Human Space Flight Timeline
This human space flight timeline lists, chronologically, all of the missions from Yuri Gagarin's flight in 1961 to the final Apollo lunar landing in 1972 as well as key test flights using animals
RED - Soviet Union | BLUE - United States | GREY - test flights with animals
1957 | |||||
Sputnik 2 |
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Laika (dog) | launched Nov 3, 1957 | 162 days ~2,000 orbits |
first living creature to be sent into orbit; Laika died within a few hours due to overheating and stress |
1960 | |||||
Sputnik 5 |
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Belka, Strelka (dogs) | Aug 19, 1960 | ~1 day 16 orbits |
first animals to orbit the earth and return safetly |
Sputnik 6 |
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Pchyolka, Mushka (dogs) | Dec 2, 1960 | ~1 day 18 orbits |
Disintegrated on re-entry; dogs did not survive |
1961 | |||||
Mercury-Redstone 2 |
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Ham (chimpanzee) | Jan 31, 1961 | ~15 min SUBORBITAL |
first hominid in space |
Sputnik 9 |
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Chernushka (dog), guinea pig, dummy cosmonaut | Mar 9, 1961 | ~101 min 1 orbit |
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Sputnik 10 |
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Zvezdochka (dog), dummy cosmonaut | Mar 25, 1961 | ~106 min 1 orbit |
final test flight before the all-important Vostok 1 |
Vostok 1 |
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Yuri Gagarin | Apr 12, 1961 | ~108 min 1 orbit |
first person in space and first person in orbit (landing was done by parachute, as was all the Vostok missions) |
Mercury-Redstone 3 |
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Alan Shepard | May 5, 1961 | ~15 min SUBORBITAL |
first American in space and first person to travel to space and return in the same vehicle |
Mercury-Redstone 4 |
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Gus Grissom | July 21, 1961 | ~15 min SUBORBITAL |
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Vostok 2 |
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Gherman Titov | Aug 6-7, 1961 | ~1 day 17 orbits |
youngest person to ever travel to space (at age 25) |
Mercury-Atlas 5 |
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Enos (chimpanzee) | Nov 29, 1961 | ~3 hrs 2 orbits |
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1962 | |||||
Mercury-Atlas 6 |
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John Glenn | Feb 20, 1962 | ~5 hrs 3 orbits |
first American in orbit and first person to orbit the earth and return in the same vehicle |
Vostok 3 & 4 |
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Andrian Nikolayev | Aug 11-15, 1962 | ~4 days 64 orbits |
first time two spacecrafts were in space at the same time |
| Pavel Popovich | Aug 12-15, 1962 | ~3 days 48 orbits |
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Mercury-Atlas 7 |
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Scott Carpenter | May 24, 1962 | ~5 hrs 3 orbits |
this flight was originally assigned to be flown by Deke Slayton but Slayton was grounded due to a heart murmur (Slayton was the only member of the "Mercury 7" not to fly a Mercury mission; he did however fly during the later Apollo-Soyuz mission) |
Mercury-Atlas 8 |
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Wally Schirra | Oct 3, 1962 | ~9 hrs 6 orbits |
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1963 | |||||
Mercury-Atlas 9 |
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Gordon Cooper | May 15-16, 1963 | ~1.5 days 22 orbits |
only Mercury flight longer than one day |
Vostok 5 & 6 |
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Valery Bykovsky | Jun 14-19, 1963 | ~5 days 82 orbits |
longest ever solo flight |
| Valentina Tereshkova | Jun 16-19, 1963 | ~3 days 48 orbits |
first woman in space/orbit | ||
X-15 Flight 90 |
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Joe Walker | Jul 19, 1963 | seconds? SUBORBITAL |
first rocket plane to reach space |
X-15 Flight 91 |
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Joe Walker | Aug 22, 1963 | seconds? SUBORBITAL |
first person to travel to space twice |
1964 | |||||
Voskhod 1 |
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Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov, Boris Yegorov | Oct 12-13, 1964 | ~1 day 16 orbits |
first multi-person spaceflight and the first without spacesuits |
1965 | |||||
Voskhod 2 |
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Pavel Belyayev, Alexei Leonov | Mar 18-19, 1965 | ~1 day 17 orbits |
first ever space walk (by Leonov), lasting about 12 minutes |
Gemini 3 |
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Gus Grissom (of Mercury-Redstone 4), John Young | Mar 23, 1965 | ~5 hrs 3 orbits |
first two-person spaceflight by the US and the first spaceflight in which a change in orbit took place |
Gemini 4 |
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James McDivitt, Ed White | Jun 3-7, 1965 | ~4 days 62 orbits |
first US space walk (by White), lasting about 22 minutes |
Gemini 5 |
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Gordon Cooper (of Mercury-Atlas 9), Pete Conrad | Aug 21-29, 1965 | ~8 days 120 orbits |
first spaceflight longer than one week |
Gemini 7 & 6A |
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Frank Borman, Jim Lovell | Dec 4-18, 1965 | ~2 weeks 206 orbits |
first time the US had two spacecrafts in space at the same time; the two spacecrafts were maneuvered to within one foot of each other |
| Wally Schirra (of Mercury-Atlas 8), Thomas Stafford | Dec 15-16, 1965 | ~1 day 16 orbits |
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1966 | |||||
Cosmos 110 |
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Veterok, Ugolyok (dogs) | Feb 22 - Mar 16, 1966 | ~22 days | longest spaceflight during the 1960's |
Gemini 8 |
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Neil Armstrong, David Scott | Mar 16-17, 1966 | ~11 hrs 7 orbits |
first ever docking with another spacecraft (the Agena target vehicle, launched separately); however, a system failure forced the mission to be aborted early, making it the first major in-space emergency |
Gemini 9A |
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Thomas Stafford (of Gemini 6A), Eugene Cernan | Jun 3-6, 1966 | ~3 days 47 orbits |
first flight by a backup crew (the original crew members assigned to this flight were killed three months earlier in a plane crash) |
Gemini 10 |
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John Young (of Gemini 3), Michael Collins | Jul 18-21, 1966 | ~3 days 43 orbits |
included rendezvous with both a newly launched Agena and the Agena from Gemini 8 |
Gemini 11 |
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Pete Conrad (of Gemini 5) and Richard Gordon | Sep 12-15, 1966 | ~3 days 44 orbits |
highest Earth orbit ever achieved by a manned spacecraft at 1,370 km |
Gemini 12 |
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Jim Lovell (of Gemini 7), Buzz Aldrin | Nov 11-15, 1966 | ~4 days 59 orbits |
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1967 | |||||
Apollo 1 |
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Gus Grissom (of Mercury-Redstone 2 & Gemini 3), Ed White (of Gemini 4), Roger Chaffee | scheduled for Feb 21, 1967 |
DID NOT FLY - about one month before the scheduled flight, an accidental fire in the cockpit killed the crew and destroyed the spacecraft | |
Soyuz 1 |
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Vladimir Komarov (of Voskhod 1) | Apr 23-24, 1967 | first fatality during a spaceflight (spacecraft crash landed) | |
1968 | |||||
Zond 5 |
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two tortoises and other biologicals | Sep 15-21, 1968 | ~6 days | first spacecraft to fly to the moon in back; first living creatures to fly to the moon and back |
Apollo 7 |
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Wally Schirra (of Mercury-Atlas 8 & Gemini 6A), Donn Eisele, Walter Cunningham | Oct 11-22, 1968 | ~11 days | first flight of the Apollo spacecraft; tests performed within Earth orbit only |
Soyuz 2 & 3 |
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Georgi Beregovoi | Oct 26-30, 1968 | ~4 days | unsuccessful attempt to dock with the unmanned Soyuz 2 |
Zond 6 |
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several biologicals | Nov 10-27, 1968 | ~6 days | second spacecraft to fly to the moon and back; crash landed on return |
Apollo 8 |
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Frank Borman (of Gemini 7), Jim Lovell (of Gemini 7 & 12), William Anders | Dec 21-27, 1968 | ~6 days | first manned mission to escape Earth's gravity and pass through the Van Allen radiation belt; after a journey of about 3 days, the spacecraft entered lunar orbit, orbiting the moon 10 times over a period of approximately one day; on their fourth orbit, they became the first humans to see Earthrise and captured a famous photo of the moment; later, during a live TV transmission on Christmas Eve, the crew read Genesis 1:1-10 |
1969 | |||||
Soyuz 4 & 5 |
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Vladimir Shatalov, Boris Volynov, Aleksei Yeliseyev, Yevgeny Khrunov | Jan 14-17, 1969 | ~4 days | Soyuz 4 launched with 1 cosmonaut and Soyuz 5 a day later with 3; during the mission, the two spacecrafts docked and 2 cosmonauts transferred from Soyuz 5 to 4 by space walking |
Apollo 9 |
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James McDivitt (of Gemini 4), David Scott (of Gemini 8), Russell Schweickart | Mar 3-13, 1969 | ~10 days | first test of the lunar module (this was done within Earth orbit); first ever internal crew transfer |
Apollo 10 |
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Thomas Stafford (of Gemini 6A & 9A), John Young (of Gemini 3 & 10), Eugene Cernan (of Gemini 9A) | May 18-26, 1969 | ~8 days | second flight to the moon; the crew did not land but tested the Lunar Module and came within about 15 km of the surface; on the way home, they set a record for the highest speed ever attained by a manned vehicle at nearly 40,000 km/hr |
Apollo 11 |
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Neil Armstrong (of Gemini 8), Michael Collins (of Gemini 10), Buzz Aldrin (of Gemini 12) Note: astronauts who walked on the moon are highlighted in orange |
July 16-24, 1969 | ~8 days ~1 day on moon (~2.5 hrs outside spacecraft) |
first humans to land on the moon (Armstrong & Aldrin); landed at the Sea of Tranquility |
Soyuz 6, 7 & 8 |
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Georgi Shonin, Valeri Kubasov | Oct 11-16, 1969 | ~5 days | first time three spacecraft were in space at the same time; Soyuz 7 & 8 were to dock and transfer crews while Soyuz 6 filmed the event but equipment failures led to the failure of this objective |
| Anatoli Filipchenko, Vladislav Volkov, Viktor Gorbatko | Oct 12-17, 1969 | ~ 5 days | |||
| Vladimir Shatalov (of Soyuz 4/5), Aleksei Yeliseyev (of Soyuz 4/5) | Oct 13-18, 1969 | ~5 days | |||
Apollo 12 |
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Pete Conrad (of Gemini 5 & 11), Richard Gordon (of Gemini 11), Alan Bean | Nov 14-24, 1969 | ~10 days ~1 day on moon (~8 hrs outside spacecraft) |
second lunar landing; crew visited the landing site of the Surveyor 3 probe |
1970 | |||||
Apollo 13 |
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Jim Lovell (of Gemini 7 & 12 & Apollo 8), Jack Swigert, Fred Haise | Apr 11-17, 1970 | ~6 days | was supposed to be a lunar landing mission but became a circumlunar abort mission due to an oxygen tank leak; the astronauts had to transfer to the Lunar Module for most of the journey home |
Soyuz 9 |
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Andrian Nikolayev (of Vostok 3), Vitali Sevastyanov | June 1-19, 1970 | ~18 days 288 orbits |
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1971 | |||||
Apollo 14 |
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Alan Shepard (of Mercury-Redstone 1), Stuart Roosa, Edgar Mitchell | Jan 31 - Feb 9, 1971 | ~9 days ~1 day on moon (~9 hrs outside spacecraft) |
third lunar landing mission; during this mission, Shepard hit two golf balls on the moon and Roosa brought along several hundred seeds (which were later planted on earth and became known as "moon trees") |
Soyuz 10 |
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Vladimir Shatalov (of Soyuz 4/5 & Soyuz 8), Aleksei Yeliseyev (of Soyuz 4/5 & Soyuz 8), Nikolai Rukavishnikov | Apr 23-25, 1971 | ~2 days | unsuccessful attempt to dock with the space station Salyut 1 |
Soyuz 11 |
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Georgi Dobrovolski, Vladislav Volkov (of Soyuz 7), Valeri Kubasov | Jun 6-30, 1971 | ~24 days | first sucessful docking with a space station (Salyut 1); the cosmonauts stayed at the station for 22 days, however after returning to the Soyuz 11 spacecraft and preparing for their re-entry, the capsule depressurized, killing the crew; to date, this incident marks the only deaths to ever occur in space |
Apollo 15 |
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David Scott (of Gemini 8 & Apollo 9), Alfred Worden and James Irwin | Jul 26 - Aug 7, 1971 | ~12 days ~3 days on moon (~19 hrs outside spacecraft) |
fourth lunar landing mission and first of the longer 'J missions'; first use of the lunar rover; first-ever space walk outside of earth orbit (done on the return trip) |
1972 | |||||
Apollo 16 |
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John Young (of Gemini 3 & 10 & Apollo 10), Ken Mattingly and Charles Duke | Apr 16-27, 1972 | ~11 days ~3 days on moon (~20 hrs outside spacecraft) |
fifth lunar landing |
Apollo 17 |
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Eugene Cernan (of Gemini 9A & Apollo 10), Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt | Dec 7-19, 1972 | ~12.5 days ~3 days on moon (~22 hrs outside spacecraft) |
sixth and final lunar landing |