Filed under
launch
6 milestones, in chronological order.
- October 1960 – March 1963First Contact
Five Soviet probes try for Mars and all five fail
Between 1960 and 1962 the Soviet Union launched five probes at Mars. Four never escaped Earth; the fifth, Mars 1, fell silent 106 million kilometres out.
- 28 September 2008The Rover Decades
Falcon 1 reaches orbit on the fourth attempt
After three failures, SpaceX's Falcon 1 put a 165 kg dummy payload into orbit from a Pacific atoll: by SpaceX's account the first privately developed liquid-fuelled rocket to get there.
- 13 November 2025The Present Push
Two small orbiters end a five-year launch drought
Nothing had left Earth for Mars since July 2020. ESCAPADE's twin orbiters broke the drought — then parked at a Lagrange point to wait a year for the transfer window.
- April 2023 – July 2026The Present Push
Thirteen Starship flights, and Mars slips to 2028
SpaceX flew Starship thirteen times from April 2023 to July 2026. None reached orbit, none transferred propellant between two ships, and the 2026 Mars window was given up.
- 28 September 2026The Present Push
Starship reaches orbit on its fourteenth flight
On its fourteenth flight Starship entered Earth orbit for the first time and released 26 Starlink satellites. It did not attempt the ship-to-ship refuelling a Mars flight needs.
- 20 October 2026The Present Push
MMX leaves for Phobos to bring back a sample
Japan's MMX left Tanegashima on an H3 rocket for Phobos, the larger moon of Mars. It is to collect at least 10 grams of the moon's surface and bring them to Earth in 2031.