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Explorer 2 |
Explorer 2 was the second satellite of the notable Explorer mission series that launched the United States into the Space Age, however, it did not reach the same success as its predecessor, Explorer 1. |
03/05/1958 |
Earth |
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Explorer 3 |
Explorer 3 was the third satellite of the Explorer mission series and the first successful follow-on to Explorer 1, which made history when in January 1958 it became the United States' first space satellite. |
03/26/1958 |
Earth |
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Explorer 4 |
Explorer 4 was designed to further investigate the radiation belt around Earth, discovered during the Explorer 1 and 3 missions. |
07/26/1958 |
Earth |
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Explorer 5 |
The Explorer 5 mission was the last of the original series of Explorer satellites designed, built and operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. |
08/24/1958 |
Earth |
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Mars Global Surveyor |
The Mars Global Surveyor orbiter, which operated on Mars for more than nine years, was designed to study the composition of Mars, map its topography and monitor weather paterns. |
11/07/1996 |
Mars |
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Surveyor 1 |
Surveyor 1, the first of a series of seven robotic spacecraft sent to the moon to gather data in preparation for NASA's Apollo missions, was the first spacecraft to make a true soft landing on the moon. |
05/30/1966 |
Moon |
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Surveyor 2 |
Surveyor 2 was designed as a follow-on to the highly successful Surveyor 1 mission and was the second of seven moon landers tasked with collecting lunar data in preparation for NASA's Apollo missions. |
09/20/1966 |
Moon |
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Surveyor 3 |
After Surveyor 1's initial studies of the lunar surface in 1966, Surveyor 3 made further inroads into preparations for human missions to the moon. |
04/17/1967 |
Moon |
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Surveyor 4 |
Despite a perfect flight to the moon, Surveyor 4, which was designed to conduct further studies of the lunar surface in preparation for the upcoming Apollo missions, met an untimely end just 2.5 minutes before landing on the moon. |
07/14/1967 |
Moon |
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Surveyor 5 |
Equipped with a chemical element analyzer for conducting analyses of the lunar soil, the Surveyor 5 lander was the first spacecraft to do a soil analysis on the moon, or any other world. |
09/08/1967 |
Moon |
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Surveyor 6 |
Part of the highly successful series of lunar landers sent to the moon to examine the feasibility of a future human mission, Surveyor 6 was the first spacecraft to be launched from the surface of the moon. |
11/07/1967 |
Moon |
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Surveyor 7 |
Surveyor 7 was the last of the original series of Surveyor moon landers of the late 1960s and was dedicated primarily to scientific investigations. |
01/07/1968 |
Moon |
