A discussion is provided of the history of and current developments in lasers used for investigation of the extraterrestrial. Since 1965, the significance of fuel-efficient and photovoltaic powered ion engines for spacecraft propulsion has increased greatly. In the electrostatic ion thruster design, which was used to provide primary propulsion for Deep Space 1 (launched in 1998 and retired in 2001), ionization was stimulated by collisions between atoms in the propellant and electrons that are emitted into the ionization chamber through a hollow cathode/electron gun. In the Hall effect or plasma thruster design, which provided primary propulsion for the SMART-1 mission of 2003 (which is scheduled to finish in 2006), the electromagnetic Hall effect trapped electrons that are then employed to ionize the propellant and to accelerate the ions to produce thrust. There is still interest in beaming energy from space and terrestrial-based lasers to, for instance, allow the powering of spacecraft. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory finished a feasibility study in 1999 for the design of an ignition feedback regenerative amplifier (IFRA) meant to enable a ground-based free electron laser (FEL) to provide 200kw of average power. The FEL system was designed in combination with other technologies to beam power into space that almost doubles the 5--kW power levels of communications satellites in geosynchronous orbit. Among topics covered are Bennett Optical Research's SELENE project and the work of Andrew Pakhomov, supervisor of the laser propulsion group at the University of Alabama Huntsville.