Science and technology in 21st Century

Space exploration

• 2001 – Dennis Tito becomes the first space tourist by paying $19 million to board the International Space Station.
• 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disaster February 1.
• 2003 – The Chinese space program launches its first manned space flight, Shenzhou 5, on October 15. This made China the third country in the world to have indigenous manned space capability.
• 2004 – Mars Exploration Rovers land on Mars; Opportunity discovers evidence that an area of Mars was once covered in water.
• 2004 – SpaceShipOne makes the first privately funded human spaceflight, June 21
• 2005 – The Huygens probe lands on Titan, the largest of Saturn's moons, January 14.
• 2005 - The New Horizons probe is launched to Pluto.
• 2006 – Pluto is reclassified from a planet to a dwarf planet, leaving the solar system with eight planets.
• 2007 – China launches its first lunar mission with the Chang'e 1 on October 24.
• 2008 – Chinese space program launches its third manned space flight carrying its first three-person crew and conducts its first spacewalk that makes China the third nation after Russia and USA to do that, Shenzhou 7, on September 25.
• 2008 - Phoenix discovers water ice on Mars
• 2009 – Iran launches its first satellite, Omid, on February 2.
• 2009 – The Indian Space Research Organisation discovers water on the Moon.
• 2011 – NASA launches Atlantis marking an end to its three-decade shuttle program.
• 2012 – The 50th successful launch in a row for the European launcher Ariane 5, on August 2.
• 2012 – SpaceX successfully delivers cargo to the International Space Station.
• 2012 – NASA successfully lands the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars.