# The most important space probes in history

From Mariner 2, the first probe to reach another planet, through the Voyagers, now flying in interstellar space, to New Horizons at Pluto: the robots that explored the Solar System for us. Which is the greatest?

- 0 votes · 13 items
- Aug 28, 2024 · Jasmin Schmitz
- https://even.best/en/l/3377/the-most-important-space-probes-in-history

## Top 13

1. **Mariner 2 (1962)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The first probe to reach another planet: Venus.
2. **Luna 9 (1966)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The first soft landing on the Moon, with TV pictures.
3. **Pioneer 10 (1972)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The first to cross the asteroid belt and fly past Jupiter.
4. **Pioneer 11 (1973)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The first probe at Saturn.
5. **Viking 1 and 2 (1975)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — They landed on Mars in 1976 and shaped what we knew about Mars for decades.
6. **Voyager 1 (1977)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Since 2012 the first probe in interstellar space.
7. **Voyager 2 (1977)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The only one to have visited Uranus and Neptune.
8. **Magellan (1989)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — It mapped Venus by radar through its thick atmosphere.
9. **Galileo (1989)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The first probe in orbit around Jupiter; hints of water under Europa's ice.
10. **Cassini (1997)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — 13 years at Saturn; it discovered the water plumes of Enceladus.
11. **Huygens (2005)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — It landed on Saturn's moon Titan.
12. **Rosetta and Philae (2004)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — They orbited comet 67P and landed on it in 2014.
13. **New Horizons (2006)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — In 2015 it became the first probe to reach Pluto.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.