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During the total eclipse of 29 May 1919, astronomers measured how much starlight bent as it passed the covered Sun, giving the first test of Einstein’s general relativity. The announcement made Einstein famous around the world.

On 4 October 1957 Sputnik 1, a metal ball 58 cm across, became the first human-made object to orbit the Earth. Its ‘beep-beep’ signal was picked up on radios around the world, and the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union began in earnest.

On 12 April 1961 Yuri Gagarin, a 27-year-old Soviet pilot, circled the Earth once in 108 minutes aboard Vostok 1 and became the first person to travel into space.

Launched towards Venus on 27 August 1962, Mariner 2 became the first spacecraft to successfully study another planet as it flew past.

On 15 July 1965 Mariner 4 flew past Mars and returned about twenty grainy pictures, the first close views of the planet. They showed a dry, cratered world with no canals and no civilisation.

On the morning of 16 July 1969 a Saturn V rocket left for the Moon with three astronauts aboard. Four days later, on 20 July, people set foot on the Moon for the first time.

On 20 July 1969 Apollo 11's lunar module Eagle landed on the Sea of Tranquility. Hours later Neil Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon, watched live on television by about 600 million people.

On 15 December 1970 the Soviet probe Venera 7 reached the surface of Venus. The faint signal it sent while lying on its side was the first radio message ever received from the ground of another planet.

Launched on 3 March 1972, Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt and fly past Jupiter. It carries a metal plaque introducing humanity to anyone who might find it.

Launched on 20 August 1975, Viking 1 landed on Mars the following July and sent pictures and data for more than six years. It was the first lander to work on the Martian surface for a long time, and the first to test Martian soil for life.

Launched on 20 August 1977, Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited all four giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Its journey used a line-up of the planets that comes around only about once every 176 years.

Launched on 5 September 1977, Voyager 1 left after its twin but overtook it on a faster path. Today it is the most distant human-made object, and in 2012 it became the first to enter interstellar space.

On 9 February 1986 Halley's Comet made its closest approach to the Sun for the first time in 76 years. A fleet of spacecraft went out to meet it, and ESA's Giotto took the first close-up pictures of a comet's nucleus.

On 25 August 1989 Voyager 2 skimmed over Neptune's north pole. At the last stop of its twelve-year Grand Tour it revealed a giant dark storm and geysers on the moon Triton.

On 14 February 1990 Voyager 1 looked back from about 6 billion km and photographed Earth. Our planet was a dot smaller than a single pixel, and Carl Sagan named the picture the Pale Blue Dot.

Launched on 24 April 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope first disappointed with blurry pictures. After a 1993 repair it helped measure the age of the universe and revealed distant galaxies, and more than 35 years later it is still observing.

From 16 to 22 July 1994, 21 fragments of the broken comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 struck Jupiter one after another. It was the first collision with a planet that people predicted and watched, and it left dark scars as large as Earth.

On 25 March 1996 this comet passed about 15 million km from Earth. Because it came so close, its tail stretched nearly 80 degrees across the sky.

This great comet rounded the Sun on 1 April 1997. It stayed visible to the naked eye for about 18 months, a record, and its twin tails could be seen even from cities.

On 11 August 1999 the shadow of the 20th century's last total eclipse ran from Cornwall across Europe to the Bay of Bengal. Because it crossed crowded regions, it is counted among the most-watched total eclipses in history.

On 8 June 2004 Venus passed in front of the Sun for the first time in 122 years. A small black dot crept across the solar disk for more than six hours.

On 19 January 2006 New Horizons left Earth faster than any spacecraft before it, bound for Pluto. Nine and a half years later, in 2015, it sent back the first close view of Pluto's heart-shaped ice plain.

On 22 July 2009 the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century crossed India and China and swept out over the Pacific. Totality lasted up to 6 minutes 39 seconds, a length not beaten until 2132.

On 15 January 2010 the ring of fire lasted 11 minutes 8 seconds, the longest annular eclipse between 2001 and 3000. Its path ran from Africa across the Indian Ocean, the Maldives and southern India to China.

On 26 November 2011 the Mars rover Curiosity, weighing about 900 kg, was launched. After landing by ‘sky crane’, it is still climbing Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater today.

On the morning of 21 May 2012 Tokyo saw its first annular eclipse in 173 years, a ring of fire lasting about five minutes around 7:32 local time, during the morning commute. The path ran from southern China, Taiwan and Japan to the western United States.

On 6 June 2012 Venus crossed the face of the Sun as a small black dot for 6 hours 40 minutes. The next transit of Venus is in December 2117, so for most people alive today this was the last chance to see one.

On 25 August 2012 Voyager 1 crossed the outer edge of the solar wind's domain, 121 AU from the Sun. It was the first time a human-made object entered the space between the stars.

On 14 July 2015 New Horizons flew past Pluto and showed, for the first time up close, its heart-shaped plain and flowing nitrogen ice.

On 21 August 2017 the Moon’s shadow crossed the United States from coast to coast for the first time in 99 years.

The first object confirmed to have come from outside the solar system; its stretched shape and puzzling push sparked years of debate.

On 12 August 2018 the Parker Solar Probe launched to fly through the Sun’s corona and sample the solar wind — the first NASA spacecraft named after a living person.

Launched on 20 October 2018, the European–Japanese BepiColombo has spent years slowing down past planets and is due to enter orbit around Mercury in late 2026.

The second interstellar visitor and the first interstellar comet — born around another star, yet strikingly like the comets of our own solar system.

On 26 December 2019 an annular eclipse ran from Saudi Arabia across southern India, Sri Lanka, Sumatra and Singapore to Guam. In Singapore the ring of fire hung in the sky for about two minutes around 13:23.

On the solstice of 21 June 2020 a very thin annular eclipse ran from Africa over northern India, Tibet and southern China to Taiwan. The Moon covered 99.4% of the Sun's width, and in Chiayi, Taiwan, a thread-like ring lasted just under a minute.

In July 2020 this comet survived a close pass by the Sun and became visible to the naked eye — the brightest comet in the northern hemisphere since Hale–Bopp in 1997.

Perseverance left for Mars on 30 July 2020 carrying the Ingenuity helicopter, which made the first powered flight on another planet and went on to fly 72 times.

The total eclipse of 14 December 2020 crossed Chile and Argentina’s Patagonia in a year when the pandemic had shut down travel.

On 21 December 2020 Jupiter and Saturn appeared only a fifth of the full Moon’s width apart — the closest easily visible meeting since 1226.

On 10 June 2021 an annular eclipse ran from Ontario in Canada over northern Greenland and the North Pole to Siberia. At Qaanaaq in Greenland the ring of fire formed on a summer Sun that never sets.

On Christmas morning 2021 the folded-up James Webb Space Telescope left for L2, 1.5 million km away, and came through every step of an unfolding with no room for error.

Korea's first Moon mission, launched on 5 August 2022. To save fuel it took a long loop out toward the Sun and reached lunar orbit four and a half months later.

On 26 September 2022 the DART spacecraft deliberately struck the asteroid Dimorphos and shortened its orbit by about 33 minutes — the first human change to a celestial body’s orbit and planetary defence’s first real test.

ESA's JUICE left for Jupiter's icy moons on 14 April 2023. It is due at Jupiter in 2031 and is planned to go into orbit around the moon Ganymede in 2034.

From the pad-wrecking first flight in 2023 to the tower ‘chopstick’ catches and Flight 14's first orbit in 2026, this is how Starship, the largest rocket yet built, has learned by trial and error.

NASA's Psyche spacecraft left on 13 October 2023 for the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche, to find out whether it is the exposed core of a shattered early planet.

On 14 October 2023 an annular eclipse crossed the American West from Oregon to Texas. In Albuquerque a ring of fire lasted about 4 minutes 49 seconds on the morning of the last day of the balloon fiesta.

On 8 April 2024 a total solar eclipse crossed Mexico, the United States and Canada. About 31.6 million people lived inside the path in the US alone, and Dallas saw a black Sun over downtown for 3 minutes 52 seconds.

On 2 October 2024 a ring of fire hung for about 5 minutes 47 seconds above the moai of Easter Island in the South Pacific. The shadow then crossed the ocean and ended in the evening over Patagonia in Chile and Argentina.

On 7 October 2024 ESA's asteroid probe Hera left Earth on a Falcon 9 rocket. It is on its way to study Dimorphos, the small asteroid whose orbit NASA's DART changed by crashing into it in 2022, and is due to arrive in November 2026.

This comet rounded the Sun on 27 September 2024 and came closest to Earth on 12 October. In mid-October it showed a long tail and a rare anti-tail in the western sky after sunset.

On 13 October 2024 the 70-metre booster from Starship Flight 5 flew back to its launch tower and was caught by robotic arms, an important step toward rockets that fly again and again like aircraft.

On 14 October 2024 Europa Clipper, the largest planetary spacecraft NASA has built, set off to study the ocean beneath the ice of Jupiter's moon Europa. After gaining speed from flybys of Mars and Earth, it is due to reach Jupiter in April 2030.

On 24 December 2024 the Parker Solar Probe came within about 6.1 million km of the Sun's surface. It was the closest any human-made object had come to the Sun, and it was moving at about 690,000 km/h.

A total lunar eclipse on 7 September 2025 (UT), seen across Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia. The Moon glowed red for 82 minutes.

On 3 March 2026 the Moon passed completely into Earth's shadow and turned red. Every stage, including about 58 minutes of totality from 11:04 to 12:03 UTC, was visible from north-east Asia, north-western North America and the central Pacific. It fell on the first full Moon of the East Asian lunar year.

The first crewed trip to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Four astronauts flew Orion around the far side, reached a record 406,771 km from Earth, beating Apollo 13, and splashed down in the Pacific on 11 April (UTC).

China's Tianwen-2 began closing in on Kamoʻoalewa, a small asteroid that travels alongside Earth, with a rendezvous burn on 7 June 2026, and by early July held an observing position about 20 km away. It is to study and sample the asteroid until April 2027 and bring the sample to Earth late that year.

On 5 July 2026 JAXA's Hayabusa2 sped past Torifune, a two-lobed asteroid, at about 5 km/s and observed it up close. The spacecraft now heads for its final target, the tiny asteroid 1998 KY26, in 2031.

On 12 August 2026 a total solar eclipse crossed mainland Europe for the first time since 1999. The shadow passed Greenland and Iceland and reached northern Spain near sunset; Madrid, just outside the path, saw a partial eclipse of more than 99.9%.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched on 30 August 2026 and headed for L2. It sees as sharply as Hubble over a field 100 times wider, and will study dark energy and take a census of exoplanets.

The flight that put Starship into Earth orbit for the first time. On 28 September 2026 a third-generation stack, Booster 21 and Ship 41, lifted off; the ship placed 26 Starlink satellites in orbit and splashed down in the Pacific north of Hawaii about three hours later.

On 28 September 2026 ESA's Jupiter-bound JUICE spacecraft passed 8,640 km above Earth, using its gravity to gain about 3.5 km/s. It was the mission's third gravity assist; one more Earth flyby, in January 2029, sends it on to Jupiter in 2031.

JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) is scheduled to launch on an H3 rocket on 19 October 2026 (UTC). It is the first attempt to land on the Martian moon Phobos and bring a sample back to Earth.

ESA's Hera is due to reach the asteroid Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos in late 2026. It will study up close the result of the first planetary-defence test, in which NASA's DART struck Dimorphos and changed its orbit in 2022.

For the first time, a human-made object is set to pass one light-day from Earth, about 25.9 billion km (173 AU). NASA calculates the moment as 10:16:07 UTC on 18 November 2026; after that, a command takes 24 hours to arrive, and the reply two full days to come back.

After eight years and nine flybys, the European–Japanese spacecraft BepiColombo begins entering orbit around Mercury on 21 November 2026, with a series of burns shaping the orbit until March 2027. The orbit view recreates the whole inward, spiral-like route to Mercury.

Europa Clipper, the largest planetary spacecraft NASA has built, is set to pass about 3,200 km above Earth at around 20:15 UTC on 3 December 2026, gaining the speed it needs to reach Jupiter. It is the second and last gravity assist after Mars in 2025, with arrival at Jupiter planned for 11 April 2030.

On Artemis III, four astronauts in Orion are to dock in low Earth orbit with lunar-lander test vehicles from Blue Origin and SpaceX (Starship). Launch is planned for no earlier than June 2027; the first crewed landing has moved to Artemis IV, planned for early 2028.

On 2 August 2027 a total solar eclipse is due to cross southern Spain, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Near Luxor in Egypt the Sun will be hidden for up to 6 minutes 23 seconds, and no total eclipse on land will last longer until 2114.

NASA's Lucy spacecraft is due to fly past Eurybates on 12 August 2027, the first close look any spacecraft will get at a Trojan asteroid, one of the swarms that share Jupiter's orbit.

On 26 January 2028 an annular eclipse is due to cross Ecuador, Peru and Brazil, then the Atlantic, and end around sunset over Portugal and Spain. From Seville and other Spanish cities the ring of fire will hang low above the western horizon.

NASA's Dragonfly, an eight-rotor flying lander, is planned to launch for Saturn's moon Titan in July 2028. It is due to arrive in 2034 and fly from site to site through the thick atmosphere.

On 22 July 2028 the shadow of a total solar eclipse is due to cross Australia and pass over central Sydney. A city of more than five million people will sit in the Moon's shadow for 3 minutes 49 seconds, its first total eclipse since 1857.

ESA's Rosalind Franklin rover is planned to leave for Mars in October 2028. Its drill will reach two metres underground in search of molecules that ancient life might have left behind.

China's Tianwen-3 is a round-trip mission to bring Martian soil and rock to Earth. Launch is targeted for late 2028 and the samples' return for around 2031; success would make it the first Mars sample return.

Spacecraft cannot leave for Mars whenever they like; they depart only in transfer windows that open about every 26 months, when Earth and Mars are in the right positions. The next one runs from late 2028 into early 2029, and Europe's Rosalind Franklin rover and China's Tianwen-3 are aiming for it.

On the last night of 2028 the full Moon is due to slip into Earth's shadow and turn red. Totality lasts about 71 minutes from 16:16 UTC, when it is already 1 January 2029 in East Asia and Australia, so the first sky of their new year holds a red Moon.

On 13 April 2029 the asteroid Apophis, about 340 m across on average, will pass roughly 32,000 km above Earth's surface, closer than the geostationary satellites. From Europe, Africa and western Asia it should be bright enough to see without a telescope.

The spacecraft that brought Bennu samples to Earth, now renamed OSIRIS-APEX, is heading for Apophis. It is due to arrive in June 2029 to see how the asteroid changed after its close pass by Earth.

On 26 June 2029 the Moon is due to pass almost through the centre of Earth's shadow in a total lunar eclipse. Totality lasts a long 1 hour 42 minutes, and the eclipse is well placed for the Americas, with the deepest point at 11:22 p.m. on 25 June in New York.

NASA's Psyche spacecraft is due to reach the metal-rich asteroid (16) Psyche in August 2029. Its goal is to find out whether the asteroid is the metal core of an early planet or a different kind of mixed metal-and-rock world.

Europa Clipper, the largest spacecraft NASA has launched to another planet, is due to reach Jupiter in April 2030. From orbit around Jupiter it will fly past the moon Europa 49 times to study the ocean hidden beneath its thick ice.

On 1 June 2030 an annular eclipse is expected, with the Moon slightly too small to cover the Sun and a bright ring left around it. The ring can be seen along a band from North Africa through Greece, Turkey, Russia and north-east China to Hokkaido (Sapporo, Asahikawa, Kushiro) in the late afternoon.

The period when the first large survey results from the Roman Space Telescope, launched on 30 August 2026, are expected to build up. Its galaxy maps will measure dark energy and its microlensing survey will find hidden planets.

On 25 November 2030 a total eclipse is expected to begin in the morning sky over southern Africa, cross the Indian Ocean and end over Australia. At Durban in South Africa the Sun should be completely covered for about 2 minutes 26 seconds at around 7:34 a.m.

On 21 May 2031 an annular eclipse is expected to run from southern Africa across the Indian Ocean, southern India and Sri Lanka to Malaysia and Indonesia. At Kochi in Kerala, India, the ring should be visible for about 4 minutes 46 seconds at around 1 p.m.

Japan's Hayabusa2, which brought samples of Ryugu to Earth, is due to reach the tiny asteroid 1998 KY26, only about 11 m across, in July 2031. It will be the first close look at an asteroid that spins once every 5 minutes 21 seconds.

ESA’s icy-moons explorer JUICE is due to reach Jupiter in July 2031 after a cruise of about eight years. Its goal is to enter orbit around Ganymede in December 2034, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit a moon of a planet other than Earth.

China's Tianwen-3 aims to launch in 2028 and bring Martian soil and rock back to Earth by 2031. If it succeeds, samples from Mars will reach laboratories on Earth for the first time.

On 25 April 2032 the whole of a total lunar eclipse is visible from East Asia, Australia and Antarctica. The partial phase begins at 13:28 UTC, and totality lasts about 65 minutes, from 14:41 to 15:46 UTC.

On 13 November 2032 Mercury crosses the face of the Sun as a small black dot for about 4 hours 26 minutes, the first such transit since 2019. The whole transit, from 06:41 to 11:07 UTC, can be seen from Africa, western Asia and much of Europe.

On 30 March 2033 the Moon's shadow crosses Russia's Chukotka and then western and northern Alaska. It is the first total solar eclipse on US soil since 2024, with the Sun hidden low in the sky over snow-covered land.

On 8 October 2033 a total lunar eclipse is visible from start to finish across north-east Asia, eastern Australia, the Pacific and western North America. The Moon glows red for about 79 minutes, from 10:17 to 11:36 UTC.

On 20 March 2034 the path of a total solar eclipse runs from West Africa across the Sahara, Egypt, Arabia, Iran and Pakistan to western China. At its longest, totality lasts about 4 minutes 9 seconds.

NASA's Dragonfly is a flying lander due to launch in July 2028 and touch down on Saturn's moon Titan in 2034. With eight rotors it will hop from place to place, studying the kind of chemistry that may come before life.

An annular eclipse crossing the top of New Zealand's South Island (Nelson) and the Kāpiti Coast of the North Island (Paraparaumu). Wellington, just outside the path, sees a deep partial eclipse with about 97% of the Sun covered.

The path of totality runs through Beijing and Pyongyang to central Japan. It crosses the northern half of the Korean Peninsula, and Seoul sees a deep partial eclipse with about 97% of the Sun covered.

The path of totality crosses Australia from Western Australia through Brisbane and the Gold Coast, then over the Tasman Sea to the central North Island of New Zealand. Totality lasts up to 3 minutes 58 seconds.

After a journey of about 76 years, Halley's Comet returns to its closest point to the Sun on 28 July 2061. This time it passes the Sun on the same side as Earth, so it is expected to look much brighter than in 1986.