US space laboratory Skylab I
1970:
14 April: Critical explosion cripples Apollo 13
An explosion in the fuel cells approximately 56 hours after lift-off results in the loss of Apollo 13's main power supply leaving oxygen and water reserves critically low.
Apollo 13 successfully returns to Earth though on Friday 17 April 1970.
20 September: Soviet probe Luna 16 collects moon rock
1971:
6 February: Alan Shepard of Apollo 14 plays golf on the Moon
30 June: Space mission ends in tragedy
Three Russian cosmonauts are found dead in their space capsule after it makes what looks like a perfect landing in Kazakhstan.
An inquiry concluded the three cosmonauts on the Soyuz 11 were killed by a fatal rise in their blood pressure, caused when the cabin became depressurised.
1 August: Apollo 15 finds rock from birth of Moon
13 November: American probe Mariner 9 orbits Mars
1972:
20 April: Apollo 16 safely on Moon after engine crisis
14 December: Last Moon mission returns
1974:
8 February: Americans end outer space marathon
Three US astronauts spend 85 days in the American space station, Skylab, orbiting the Earth at a height of 270 miles.
1976:
20 July: Pictures of Mars from Viking ship
1979:
11 July: Skylab tumbles back to Earth
24 December: Europe launches first rocket
Next: The 1980s
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