I wrote a book (basically a chronology) on the history of deep space, lunar, and interplanetary probes. It's called:
Deep Space Chronicle: A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes, 1958-2000
It was published by the NASA History Division in 2002.
It describes every single attempt made by humans to send a probe out to deep space.
Good starting point if you're interested in that kind of thing.
There is a pdf version on-line here.
You an also order a hard copy from the NASA History Division here.