-
27 Dec 2004
Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reached Earth.
-
29 Sep 2004
At just 0.010AU from Earth, 4179 Toutatis became the closest asteroid to Earth in the last century.
-
27 Aug 2003
Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years.
-
1 Oct 1990
A large explosion above the Pacific Ocean turned out to be a meteorite.
-
14 Feb 1990
Pale Blue Dot, an iconic photo of our Earth, was taken by Voyager 1 space probe.
-
18 Sep 1977
The US spacecraft, Voyager, took the first-ever photograph of the moon and Earth together from space.
-
10 Jun 1973
NASA's Explorer 49 was launched into Earth's orbit to research long-range radio waves within the Milky Way.
-
19 Dec 1972
The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, returned to Earth.
-
22 Apr 1970
Twenty million Americans mobilized to call for greater protections for our planet. This became the world's first Earth Day.
-
23 Aug 1966
The first-ever photograph was taken of the Earth from the surface of the Moon.
-
24 May 1962
Scott Carpenter orbited the Earth three times in the US Aurora 7.
-
20 Feb 1962
John Glenn became the first American to orbit planet Earth.
-
7 Aug 1959
NASA's Explorer 6 satellite launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
-
24 Oct 1946
A V-2 rocket captured the first photograph of Earth from outer space.
-
23 Aug 1924
Mars had a 'close encounter' with Earth at 34.8 million miles apart.
-
20 Apr 1736
French mathematician Pierre Louis Maupertuis began his journey to Lapland to plot the shape of the Earth.
-
7 Nov 1631
Using Johannes Kepler's predictions, French scientist Pierre Gassendi became the first person to witness Mercury's transit between the Earth and the Sun.
-
10 Apr 0837
Halley's Comet made its closest approach to Earth in recorded history.
