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External Websites
- Official Site of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
- Council on Foreign Relations - Space Exploration and U.S. Competitiveness
- National Geographic Society - The History of Space Exploration
- National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Space exploration and economic growth: New issues and horizons
Britannica Websites
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
Crewed spaceflights, 1960–69
Crewed spaceflights during the 1960s are listed chronologically in the table.
mission | country | crew | dates | notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vostok 1 | U.S.S.R. | Yury Gagarin | April 12, 1961 | first person in space | |
Mercury-Redstone 3 (Freedom 7) | U.S. | Alan Shepard | May 5, 1961 | first American in space | |
Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7) | U.S. | Virgil Grissom | July 21, 1961 | spacecraft sank during splashdown after Grissom's exit | |
Vostok 2 | U.S.S.R. | Gherman Titov | Aug. 6–7, 1961 | first to spend more than one day in space; youngest person (25 years old) in space | |
Mercury-Atlas 6 (Friendship 7) | U.S. | John Glenn | Feb. 20, 1962 | first American in orbit | |
Mercury-Atlas 7 (Aurora 7) | U.S. | Scott Carpenter | May 24, 1962 | part of flight directed by manual control | |
Vostok 3 | U.S.S.R. | Adriyan Nikolayev | Aug. 11–15, 1962 | first simultaneous flight of two spacecraft | |
Vostok 4 | U.S.S.R. | Pavel Popovich | Aug. 12–15, 1962 | first simultaneous flight of two spacecraft | |
Mercury-Atlas 8 (Sigma 7) | U.S. | Walter Schirra, Jr. | Oct. 3, 1962 | first longer-duration U.S. flight (9 hours 13 minutes) | |
Mercury-Atlas 9 (Faith 7) | U.S. | L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. | May 15–16, 1963 | first U.S. flight longer than one day | |
Vostok 5 | U.S.S.R. | Valery Bykovsky | June 14–19, 1963 | longest solo spaceflight | |
Vostok 6 | U.S.S.R. | Valentina Tereshkova | June 16–19, 1963 | first woman in space | |
X-15 Flight 90 | U.S. | Joseph Walker | July 19, 1963 | first aircraft to fly into space | |
X-15 Flight 91 | U.S. | Joseph Walker | Aug. 22, 1963 | set unofficial altitude record of 108 km (67 miles) | |
Voskhod 1 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Komarov; Konstantin Feoktistov; Boris Yegorov | Oct. 12–13, 1964 | first multiperson crewed spacecraft; first doctor in space (Yegorov) | |
Voskhod 2 | U.S.S.R. | Pavel Belyayev; Aleksey Leonov | March 18–19, 1965 | first person to walk in space (Leonov) | |
Gemini 3 | U.S. | Virgil Grissom; John Young | March 23, 1965 | first spacecraft to maneuver in orbit | |
Gemini 4 | U.S. | James McDivitt; Edward White | June 3–7, 1965 | first American to walk in space (White) | |
Gemini 5 | U.S. | L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.; Charles Conrad | Aug. 21–29, 1965 | new space endurance record (7 days 23 hours) | |
Gemini 7 | U.S. | Frank Borman; James Lovell, Jr. | Dec. 4–18, 1965 | new space endurance record (13 days 19 hours) | |
Gemini 6 | U.S. | Walter Schirra, Jr.; Thomas Stafford | Dec. 15–16, 1965 | first rendezvous of two crewed spacecraft (Gemini 6 and 7) | |
Gemini 8 | U.S. | Neil Armstrong; David Scott | March 16–17, 1966 | first docking of two spacecraft | |
Gemini 9 | U.S. | Thomas Stafford; Eugene Cernan | June 3–6, 1966 | unable to dock with Agena rocket stage | |
Gemini 10 | U.S. | John Young; Michael Collins | July 18–21, 1966 | first space walk from one spacecraft to another | |
Gemini 11 | U.S. | Charles Conrad; Richard Gordon | Sept. 12–15, 1966 | first spacecraft docking on first orbit after launch | |
Gemini 12 | U.S. | James Lovell, Jr.; Edwin ("Buzz") Aldrin | Nov. 11–15, 1966 | three space walks (Aldrin) that solved problems (exhaustion and suit overheating) from previous flights | |
Soyuz 1 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Komarov | April 23–24, 1967 | first spaceflight casualty; parachute deployed incorrectly during reentry | |
Apollo 7 | U.S. | Walter Schirra, Jr.; Donn Eisele; Walter Cunningham | Oct. 11–22, 1968 | first crewed flight of Apollo spacecraft; first illness suffered in space | |
Soyuz 3 | U.S.S.R. | Georgy Beregovoy | Oct. 26–30, 1968 | attempted to dock with uncrewed Soyuz 2 | |
Apollo 8 | U.S. | William Anders; Frank Borman; James Lovell, Jr. | Dec. 21–27, 1968 | first to fly around the Moon | |
Soyuz 4 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Shatalov; Aleksey Yeliseyev (down); Yevgeny Khrunov (down) | Jan. 14–17, 1969 | docked with Soyuz 5 on Jan. 16 | |
Soyuz 5 | U.S.S.R. | Boris Volynov; Aleksey Yeliseyev (up); Yevgeny Khrunov (up) | Jan. 15–18, 1969 | Yeliseyev and Khrunov spacewalked to Soyuz 4 | |
Apollo 9 | U.S. | James McDivitt; David Scott; Russell Schweickart | March 3–13, 1969 | test of Lunar Module in Earth orbit | |
Apollo 10 | U.S. | Thomas Stafford; John Young; Eugene Cernan | May 18–26, 1969 | rehearsal for first Moon landing | |
Apollo 11 | U.S. | Neil Armstrong; Edwin ("Buzz") Aldrin; Michael Collins | July 16–24, 1969 | first to walk on the Moon (Armstrong and Aldrin) | |
Soyuz 6 | U.S.S.R. | Georgy Shonin; Valery Kubasov | Oct. 11–16, 1969 | Kubasov performed welding experiments; rendezvous with Soyuz 7 and 8 | |
Soyuz 7 | U.S.S.R. | Anatoly Filipchenko; Vladislav Volkov; Viktor Gorbatko | Oct. 12–17, 1969 | unsuccessful attempt to dock with Soyuz 8 | |
Soyuz 8 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Shatalov; Aleksey Yeliseyev | Oct. 13–18, 1969 | unsuccessful attempt to dock with Soyuz 7 | |
Apollo 12 | U.S. | Charles Conrad; Richard Gordon; Alan Bean | Nov. 14–24, 1969 | landed near uncrewed Surveyor 3 space probe |