• The year 2024 had major space events including a total solar eclipse and historic moon landing.
• There were moments, though, that reminded us how challenging space exploration can be.
• Here are the US's biggest moments in space this year and the missions that didn't go so well.

This was a big year for space in the US with many historic firsts.

SpaceX caught a rocket in mid-air. NASA discovered the most promising evidence for ancient life on Mars. And scientists finally got their hands on a perfectly-preserved asteroid sample.

Space exploration, however, is hard, and multiple moments reminded us of that — like a broken Mars copter and glitchy spaceship.

Here are the US's biggest moments in space this year and the missions that taught us outer space is a formidable place.

The year kicked off with two unlucky events.

Astrobotic Technology launched its uncrewed, NASA-funded Peregrine Mission One to the moon on January 8.

The mission suffered a propellant leak after launch and was unable to continue to the moon.

On January 18, Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander burned up in Earth's atmosphere.

The same day, NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter had lost a blade, ending its mission.

Ingenuity was the only mission to have ever successfully flown on another planet. It completed 72 flights.

Better news came the following month when Intuitive Machines launched its NASA-funded IM-1 mission to the moon.

On February 22, IM's Odysseus spacecraft became the first private craft to soft-land on the moon.

The landing marked the US's first return to the lunar surface in over 50 years, since Apollo 17.

After landing, Odysseus tipped on its side, disrupting comms with Earth.

IM hopes to land a second spacecraft on the moon in January 2025.

Lunar landings weren't the only major moment for the moon this year.

On April 8, it slipped in front of the sun offering millions of people in the US a total solar eclipse.

The rare event was the last time a total solar eclipse would be visible from the US until 2044.

In June, Boeing launched two astronauts to the International Space Station on its Starliner spacecraft for the first time.

The two astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, have been stuck on the ISS ever since after Starliner suffered engine issues.

Meanwhile, NASA's first year-long simulated Mars mission, CHAPEA-1, ended on July 6. The four crew members were released after living together in a 1,700 sq. ft. habitat for 378 days.

NASA CHAPEA missions are designed to study how humans may fare physically and mentally on long-duration space missions. CHAPEA-2 is scheduled to start in the spring of 2025.

After months of deliberation, NASA and Boeing sent Starliner back to Earth without Williams and Wilmore.

Four days later, on September 10, SpaceX launched perhaps its most historic crewed mission yet: Polaris Dawn.

Polaris Dawn carried four commercial astronauts 870 miles into space — farther than any human had been since NASA's Apollo missions.

The historic mission included the first commercial spacewalk ever. "Everything in that environment is trying to kill you," Jared Isaacman who led the mission, told Business Insider's Ana Altchek.

"You have all these extra senses kind of fusing together, and you get, I think, more of an appreciation for just how hostile and unwelcoming space is," Isaacman said about being outside of the capsule during the spacewalk.

Shortly after Polaris Dawn successfully returned to Earth, NASA anticipated an exciting return from its OSIRIS-REx mission.

On September 24, a capsule containing a sample from the asteroid parachuted into Utah.

It marked the first time an asteroid sample was ever collected and returned to Earth.

Early analysis of the sample found carbon and nitrogen — building blocks of life — that could hold clues to how life may have formed on Earth.

NASA's Perseverance rover also earned a major win in the study of ancient life. It found the best potential evidence yet for past life on Mars.

The rover identified a rock with three key features that could point to alien life.

NASA would need to return the sample to Earth to confirm the potentially groundbreaking discovery, but its Sample Return Mission has been tabled due to high costs and wait time.

October was an exciting month, starting with SpaceX's wild "chopsticks" catch on October 13.

The next day, NASA launched its Europa Clipper toward Jupiter. The spacecraft is on a 1.8 billion-mile trajectory to reach Jupiter in April 2030.

Europa Clipper is designed to help continue NASA's exploration of Jupiter after its Juno mission ends, which is set for September 2025.

On December 10, NASA's Perseverance rover finished its 3.5-month-long journey up the side of Jezero Crater, climbing 1,640 vertical feet.

As the year wrapped up, NASA had one more major milestone planned. On December 24, its Parker Solar Probe flew closer to the sun than any spacecraft in history.