A Visual History of Every Interplanetary Mission
Sep 5, 2026
Sixty years ago we thought there might be civilizations on Venus and Mars. Then we actually went. This is the visual history of every successful interplanetary mission, from Sputnik and Explorer 1 through Mariner, Venera, Viking, the Voyagers, Galileo and Cassini, to Perseverance and the five probes still in flight right now.
Along the way: how Soviet and American design philosophies split from the very first satellite, why the Soviet planetary program stalled after Korolev died, how a Soviet Mars launch during the Cuban Missile Crisis nearly read as an ICBM attack, and how each discovery quietly rewrote science fiction, from Martian invasions to interstellar Star Trek. It ends where the search for life stands today: the leopard spots on Mars, and the sample return mission that hasn't been approved yet.
Quoted in this video
- Chertok, Boris. Rockets and People, Vol. III. NASA SP-2009-4110 — the Mars launch during the blockade
- Kraemer, Robert S. Beyond the Moon (2000), p. 33 — von Braun's "divine guidance"
- Siddiqi, Asif A. Challenge to Apollo (2000)
- Harvey, Brian. Russian Planetary Exploration
Further reading
- Neufeld, Michael J. Spaceflight: A Concise History (2018)
- Siddiqi, Asif A. Beyond Earth (2018)
- Dick, Steven J. (ed.) 50 Years of Solar System Exploration. NASA SP-4707 (2018)
Data and image processing
- Don P. Mitchell, Venera image processing
- Ted Stryk — Venera surface reconstructions
- Jonathan McDowell's launch log
Venera 13/14 panoramas courtesy of the Soviet Academy of Sciences / IKI, processed by Don P. Mitchell with colour by Ted Stryk. Zhurong and Tianwen imagery CNSA / PEC. Other imagery NASA and NASA/JPL-Caltech. The audio includes the Venera 14 surface recording — the first sound recorded on another planet.