List of human spaceflights, 1960s

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For notes, summary and related links, see parent article: List of human spaceflights.

This is a detailed listing of human spaceflights from 1961 to 1969, spanning the Soviet Vostok and Voskhod programs, the start of the Soviet Soyuz program, the American Mercury and Gemini programs, and the the first lunar landings of the American Apollo program.

Note: The USA defines spaceflight as any flight reaching an altitude of 50 miles, while the FAI definition requires an altitude of 100 km. During the 1960s, 13 manned flights of the US X-15 rocket plane met the US criteria and only two the FAI's. This list includes only the latter two flights (see the X-15 article for a list of all 13).

  • Red indicates fatalities.
  • Green indicates suborbital flights (including flights that failed to attain intended orbit).
  • Grey indicates flights to the Moon.
Crew Launch
Spacecraft
Habitation Return
Spacecraft
Brief Mission Summary
1961 launches
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Yuri Gagarin 12 April 1961
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vostok 1
First manned spaceflight; completed one earth orbit.
United States Alan Shepard 5 May 1961
United States Mercury-Redstone 3
(Freedom 7)
First American manned spaceflight; suborbital (altitude 116 miles).
United States Virgil "Gus" Grissom 21 July 1961
United States Mercury-Redstone 4
(Liberty Bell 7)
Second American manned suborbital flight (altitude 118 miles).
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Gherman Titov 6 August 1961
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vostok 2
7 August 1961
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vostok 2
Day-long flight; completed 17 earth orbits.
Brief manual control by pilot.
1962 launches
United States John Glenn 20 February 1962
United States Mercury-Atlas 6 (Friendship 7)
First American manned orbital flight; completed 3 orbits.
United States Scott Carpenter 24 May 1962
United States Mercury-Atlas 7 (Aurora 7)
First manual retrofire.
Earth photography and study of liquids in weightless conditions.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Andrian Nikolayev 11 August 1962
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vostok 3
15 August 1962
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vostok 3
First instance of two manned spacecraft in orbit simultaneously.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Pavel Popovich 12 August 1962
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vostok 4
15 August 1962
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vostok 4
United States Wally Schirra 3 October 1962
United States Mercury-Atlas 8 (Sigma 7)
First flawless Mercury mission.
1963 launches
United States Gordon Cooper 15 May 1963
United States Mercury-Atlas 9 (Faith 7)
First live TV from U.S. astronaut.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Valery Bykovsky 14 June 1963
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vostok 5
19 June 1963
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vostok 5
Longest solo spaceflight.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Valentina Tereshkova 16 June 1963
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vostok 6
19 June 1963
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vostok 6
First woman in space.
United States Joseph A. Walker 19 July 1963
United States X-15 Flight 90
First winged craft in space; reached altitude of 106 km.
United States Joseph A. Walker 23 August 1963
United States X-15 Flight 91
Reached altitude of 108 km.
Walker becomes first person to fly into space twice.
1964 launches
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vladimir Komarov
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Konstantin Feoktistov
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Boris Yegorov
12 October 1964
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Voskhod 1
13 October 1964
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Voskhod 1
First multiple person spaceflight.
Biomedical research.
1965 launches
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Aleksei Leonov
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Pavel Belyayev
18 March 1965
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Voskhod 2
19 March 1965
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Voskhod 2
First EVA.
United States Virgil "Gus" Grissom
United States John W. Young
23 March 1965
United States Gemini 3
First to perform orbital maneuvers.
United States James McDivitt
United States Edward White
3 June 1965
United States Gemini 4
7 June 1965
United States Gemini 4
First American EVA.
United States Gordon Cooper
United States Charles Conrad
21 August 1965
United States Gemini 5
29 August 1965
United States Gemini 5
First one week spaceflight.
United States Frank Borman
United States James Lovell
4 December 1965
United States Gemini 7
18 December 1965
United States Gemini 7
First two week spaceflight.
First space rendezvous (with Gemini 6A).
United States Walter Schirra
United States Thomas Stafford
15 December 1965
United States Gemini 6A
16 December 1965
United States Gemini 6A
First space rendezvous (with Gemini 7).
1966 launches
United States Neil Armstrong
United States David Scott
16 March 1966
United States Gemini 8
17 March 1966
United States Gemini 8
First docking in space (with Agena Target Vehicle).
United States Thomas Stafford
United States Eugene Cernan
3 June 1966
United States Gemini 9A
6 June 1966
United States Gemini 9A
First backup crew to fly space mission.
United States John W. Young
United States Michael Collins
18 July 1966
United States Gemini 10
21 July 1966
United States Gemini 10
First rendezvous with two different objects.
United States Pete Conrad
United States Richard Gordon
12 September 1966
United States Gemini 11
15 September 1966
United States Gemini 11
Held altitude record prior to lunar missions (1374 km).
United States Jim Lovell
United States Buzz Aldrin
11 November 1966
United States Gemini 12
15 November 1966
United States Gemini 12
First manual rendezvous.
Miscellaneous scientific experiments.
1967 launches
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vladimir Komarov 23 April 1967
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soyuz 1
24 April 1967
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soyuz 1
Crashed on re-entry; first fatality during spaceflight.
1968 launches
United States Wally Schirra
United States Donn Eisele
United States Walter Cunningham
11 October 1968
United States Apollo 7
22 October 1968
United States Apollo 7
First three person U.S. crew. Launched ten months after Apollo 1 fatalities.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Georgi Beregovoi 26 October 1968
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soyuz 3
30 October 1968
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soyuz 3
Failed to dock with unmanned Soyuz 2.
United States Frank Borman
United States Jim Lovell
United States William A. Anders
21 December 1968
United States Apollo 8
27 December 1968
United States Apollo 8
First manned lunar orbit.
1969 launches
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vladimir Shatalov 14 January 1969
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soyuz 4
17 January 1969
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soyuz 4
First crew transfer between space vehicles.
First docking of two-man spacecraft.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Aleksei Yeliseyev
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Yevgeny Khrunov
15 January 1969
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soyuz 5
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Boris Volynov 18 January 1969
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soyuz 5
United States James McDivitt
United States David Scott
United States Rusty Schweickart
3 March 1969
United States Apollo 9
13 March 1969
United States Apollo 9
Tested Lunar Module in low Earth orbit.
United States Tom Stafford
United States John W. Young
United States Gene Cernan
18 May 1969
United States Apollo 10
26 May 1969
United States Apollo 10
Tested Lunar Module in low lunar orbit.
United States Neil Armstrong
United States Michael Collins
United States Buzz Aldrin
16 July 1969
United States Apollo 11
24 July 1969
United States Apollo 11
First lunar landing.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Georgi Shonin
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Valeri Kubasov
11 October 1969
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soyuz 6
16 October 1969
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soyuz 6
First three craft spaceflight
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Anatoli Filipchenko
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vladislav Volkov
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Viktor Gorbatko
12 October 1969
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soyuz 7
17 October 1969
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soyuz 7
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Vladimir Shatalov
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Aleksei Yeliseyev
13 October 1969
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soyuz 8
18 October 1969
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soyuz 8
United States Pete Conrad
United States Dick Gordon
United States Alan Bean
14 November 1969
United States Apollo 12
24 November 1969
United States Apollo 12
Second lunar landing; precision landing near Surveyor 3.
Continued at List of human spaceflights, 1970s
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