Theme
Exploration & Discovery
4 events in this theme.
The Roof of the World: Hillary and Tenzing Summit Everest
On 29 May 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay stood on the summit of Mount Everest — the first climbers ever known to reach the highest point on Earth, after nine failed British expeditions over three decades.
One Small Step: Apollo 11 Lands on the Moon
On 20 July 1969, the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle touched down in the Sea of Tranquility, and Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on another world.
First Light on Mars: Viking 1 Lands
Exactly seven years after Apollo 11, NASA's Viking 1 became the first spacecraft to land successfully on Mars and operate, returning the first clear pictures from the Martian surface.
The Farthest Machine: Voyager 1 Leaves Earth
On 5 September 1977, NASA launched Voyager 1 toward Jupiter and Saturn. Nearly half a century later it is the most distant human-made object in existence — still calling home from interstellar space, carrying a golden record of Earth.