NASA's New Horizons spacecraft performs a close flyby of Pluto, becoming the first spacecraft in history to visit the distant world.

Gravitational waves are detected for the first time, by LIGO

NASA announces that liquid water has been found on Mars

SpaceX lands an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket, the first reusable rocket to successfully enter orbital space and return

Proxima Centauri B is discovered as the closest exoplanet to Earth

Scientists report the presence of a subglacial lake on Mars, 1.5 km (0.93 mi) below the southern polar ice cap and extending sideways about 20 km (12 mi), the first known body of water on any planet apart from our own

Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope project announce the first ever image of a black hole, located in the centre of the M87 galaxy

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch conduct the first all-female spacewalk outside the International Space Station