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NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
Timeline of Events
1996
11.7.1996
NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor.
1997
7.4.1997
NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.
9.11.1997
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor reaches Mars.
1999
9.23.1999
NASA announces that it has lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.
12.3.1999
NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
12.18.1999
NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
2001
10.15.2001
NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.
2002
2.19.2002
NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
4.27.2002
The last successful telemetry from the NASA space probe Pioneer 10.
2003
6.10.2003
The Spirit Rover is launched, beginning NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission.
2004
1.4.2004
Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.
1.21.2004
NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover ''Spirit'') ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.
9.8.2004
NASA's unmanned spacecraft ''Genesis'' crash-lands when its parachute fails to open.
2005
7.26.2005
Space Shuttle program: STS-114 Mission – Launch of ''Discovery'', NASA's first scheduled flight mission after the ''Columbia'' Disaster in 2003.
7.27.2005
STS-114: NASA grounds the Space Shuttle, pending an investigation of the continuing problem with the shedding of foam insulation from the external fuel tank. During ascent, the external tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery sheds a piece of foam slightly smaller than the piece that caused the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster; this foam does not strike the spacecraft.
2006
1.19.2006
The New Horizons probe is launched by NASA on the first mission to Pluto.
12.6.2006
NASA reveals photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars.
2007
4.20.2007
Johnson Space Center Shooting: A man with a handgun barricades himself in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
8.4.2007
NASA's Phoenix spaceship is launched.
2009
10.9.2009
First lunar impact of the Centaur and LCROSS spacecrafts as part of NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program.