Astronomical naming conventions sky have been named from ancient times. The scientific names are taken from the names given by the Romans: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Our own planet is usually named in English as Earth, or the equivalent in the language being spoken (for instance, two astronomers speaking French would call it "la Terre"). However, it is only recently in human history that it has been thought of as a planet. Earth, when viewed as a planet, is sometimes also called by its Latin scientific conventional name "Terra", this name is especially prevalent in science fiction where the adjective terran
Discovery and exploration of the Solar System Soviet "Lunokhod 1", which landed on the Moon in 1970. The first to visit another planet was Sojourner, which travelled 500 metres across the surface of Mars in 1997. The only manned rover to visit another world was NASA's Lunar rover, which traveled with Apollos 15, 16 and 17 between 1971 and 1972. Overview of some missions to the Solar System. See also the categories for missions to , , , and . Crewed exploration of the Solar System ended in 1972. The first human being to reach space (defined as an altitude of over 100 km) and to orbit