The first successful probe to another world was Luna 1, sent to the Moon by the Russians in 1959. Since then many other probes have been launched, and by August 1989 all the planets in the Sun's family had been studied from close range, with the exception of Pluto. This is the illustrated story of man's exploration of the Solar System-a story which is no more than three decades old so far, but which has told us more than we could have dared to hope in the early days of the Space Age.