Chronology of Pre-Space Shuttle Manned Space Flight (1961-80)

Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, Universityof Wisconsin - Green Bay


1961

Vostok 1 Apr 12, 1961 Gagarin, Yuri A. First human in space, orbital flight
Mercury 3 May 5, 1961 Shepard, Alan B. First American in space; suborbital flight
Mercury 4 Jul 21, 1961 Grissom, Virgil I. Capsule sank: recovered in 1998
Vostok 2 Aug 6, 1961 Titov, Gherman S. First human in space for over 24 hours

1962

Mercury 6 Feb 20, 1962 Glenn, John H. First American in earth orbit
Mercury 7 May 24, 1962 Carpenter, M. Scott First meal eaten in space; missed landing site by 250 miles
X-15 July 17, 1962 White Satisfies 50-mile altitude definition of space flight (59.61 miles or 95.9 km) but not later 100-km definition.
Vostok 3 Aug 11, 1962 Nikolayev, Andriyan G. First joint mission (Vostok 4)
Vostok 4 Aug 12, 1962 Popovich, Pavel R. Came within 4 miles of Vostok 3
Mercury 8 Oct 3, 1962 Schirra, Walter M. First splashdown in Pacific Ocean

1963

Mercury 9 May 15, 1963 Cooper, L. Gordon First U.S. flight to exceed 24 hours
Vostok 5 Jun 14, 1963 Bykovsky, Valery F. Second joint mission (Vostok 6)
Vostok 6 Jun 16, 1963 Tereshkova, Valentina V. First woman in space
X-15 July 17, 1963 Walker Reached 65.88 miles (105.9 km), satisfies 100-km definition of spaceflight.
X-15 July 19, 1963 Walker Reached 67.08 miles (107.9 km), satisfies 100-km definition of spaceflight.

1964

Voskhod 1 Oct 12, 1964 Komarov, Vladimir M.
Feoktistov, Konstantin P.
Yegorov, Boris B.
First 3-person mission

1965

Voskhod 2 Mar 18, 1965 Belyaev, Pavel I.
Leonov, Alexei A.
First extravehicular activity by Leonov (20 minutes)
Gemini 3 Mar 23, 1965 Grissom, Virgil I.
Young, John W.
First U.S. 2 person crew; first manual maneuvering
Gemini IV Jun 3, 1965 McDivitt, James A.
White, Edward H.
First U.S. EVA by White (22 minutes)
Gemini V Aug 21, 1965 Cooper, L. Gordon
Conrad, Charles
8 day flight
Gemini VII Dec 4, 1965 Borman, Frank
Lovell, James A.
14-day flight; rendezvous with Gemini VI
Gemini VI Dec 15, 1965 Schirra, Walter M.
Stafford, Thomas P.
Came within 12 inches of Gemini VII

1966

Gemini VIII Mar 16, 1966 Armstrong, Neil A.
Scott, David R.
First docking (with Agena target vehicle)
Gemini IX Jun 3, 1966 Stafford, Thomas P.
Cernan, Eugene A.
2-hour space walk; most accurate splashdown
Gemini X Jul 18, 1966 Young, John W.
Collins, Michael
First dual rendezvous (with Agena 10, then Agena 8)
Gemini XI Sep 12, 1966 Conrad, Charles
Gordon, Richard F.
Highest altitude of 850 miles; first tethered flight
Gemini XII Nov 11, 1966 Lovell, James A.
Aldrin, Edwin E.
5-hour EVA by Aldrin

1967: This Was Not A Good Year

Apollo 1 Jan 27, 1967 Grissom, Virgil "Gus"
White, Edward H.
Chaffee, Roger
Crew died in fire while in pre-flight test
Soyuz 1 Apr 23, 1967 Komarov, Vladimir M. Cosmonaut dies during reentry

1968

Apollo 7 Oct 11, 1968 Schirra, Walter M.
Eisele, Donn F.
Cunningham, R. Walter
First live TV broadcast from space
Soyuz 3 Oct 26, 1968 Beregovoy, Georgiy T. Maneuvered near unpiloted Soyuz 2
Apollo 8 Dec 21, 1968 Borman, Frank
Lovell, James A.
Anders, William A.
First humans to orbit the Moon; new speed record of 24,200 mph

1969

Soyuz 4 Jan 14, 1969 Shatalov, Vladimir A. Docked with Soyuz 5; received 2 cosmonauts
Soyuz 5 Jan 15, 1969 Volynov, Boris V.
Yeliseyev, Alexey S.
landed with Soyuz 4
Khrunov, Yevgeny V.
landed with Soyuz 4
Transferred 2 cosmonauts to Soyuz 4: first mission in which passengers returned on a different spacecraft
Apollo 9 Mar 3, 1969 McDivitt, James A.
Scott, David R.
Schweickart, Russell L.
First flight test of lunar module in earth orbit
Apollo 10 May 18, 1969 Stafford, Thomas P.
Young, John W.
Cernan, Eugene A.
Test lunar module in lunar orbit 8.9 miles from lunar surface
Apollo 11 July 16, 1969 Armstrong, Neil A.
Collins, Michael
Aldrin, Edwin E.
First human landing on the Moon
Soyuz 6 Oct 11, 1969 Shonin, Georgiy S.
Kubasov, Valery N.
Joint mission with Soyuz 7 and 8 without docking: first three-spacecraft mission
Soyuz 7 Oct 12, 1969 Filipchenko, Anatoly V.
Volkov, Vladislav N.
Gorbatko, Viktor V.
Joint mission with Soyuz 6 and 8 without docking: first three-spacecraft mission
Soyuz 8 Oct 13, 1969 Shatalov, Vladimir A.
Yeliseyev, Alexey S.
Joint mission with Soyuz 6 and 7 without docking: first three-spacecraft mission
Apollo 12 Nov 14, 1969 Conrad, Charles
Gordon, Richard F.
Bean, Alan L.
Retrieval of pieces of Surveyor 3

1970

Apollo 13 Apr 11, 1970 Lovell, James A.
Swigert, John L.
Haise, Fred W.
Deep space abort due to explosion in service module
Soyuz 9 Jun 1, 1970 Nikolayev, Andriyan G.
Sevast'yanov, Vitaly I.
Endurance record of 18 days in space

1971

Apollo 14 Jan 31, 1971 Shepard, Alan B.
Roosa, Stuart A.
Mitchell, Edgar D.
Third lunar landing
Soyuz 10 Apr 22, 1971 Shatalov, Vladimir A.
Yeliseyev, Alexey S.
Rukavishnikov, Nikolay N.
Docked with Salyut space station
Soyuz 11 Jun 6, 1971 Dobrovol'sky, Georgiy T.
Volkov, Vladislav N.
Patsayev, Viktor I.
Crew spent 22 days aboard Salyut; crew died on reentry when capsule depressurized
Apollo 15 Jul 26, 1971 Scott, David R.
Worden, Alfred M.
Irwin, James B.
First use of lunar rover

1972

Apollo 16 Apr 16, 1972 Young, John W.
Mattingly, Thomas K.
Duke, Charles M.
Highest elevation for a lunar landing at 25,688 feet
Apollo 17 Dec 7, 1972 Cernan, Eugene A.
Evans, Ronald E.
Schmitt, Harrison H.
Final Apollo lunar mission; nearly 75 hours on lunar surface

1973

Skylab 2 May 25, 1973 Conrad, Charles
Weitz, Paul J.
Kerwin, Joseph P.
Docked with Skylab space station for 28 days
Skylab 3 Jul 28, 1973 Bean, Alan L.
Lousma, Jack R.
Garriott, Owen K.
Docked for over 59 days
Soyuz 12 Sep 27, 1973 Lazarev, Vasily A.
Makarov, Oleg G.
Test of new Soyuz spacecraft
Skylab 4 Nov 16, 1973 Carr, Gerald P.
Pogue, William R.
Gibson, Edward G.
Last Skylab mission; U.S. space record of 84 days
Soyuz 13 Dec 18, 1973 Klimuk, Pyotr I.
Lebedev, Valentin V.

1974

Soyuz 14 Jul 3, 1974 Popovich, Pavel R.
Artyukhin, Yuri P.
Docked with Salyut 3
Soyuz 15 Aug 26, 1974 Sarafanov, Gennady V.
Dyomin, Lev S.
Rendezvoused with Salyut 3; did not dock
Soyuz 16 Dec 2, 1974 Filipchenko, Anatoly V.
Rukavishnikov, Nikolay N.
Testing for Apollo-Soyuz project

1975

Soyuz 17 1975-01-10
1975-02-09
Gubarev, Alexei A.
Grechko, Georgiy M.
Docked with Salyut 4; boarded
Soyuz 18A 1975-04-05
1975-04-05
Lazarev, Vasily A.
Makarov, Oleg G.
Docked with Salyut 4; boarded
Soyuz 18B 1975-05-24
1975-07-26
Klimuk, Pyotr I.
Sevast'yanov, Vitaly I.
Docked with Salyut 4; boarded
Soyuz 19 1975-07-15
1975-07-21
Leonov, Alexei A.
Kubasov, Valery N.
Apollo-Soyuz Project; first U.S.-U.S.S.R. joint mission
ASTP 1975-07-15
1975-07-24
Stafford, Thomas P.
Brand, Vance D.
Slayton, Donald K.
Apollo-Soyuz Project; first U.S.-U.S.S.R. joint mission

1976

Soyuz 21 Jul 6, 1976 Volynov, Boris V.
Zholobov, Vitaly M.
Docked with Salyut 5; boarded
Soyuz 22 Sep 15, 1976 Bykovsky, Valery F.
Aksyonov, Vladimir V.
Conducted earth resources study
Soyuz 23 Oct 14, 1976 Zudov, Vyacheslav D.
Rozhdestvensky, Valery I.
Unsuccessful docking with Salyut 5

1977

Soyuz 24 1977-02-07
1977-02-25
Gorbatko, Viktor V.
Glazkov, Yuri N.
Docked with Salyut 5; boarded
Soyuz 25 1977-10-09
1977-10-11
Kovalyonok, Vladimir V.
Ryumin, Valery V.
Unsuccessful docking with Salyut 6
Soyuz 26 1977-12-10
1978-01-16
Romanenko, Yuri V.
landed with Soyuz 27
Grechko, Georgiy M.
landed with Soyuz 27
Crew spent 96 days aboard Salyut 6; returned in Soyuz 27

1978

Soyuz 27 Jan 10, 1978 Dzhanibekov, Vladimir A.
landed with Soyuz 26
Makarov, Oleg G.
landed with Soyuz 26
Crew returned in Soyuz 26 after 6 days on Salyut
Soyuz 28 Mar 2, 1978 Gubarev, Alexei A.
Remek, Vladimír
Docked with Salyut 6; Remek (Czech) first space traveler not from U.S or U.S.S.R.
Soyuz 29 Jun 15, 1978 Kovalyonok, Vladimir V.
landed with Soyuz 31
Ivanchenkov, Aleksandr S.
landed with Soyuz 31
Crew spent 139 days aboard Salyut 6; returned in Soyuz 31
Soyuz 30 Jun 27, 1978 Klimuk, Pyotr I.Hermaszewski, Miroslaw Docked with Salyut 6; stayed 7 days. Hermaszewski first Polish space traveller.
Soyuz 31 Aug 26, 1978
1978-11-02
Bykovsky, Valery F.
landed with Soyuz 29
Jähn, Sigmund
landed with Soyuz 29
Crew spent 8 days on Salyut 6; returned in Soyuz 29. Jaehn first East German space traveller.

1979

Soyuz 32 1979-02-25
1979-06-13
Lyakhov, Vladimir A.
landed with Soyuz 34
Ryumin, Valery V.
landed with Soyuz 34
Crew spent 175 days on Salyut 6; returned in Soyuz 34
Soyuz 33 1979-04-10
1979-04-12
Rukavishnikov, Nikolay N.Ivanov, Georgi Unsuccessful docking with Salyut 6
Soyuz 34 1979-06-06
1979-08-19
Launched unmanned Returned Soyuz 32 crew

1980

Soyuz 35 Apr 9, 1980 Popov, Leonid I.
landed with Soyuz 37
Ryumin, Valery V.
landed with Soyuz 37
Crew spent 185 days on Salyut 6; returned on Soyuz 37
Soyuz 36 May 26, 1980 Kubasov, Valery N.
landed with Soyuz 35
Farkas, Bertalan
landed with Soyuz 35
Docked with Salyut 6; returned on Soyuz 35
Soyuz T-2 Jun 5, 1980 Malyshev, Yuri V.
Aksyonov, Vladimir V.
First piloted test of new Soyuz T
Soyuz 37 Jul 23, 1980 Gorbatko, Viktor V.
landed with Soyuz 36
Pham Tuân
landed with Soyuz 36
Pham first Vietnamese cosmonaut
Soyuz 38 Sep 18, 1980 Romanenko, Yuri V.
Tamayo Méndez, Arnaldo
Tamayo-Mendez first black cosmonaut, and first from Cuba
Soyuz T-3 Nov 27, 1980 Kizim, Leonid D.
Makarov, Oleg G.
Strekalov, Gennady M.
First Soviet crew of 3 since 1971

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Created 13 January 1998, Last Update 14 September 1998