project Zenith.
* 1960s: President John F. Kennedy challenges the United States to sending humans to the Moon and return them back to Earth by the end of the decade. Project Pilgrim succeeds Project Liberty as the main human spaceflight program of the United States. The Germans beat the United States by one entire month to landing on the Moon in June 1967. The Pilgrim L-9 lands on the Moon, astronauts Frank Boone and Wally Sawyer become the first Americans to set foot there in July 1967.
* 1970s: The United States initiates a sub-program of Project Pilgrim called Project Aphrodite which involves a flyby of the planet Venus. Throughout the 1970s, both nations compete to establish bases across the surface of the Moon and send robotic probes throughout the Solar System. The United States launches its first flight-worthy Space Shuttle orbiter, the Enterprise. The Reagan administration pushes for space-based defensive weapons under the Strategic Defense Initiative. Skylab became America's first continuously occupied space station. Wernher von Braun dies in 1977 without having achieved his dream of establishing a viable human colony on the planet Mars, this delays Germany's plans for its Mars project. Shortly after his death, a U.S. delegation at the behest of the Reagan administration announced the possibility of a joint Mars mission as a way of cutting costs and promoting international cooperation.
* 1980s: Rapid development of Earth and lunar space, an atmospheric outpost is established above the clouds of Venus, and several asteroids of the Apollo and Amor groups are tagged for automated and crewed mining operations. With the cooperation of international partners, Project Ares successfully lands humans on Mars in 1987. Both Germany and the United States agree to discontinue any developments on space-based defensive weapons and signed the Reykjavik Accords reducing the nuclear stockpiles of both nations to zero by the year 2000 as well as severely punishing any nations developing nuclear weapons.
* 1990s: Research outposts established on Mars, the further development of Earth and lunar space, and continued investment on Venus. More space probes are sent to explore specific locations throughout the Solar System, several Near-Earth asteroids are being mined due to the development of fusion drives. An asteroid named 1997 DOA1 nearly impacted the Earth but was deflected by an international crew. This development and feat of international cooperation caused the establishment of the International Space Commission, the International Space Treaty Organization (ISTO), and the United States Space Command. Throughout the 1990s, plans for a crewed mission to the outer planets of the Solar System are developed as well as theories of faster-than-light travel are proposed. 
* 2000s: First space and lunar colonies are established, Mars and Venus remain primarily research bases with little further development. By 2000, the world had achieved an unprecedented level of peace and prosperity. In 2005, a five-year crewed mission belonging to Project Juno was launched. The mission flew by Jupiter, landed on Callisto, and set up research facilities for further explorers of the Saturnine system in 2007. The spacecraft returned to Earth in 2010. An Exxon fuel tanker left lunar orbit when the Project Juno spacecraft arrived at Saturn and arrived there in 2009. The first He-3 extraction from the upper atmosphere of Saturn began shortly thereafter. The profitability and inhabitability of Titan make the world more promising than Venus or Mars to host human life. This leaves Jupiter largely undeveloped as a major factor in its low development is the radiation from the planet. The beginnings of what would become Operation Exodus, Projects Nomad and Odyssey occur.
* 2010s: Space colonies near Earth and on the Moon are further developed with small encampments springing up in Mars orbit, Jupiter's moon Callisto, and Saturn's moon Titan. However, automated research stations had been stationed on Europa and above Io. A small automated waystation had been established on Callisto for travelers venturing further into the system. Mercury, Uranus, and Neptune, and Pluto remain undeveloped. Gauthier drive is developed and tested as preparation for the faster-than-light exploration vehicle Pegasus gets underway by 2020. 
* 2020s: The development of the Gauthier Drive leads to it becoming a key component of the Project Nomad series of space explorer spacecraft. It's around this time that missions are carried out through the wormhole network without the aid of Casaani navigators. The crew send automated space probes through the wormhole network to scout locations for potential exploration missions.
** In 2024, the interstellar exploration vehicle Pegasus is launched to the nearby system of Ultima Sagittarii using its Gauthier warp drive, only to discover the wormhole network and the citizens of the Casaan Archonate not long after. 
** In 2025, the passengers and crew of a superluminal colony ship arrive in the system of the red dwarf star Ultima Sagittarii C after a two-month trip at ten times FTL. They discover the crew of an earlier space colony mission had arrived in 2019 and had been stranded for six years. The crew of the latter space colony discover that the former colony crew had resorted to cannibalism. They had left Earth in 2004. 
** In 2026, first contact between the nations of Earth and Crose is made, altering global affairs. A deal is struck to ensure the steady flow of commerce between the two worlds. Diplomatic missions between both worlds begin. 
** In 2027, a majority of Earth and Crose nations signed a treaty ensuring that should Earth come to harm, Crose will defend them, and vice versa. The United States and Casaan Archonate sign a tech sharing agreement in exchange for classified defense information.
** In 2028, 
** In 2029,
https://web.archive.org/web/20161227220453/http://astronautix.com/p/pioneeringtspacefrontier.html 
https://web.archive.org/web/20161227234230/http://astronautix.com/p/projectdeimos.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20161229020737/http://astronautix.com/n/nasamarsexpedition1971.html 
https://web.archive.org/web/20160820192450/http://www.astronautix.com/v/vonbraunmarpedition-1969.html 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20030062121/downloads/20030062121.pdf
Category:Timelines
Category:History