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The national aeronautics and space administration successfully landed 12 astronauts on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972. Known as project Apollo, the first landing took place on July 20 1969. The Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins left a plaque on the moon which read, we came in peace for all mankind. The landing site was the sea of Tranquility.

Until 1972 the two super powers, the United States of America and Russia had been operating there space programs independently. In may 1972, Russian prime minister Kosyiin, and president Nixon signed an agreement to co operate on a joint mission in space called the Apollo Soyuz Test project. This pave the way for the development of the International Space Station.

In 2063 Zefram Cochrane became Earths first scientist who revolutionized space travel with the invention of warp drive. The renowned scientist constructed his warp drive ship the Phoenix, and later with the help of Henry Archer, he developed the Warp 5 project to establish new technologies allowing us to venture out .. and explore deep space.

At the end of the twentieth century NASA created a program referred to as the new millennium project an exciting vision to speed up space exploration. The program was designed to test new technologies for future space missions. The first spacecraft tested under this new project was Deep Space 1. Launched in 1998, from Cape Kennedy.This craft was the first to use the new ion drive engine.

The Galileo spacecraft was Launched on October 18 1989 from the Kennedy Space center Florida, United states of America and was carried into Earth orbit by Space Shuttle Atlantis The probe arrived at Jupiter on December 7 1995. One of the first discoveries made by Galileo was of volcanic processes on the moon of Io. The probe also discovered a magnetic field generated by Ganymede.

Project Gemini was Americas second manned space program. The program was seen as a transitional faze between Mercury, and Apollo, the program was setup to perfect rendezvous, and docking with other spacecraft while in Earth orbit, test long duration space flights and Extra Vehicular Activities outside the spacecraft. The first manned Gemini flight was March 1965.

Launched into space on February 20 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. Glenn completed three orbits 160 miles above the surface of the Earth, traveling at about 17,500 miles per hour in his Mercury capsule Friendship 7. With great skill John Glenn piloted his space craft manually, and returned to Earth after 5 hours in Earth orbit.

Described as a new era in space exploration and operated as a partnership with 16 countries around the world including Canada, Japan, and Russia. The international space station was designed for scientific research in space. The space station was placed in Earth orbit with an altitude of 250 miles. This orbit provides excellent observations with coverage of 85 percent of the globe.

In May of 1961 President Kennedy inspired a nation when he stood before a joint session of congress to announce his vision of landing a man on the surface of the moon, and returning him safely to Earth. In his speech President Kennedy declared that it is time for a great new American enterprise a time for this nation to take a leading role in space achievement.

Started in 1958 project Mercury was the United States first program to orbit a spacecraft around the Earth, and investigate man's ability to function in space. Completed in 1963, the first explorers in space, John Glenn, Virgil Grissom, Alan Shepard, Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra, Deke Slayton and Gordon Cooper, paved the way for future space exploration.

The Mir space station was launched in 1986 and sent into Earth orbit by the Russian space agency. The station was intended to be a permanent home in space designed for scientific research. However due to budget cuts by the Soviet Union the station reentered the atmosphere in 2001, and was destroyed after a record braking 15 years in Earth orbit.

Founded in 1958 Nasa, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was setup to provide research into the problems of flight within, and outside the Earth's atmosphere. Nasa was responsible for many of Earth's early space missions including Gemini and Apollo. The agency was faze out in the mid twenty first century, to be replaced by Starfleet.

Designed for the Apollo moon landing project by Wernher von Braun, the first manned mission for the Saturn 5 was Apollo 8. The launch took place on December 21 1968 with astronauts Frank Borman James Lovell and William Anders. The powerful 363 foot tall Saturn 5 rocket was also used to carry NASA's Skylab space Station into Earth orbit on May 14 1973.

Launched in November 1999 from China the Shenzhou space craft appears similar to the Russian Soyuz but is different in dimensions, slightly larger and heavier and does not seem to use any detailed parts copied from the Soyuz or built under license. Therefore although it follows the classic layout of the Soyuz, the craft adopts many of the same technical solutions.

NASA designed the Space Shuttle to replace earlier - use only once launch vehicles such as the Saturn five and the Titan Centaur rockets which were used to carry payloads into Earth orbit. The concept behind the space Shuttle or Space Transportation System was to turn space operations into economical, and routine missions using a reuseable technology.

Modified from the third stage of a Saturn 5 rocket, Americas Skylab program was setup by NASA to test the effects of long duration space flights. The space station consisted of the following parts .. the orbital workshop, airlock module, and the Apollo telescope mount. Skylab remained in orbit until 1979, then the space station re-entered the atmosphere and burned up over Australia.

Sputnik 1. The launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4 1957 could be described as the beginning of the space age. Launched from the former Soviet Union, this was the first artificial satellite placed into orbit around the Earth. Sputnik 1 continued to transmit its signal until October 26 1957 and was heard by scientists, and ham radio operators throughout the world

The launch of Vostok 1 in April 1961 was an historic event in the history of space exploration. On this date Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space. Launched from the former Soviet Union, the Russian cosmonaut completed one orbit above the surface of the Earth and returned by parachute safely landing after 108 minutes in orbit.

On 21 June 2004 Mike Melvill took his craft Spaceship one 62 miles above the Earth, about 43 years after Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. Designed by Burt Ruttan to obtain the Xprize setup in 1996 to encourage commercial space travel. Experts predicted that tourists could be lining up for affordable space flights within the next ten years.