20th century

=== Space exploration ===
[[File:Buzz salutes the U.S. Flag.jpg|thumb|Photo of American astronaut [[Buzz Aldrin]] during the [[Apollo 11|first moonwalk]] in 1969, taken by [[Neil Armstrong]]. The relatively young [[aerospace engineering]] industries rapidly grew in the 66 years after the Wright brothers' first flight.]]
* The [[Space Race]] between the United States and the [[Soviet Union]] gave a peaceful outlet to the political and military tensions of the [[Cold War]], leading to the first [[human spaceflight]] with the Soviet Union's [[Vostok 1]] mission in 1961, and man's first landing on another world—the [[Moon]]—with America's [[Apollo 11]] mission in 1969. Later, the first [[space station]] was launched by the [[Soviet space program]]. The United States developed the first reusable spacecraft system with the [[Space Shuttle program]], first launched in 1981. As the century ended, a permanent crewed presence in space was being founded with the ongoing construction of the [[International Space Station]].
* In addition to human spaceflight, uncrewed space probes became a practical and relatively inexpensive form of exploration. The first orbiting space probe, [[Sputnik 1]], was launched by the [[Soviet Union]] in 1957. Over time, a massive system of artificial satellites was placed into orbit around Earth. These satellites greatly advanced navigation, communications, military intelligence, geology, climate, and numerous other fields. Also, by the end of the 20th century, uncrewed probes had visited or flown by the Moon, [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], [[Venus]], [[Mars]], [[Jupiter]], [[Saturn]], [[Uranus]], [[Neptune]], and various asteroids and comets, with ''[[Voyager 1]]'' being the farthest manufactured object from Earth at 23,5&nbsp;billion kilometers away from Earth as of 6 September 2022, and together with ''[[Voyager 2]]'' both carrying The [[Voyager Golden Record]] containing sounds, music and greetings in 55 languages as well as 116 images of nature, human advancement, space and society.
* The [[Hubble Space Telescope]], launched in 1990, greatly expanded our understanding of the Universe and brought brilliant images to TV and computer screens around the world.
* The [[Global Positioning System]], a series of satellites that allow land-based receivers to determine their exact location, was developed and deployed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/scan/communications/policy/GPS_History.html|title= Global Positioning System History|date=2012-10-27|access-date=2018-02-07}}</ref>