Orbital launches | |
---|---|
First | 11 January |
Last | 28 December |
Total | 124 |
Successes | 108 |
Failures | 15 |
Partial failures | 1 |
Catalogued | 112 |
National firsts | |
Satellite | France |
Orbital launch | France |
Rockets | |
Maiden flights | Atlas LV-3C Centaur-D Delta E Diamant-A Kosmos-2M Scout A Scout B Soyuz/Vostok 11A510 Thor LV-2D Burner-1 Thor LV-2D MG-18 Titan IIIC UR-500 (Proton) |
Retirements | Atlas LV-3A Agena-B Atlas LV-3C Centaur-C Delta D Kosmos-1 Molniya 8K78 Molniya-L 8K78L Saturn I Scout X-4 Thor DSV-2A Ablestar Thor LV-2D MG-18 Thor SLV-2 Agena-B Titan IIIA |
Crewed flights | |
Orbital | 6 |
Total travellers | 13 |
Date (UTC) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|
20 February | Ranger 8 | Lunar impact | Impacted Mare Tranquillitatis at 09:57:37, returned 7,137 images |
24 March | Ranger 9 | Lunar impact | Impacted Alphonsus Crater at 14:08:20, returned 5,814 images |
12 May | Luna 5 | Lunar impact | Failed lander, impacted at 19:10 |
11 June | Luna 6 | Lunar flyby | Failed lander, closest approach: 160,000 kilometres (99,000 mi) |
15 July | Mariner 4 | Flyby of Mars | Returned 21 images |
20 July | Zond 2 | Flyby of Mars | Communications system failed before flyby |
6 August | Zond 3 | Lunar Flyby | Returned 25 images |
7 October | Luna 7 | Lunar impact | Failed lander, impacted at 22:08 |
6 December | Luna 8 | Lunar impact | Failed lander, impacted at 21:51:30 |
Start date/time | Duration | End time | Spacecraft | Crew | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
18 March 08:34 | 12 minutes | 08:47 | Voskhod 2 | Alexei Leonov | First EVA in history. [1] Leonov had difficulty fitting back into the spacecraft due to spacesuit stiffness in vacuum. He vented air from his spacesuit to bend back into the capsule. [2] |
3 June 19:46 | 20 minutes | 20:06 | Gemini IV | Ed White | First US EVA. [3] White also had difficulty returning to the Gemini spacecraft. Although very fit, the effort left White exhausted. [4] |
| ||||||||
Orbital launch attempts by country in 1965 |
Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
France | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | First orbital launch |
Soviet Union | 53 | 46 | 7 | 0 | |
United States | 70 | 61 | 8 | 1 |
Orbital regime | Launches | Achieved | Not Achieved | Accidentally Achieved | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low Earth | 96 | 85 | 9 | 2 | |
Medium Earth | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | |
High Earth | 13 | 11 | 2 | 0 | Including Highly elliptical and Molniya orbits |
Geosynchronous/transfer | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1* | * - One launch to geosynchronous orbit reached geosynchronous transfer orbit |
Heliocentric | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
The United States National Space Science Data Center catalogued 157 spacecraft placed into orbit by launches which occurred in 1968. The first crewed Apollo missions occurred in 1968. It was also the year in which Earth lifeforms first left low Earth orbit, during the successful Zond 5 mission to the Moon and the Zond 6 lunar mission which crashed upon return, and the year that humans first left low Earth orbit, during the successful Apollo 8 mission to the Moon.
Explorer 1 was the first American satellite to reach orbit on 31 January 1958.
1973 saw the launch of the first American Space station known as Skylab on a Saturn V rocket.
The following is an outline of 1983 in spaceflight.
The following is an outline of 1984 in spaceflight.
The following is an outline of 1992 in spaceflight.
The following is an outline of 1989 in spaceflight.
Spaceflight in 1977 included some important events such as the roll out of the Space Shuttle orbiter, Voyager 1 and Voyager space probes were launched. NASA received the Space Shuttle orbiter later named Enterprise, on 14 January. This unpowered sub-orbital space plane was launched off the top of a modified 747 and was flown uncrewed until 13 August until a human crew landed the Enterprise for the first time.
The following is an outline of 1976 in spaceflight.
The following is an outline of 1979 in spaceflight.
The following is an outline of 1980 in spaceflight.
The following is an outline of 1987 in spaceflight.
The following is an outline of 1988 in spaceflight.
This is a list of spaceflights launched between January and June 1963. For launches between July and December, see 1963 in spaceflight (July–December). For an overview of the whole year, see 1963 in spaceflight.
This is a list of spaceflights launched between January and March 1964. For launches in the rest of the year, see 1964 in spaceflight (April–June), 1964 in spaceflight (July–September) and 1964 in spaceflight (October–December). For an overview of the whole year, see 1964 in spaceflight.
This is a list of spaceflights launched between July and December 1960. For launches between January and June, see 1960 in spaceflight (January–June). For an overview of the whole year, see 1960 in spaceflight.
This is a list of spaceflights launched between April and June 1964. For launches in the rest of the year, see 1964 in spaceflight (January–March), 1964 in spaceflight (July–September) and 1964 in spaceflight (October–December). For an overview of the whole year, see 1964 in spaceflight.