From the first SpaceX crewed mission to water discovery on Moon, here's a list of the top 5 memorable space moments of 2020.
2020 was a groundbreaking year for space exploration. Here we explore some of the most notable space missions of this year.
1. Elon Musk's SpaceX launches first ever crewed space mission by a private company
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Elon Musk's SpaceX made history in May by launching the first crewed mission to space by a private company. It was also the first space mission to take off from US soil since 2011. The launch used SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rockets to take astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS. (Image: NASA)
2. Nasa's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover mission launched to Red Planet
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NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission launched to the Red Planet in July to search for signs of ancient life and collect samples to send back to Earth.
A tiny helicopter named Ingenuity is flying to Mars on Perseverance's belly. After the rover has touched down and found a good place for the helicopter to conduct test flights, Ingenuity will detach and make short forays into the Martian skies — the first-ever flights by a rotorcraft on a world beyond Earth. (Image: NASA/JPL Caltech)
3. Nasa discovers water on Moon's crater visible from Earth
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In one of the biggest astronomical discoveries of the decade, Nasa in October confirmed the presence of water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), for the first time, confirmed that water may be distributed across the moon and not just limited to cold, shadowed places.
The water molecules were found on Moon's Clavius Crater, one of the largest craters visible from Earth. (Image: NASA/Daniel Rutter)
4. SpaceX, NASA launch second crewed mission to space
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SpaceX in November 2020 successfully launched its second crew of astronauts to the International Space Station. The mission, called Crew-1, marked the first operational mission of the Crew Dragon, opening up the possibilities of the company regularly sending people to and from the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA. Crew-1 is the first of six scheduled operational missions for NASA designed to take four astronauts at a time on long-duration stays to the space station.
Once the four astronauts on Crew-1 arrive at the ISS they will remain on board for about 180 days, performing experiments and research before returning to Earth in June 2021. (Image: NASA)
5. China becomes second nation to plant flag on the Moon
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China planted its flag on the Moon on December 4, more than 50 years after the US first planted the Stars and Stripes there. Chang'e 5, the third Chinese spacecraft to land on the moon and the first to take off from it again, is the latest in a series of missions for Beijing's space program, which also has a orbiter and rover headed to Mars. (Image: China National Space Administration (CNSA))
