Timeline |
c. 0850 CE | (Between 850-1100) Native Indians in Chaco Canyon [New Mexico] built multistory buildings and roads. Evidence was later discovered that they designed a vast map of the yearly sun cycle and the 19-year cycle of the moon. | |
4 Jul 1054 CE | Chinese and Arabian observers first documented the massive supernova of the Crab Nebula, It was reportedly six times brighter than Venus and was only outshone by the sun and moon and could be observed in broad daylight for 23 days. | |
5 Jun 1099 CE | Knights and their families on the First Crusade witnessed an eclipse of the moon and interpreted it as a sign from God that they would recapture Jerusalem. | |
1178 CE | Proposed time of origin of lunar crater Giordano Bruno 5 Canterbury monks report explosion on the moon (the only such observation known). | |
1574 CE | Tycho Brahe observes that a comet is beyond the moon. | |
1609 CE | Thomas Harriot maps the moon using a telescope | |
1610 CE | Galileo Galilei observes craters on the moon. | |
1665 CE | Isaac Newton deduces the inverse-square gravitational force law from the 'falling' of the Moon. | |
1825 CE | Pierre Laplace completes his study of gravitation, the stability of the solar system, tides, the precession of the equinoxes, the libration of the Moon and Saturn's rings in 'Mécanique Céleste' (Celestial Mechanics). | |
2 Jan 1839 CE | French photographer Louis Daguerre takes the first photograph of the Moon. | |
1840 CE | Draper takes first successful photo of the Moon (a daguerrotype). | |
1840 CE | John W. Draper of New York invents astronomical photography and makes the first US celestial photograph of the Moon. | |
1849 CE | William Bond obtains the first photograph of Moon through a telescope. | |
1902 CE | The first science fiction film,'A Trip to the Moon' by Georges Méliès, pioneer of film fantasy, is released. | |
1912 CE | Smallest earth-moon distance this century, which was 356,375 km center-to-center. | |
17 Jan 1923 CE | The origin of Brown lunation numbers. A lunation begins at the dark moon (astronomical conjunction of Sun and Moon), and the next dark moon marks the beginning of the next lunation. Lunations are numbered -1, 0, 1, 2, ... in temporal order. | |
1930 CE | Seth Nicholson measures the surface temperature of the Moon | |
1946 CE | The US Army establishes the first radar contact with Moon, Belmar, New Jersey. | |
1948 CE | A flash of light is observed in the crater Plato on the Moon | |
1950 CE | Because of forest fire in British Columbia, blue moon appears in England. | |
1958 CE | World's 1st Moon probe, US's Thor-Able, explodes at T +77 sec | |
1958 CE | The second US Moon probe, Pioneer 1, reaches 113,810 km, and falls back to Earth. | |
13 Sep 1959 CE | USSR Luna 2, the hard lander, is the first human-made device to impact the Moon east of Mare Serenitatis. | |
1959 CE | Far side of Moon seen for 1st time by USSR's Luna 3 | |
1959 CE | Soviet Luna 3, 1st successful photographic spacecraft, impacts Moon | |
25 May 1961 CE | John F Kennedy sets goal of putting a man on Moon before the end of decade. | |
1961 CE | US Ranger 2 launched to Moon; failed. | |
23 Apr 1962 CE | US Ranger 4, 1the first US satellite to impact the Moon launched from Cape Canaveral. | |
18 Oct 1962 CE | US Ranger 5 launches for the Moon. It was to be a lander but became a flyby because of a spacecraft failure. | |
1962 CE | The Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn are aligned within 16 degrees of each other. | |
1962 CE | US launches Ranger 3, misses Moon by 22,000-mile (37,000-km). | |
1962 CE | US Ranger 4 spacecraft crash lands on the Moon. | |
2 Apr 1963 CE | Soviet Luna 4 launches. It was intended to be a lunar lander but missed the Moon and is now in an Earth Moon orbit. | |
1964 CE | Ranger 6 launched; makes perfect flight to Moon, but cameras fail | |
1965 CE | USSR launches Luna 7; crash lands on Moon | |
1965 CE | USSR launches Luna 8; crashes on Moon | |
1965 CE | USSR launches Luna 5; later impacts on Moon | |
1965 CE | US Ranger 9 strikes Moon, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of crater Alphonsus | |
1965 CE | Ranger 8 makes hard landing on the Moon, returns photos, other data | |
1965 CE | USSR launches Luna 6; missed Moon | |
1966 CE | USSR launches Luna 9 toward the Moon | |
1966 CE | USSR launches Luna 11 for orbit around Moon | |
1966 CE | Luna 10 becomes the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon | |
1966 CE | Soviet Union's Luna 10 becomes 1st spacecraft to orbit Moon | |
1966 CE | Lunar Orbiter 1 takes 1st photograph of Earth from Moon | |
1966 CE | Luna 13 lands on Moon | |
1966 CE | The first US lunar orbiter begins orbiting the Moon | |
1966 CE | US Surveyor B launched toward Moon; crashed Sept 23 | |
1966 CE | The first soft landing on the Moon (Soviet Luna 9) | |
1966 CE | US Surveyor probe lands safely on moon | |
1966 CE | US launches Surveyor 1 to the Moon | |
1966 CE | USSR launches Luna 12 for orbit around Moon | |
1967 CE | Surveyor 6 becomes 1st man-made object to lift off the Moon | |
1967 CE | US launches Surveyor 6; makes soft landing on Moon Nov 9 | |
1967 CE | Lunar Orbiter 4 launched by US; begins orbiting Moon May 7 | |
1967 CE | Surveyor 5 launched; makes soft landing on Moon Sept 10 | |
1967 CE | Surveyor 3 launched; soft lands on Moon, April 20 | |
1967 CE | US Surveyor 3 lands on Moon | |
21 Dec 1968 CE | Apollo 8, the first manned Moon voyage, launches for moon orbit. The crew were: Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders. | |
23 Dec 1968 CE | Borman, Lovell & Anders become 1st men to orbit Moon | |
24 Dec 1968 CE | Frank Borman transmits a Christmas reading from Apollo 8, while orbiting Moon. | |
27 Dec 1968 CE | Apollo 8 retuns safely to earth after moon orbit. | |
1968 CE | Zond 5 completes circumnavigation of the Moon | |
1968 CE | Surveyor 7 lands on the Moon | |
1968 CE | Apollo 5 launched to Moon; unmanned lunar module tests made | |
1968 CE | Photograph of Earth from the moon. | |
1968 CE | Surveyor 7 space probe soft lands on the Moon | |
1968 CE | Kenneth Nordtvedt studies a possible violation of the weak equivalence principle for self-gravitating bodies and proposes a new test of the weak equivalence principle based on observing the relative motion of the Earth and Moon in the Sun's gravitational field | |
1968 CE | Surveyor 7 (last of series) launched by US for soft-landing on Moon | |
16 Jul 1969 CE | Apollo 11 launches for the Moon. The crew were: Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin. | |
20 Jul 1969 CE | Apollo 11 astronaut Neil A. Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. Fellow astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin becomes the second to walk on the moon. | |
24 Jul 1969 CE | Apollo 11 returns safely to earth from the moon. | |
14 Nov 1969 CE | Apollo 12 launches for the moon; beoming the 2nd manned Moon landing. The Crew were: Charles Conrad, Richard F. Gordon and Alan L. Bean. | |
Nov 1969 CE | Charles Conrad and Alan L. Bean become 3rd and 4th humans to walk on the Moon. | |
1969 CE | Astronauts send first live photographs from the moon. | |
11 Apr 1970 CE | Apollo 13 launches for the Moon but is unable to land and returns in 6 days. | |
1970 CE | Luna 16 leaves the Moon | |
1970 CE | Russia lands Lunokhod 1 unmanned remote-controlled vehicle on Moon | |
Feb 1971 CE | Apollo 14, 3rd US manned Moon expedition, lands near Fra Mauro. Alan Shepard and Edward Mitchell walk on Moon for 4 hours. | |
Feb 1971 CE | The first time a golf ball is hit on the Moon (by Alan Shepard). | |