1963 in spaceflight

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1963 in spaceflight
X15 on B52 wing pylon.jpg
A North American X-15 made two suborbital flights in July and August, becoming the first reusable spacecraft
Orbital launches
First4 January
Last21 December
Total70
Successes50
Failures17
Partial failures3
Catalogued 55
Rockets
Maiden flights Atlas LV-3A Agena-D
Atlas LV-3C Centaur-B
Polyot 11A59
Scout X-2B
Scout X-3M
Scout X-4
Thor DSV-2A Ablestar
TAT SLV-2A Agena-B
TAT SLV-2A Agena-D
Voskhod 11A57
Retirements Atlas LV-3B
Atlas LV-3C Centaur-B
Scout X-2B
Scout X-2M
Scout X-3M
Crewed flights
Orbital3
Suborbital2
Total travellers4
1963 in spaceflight
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Orbital and Suborbital launches

Deep space rendezvous

Date (GMT)SpacecraftEventRemarks
5 April Luna 4 Flyby of the Moon Failed lander, closest approach: 8,336 kilometres (5,180 mi)
19 June Mars 1 First flyby of Mars Closest approach: 193,000 kilometres (120,000 mi), communications system failed before flyby

Notable creations of orbital debris

Date/Time (UTC)Source objectEvent typePieces trackedRemarks
9 May [1] Westford-2 Communications experiment46 [1] As part of an experiment to facilitate international telecommunications, the US Military deployed an artificial space ring consisting of hundreds of millions of tiny copper needles [2] which would act as antennas reflecting radio signals at the target wavelength of 8 GHz. A large proportion of the needles were not dispersed properly and remained stuck in clumps that were discovered and tracked by the SSN between 1966 and 1991. As of October 2013, 46 of the 144 detected debris clumps remain in orbit. [1] The needles that were properly dispersed are believed to have decayed. [1]

This event prompted international protests [3] [4] [5] [6] and influenced the drafting of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. [3]

Contents

Orbital launch statistics

By country

CountryLaunchesSuccessesFailuresPartial
failures
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 241590
Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 463583
World7050173

By rocket

RocketCountryLaunchesSuccessesFailuresPartial failuresRemarks
Atlas LV-3A Agena-B Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 3111
Atlas LV-3A Agena-D Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 5500Maiden flight
Atlas LV-3B Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 1100Retired
Atlas LV-3C Centaur-B Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 1100Only flight
Delta B Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 6600
Delta C Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 1100
Kosmos-2I 63S1Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 8440
Molniya 8K78Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1010
Molniya-L 8K78LFlag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 3120Maiden flight
Polyot 11A59Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1100Maiden flight
Scout X-2B Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 1010Only flight
Scout X-2M Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 1010Retired
Scout X-3 Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 2011
Scout X-3M Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 1100Only flight
Scout X-4 Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 2101Maiden flight
Thor DSV-2A Ablestar Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 2200Maiden flight
Thor DM-21 Agena-B Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 1100
Thor SLV-2 Agena-D (Thor DM-21 Agena-D)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 8620Redesignated midyear
Thrust Augmented Thor SLV-2A Agena-B Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 1100Maiden flight
Thrust Augmented Thor SLV-2A Agena-D Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 10820Maiden flight
Voskhod 11A57Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1100Maiden flight
Vostok-K 8K72KFlag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 2200
Vostok-2 8A92Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 8620

By orbit

Orbital regimeLaunchesAchievedNot AchievedAccidentally
Achieved		Remarks
Low Earth 5744132
Medium Earth 5410
High Earth 5320Including Highly elliptical orbits
Geosynchronous/transfer 2200
Heliocentric 1010

References

Generic references:

RocketSunIcon.svg Spaceflightportal

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 "West Ford Needles: Where are They Now?" (PDF). Orbital Debris Quarterly News. 17 (4). NASA. October 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  2. ↑ Shapiro, I. I.; Jones, H. M.; Perkins, C.W. (May 1964), "Orbital properties of the West Ford dipole belt", Proceedings of the IEEE, 52 (5): 469–518, doi:10.1109/proc.1964.2992
  3. 1 2 Terrill Jr., Delbert R. (May 1999), "The Air Force Role in Developing International Outer Space Law" (PDF), Air Force History and Museums Program, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press: 63, archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2018, retrieved 13 February 2016
  4. ↑ Butrica, Andrew J. (ed.), "Beyond the Ionosphere: The Development of Satellite Communications", history.nasa.gov, The NASA History Series, NASA, archived from the original on 25 December 2017, retrieved 12 July 2017
  5. ↑ Bondi, H. (June 1962), "West Ford Project, Introductory Note by the Secretary", Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 3: 99, Bibcode:1962QJRAS...3...99.
  6. ↑ "Protests Continue Abroad", The New York Times, London (published 23 October 1961), p. 12, 22 October 1961, ISSN   0362-4331


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