1960 in spaceflight

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[edit] Launches

This is a list of spaceflights launched in 1960.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Launch Date/Time	Rocket	Launch Site	Launch Contractor	Payload	Operator	Orbit	Mission/ Function	Re-Entry/ Destruction	Outcome	Remarks
January 7 01:40 GMT	Atlas D	LC-13, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful
January 26 22:43 GMT	Atlas D	LC-576-A3, Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM operational test	N/A	Failure
January 27 01:31 GMT	Atlas D	LC-13, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful
February 2	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful
February 5	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-3 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	February 5, 1960	Failure
February 12 04:11 GMT	Atlas D	LC-13, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful
February 15	Atlas D Able	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	Pioneer 31	NASA		Lunar exploration	Never left the ground	Failure	Exploded on pad
February 24	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	February 24, 1960	Successful
March 8	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-3 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	March 8, 1960	Failure	Second stage malfunction
March 8 13:10 GMT	Atlas D	LC-11, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 17	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful	First use of internal guidance
March 11 00:36 GMT	Atlas D	LC-13, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Failure	Propulsion system malfunction
March 11 13:00 GMT	Thor-DM18 Able-4	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	NASA	Pioneer 5	NASA	interplanetary	Investigation of interplanetary space	June 26, 1960 (last signal)	Successful	intended as Venus fly-by, reached heliocentric orbit
March 22	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	March 22, 1960	Successful
April 1 11:45 GMT	Thor Able-2	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	NASA	TIROS 1	NASA	LEO	Weather satellite	June 15, 1960	Successful	First successful weather satellite
April 8 02:06 GMT	Atlas D	LC-11, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Failure	Propulsion system malfunction
April 8	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-3 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	April 8, 1960	Failure	Second stage malfunction
April 13	Thor Able-Star	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	DoD	Transit 1B	DoD	LEO	Satellite navigation system	N/A	Successful	First engine restart in space
April 15	Thor-Agena-A	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Discoverer 11 aka KH-1 8	US Air Force	LEO	Spy satellite	N/A	Partial success	Film capsule recovery failed
April 18	Vought Scout X	Wallops Island	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	Test LV	N/A	Failure	Structural Failure during staging. First, last, and only flight of Scout X rocket
April 21	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	April 21, 1960	Successful
April 22 19:39 GMT	Atlas D	LC-576-B2, Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Operational readiness test	N/A	Successful
April 28	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-3 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	April 28, 1960	Successful
May 6 16:47 GMT	Atlas D	LC-576-B2, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Operational readiness test	N/A	Failure
May 13	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	May 4, 1960	Successful
May 15	R-7 8K72 (Vostok/A-1)	Baikonur	RVSN	Korabl-Sputnik 1 (Sputnik IV)	RVSN	LEO	Test prototype Vostok spacecraft		Partial Failure	Guidance malfunction prevented retrofire test, all other aspects successful
May 20 15:00 GMT	Atlas D	LC-12, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful	Record distance for sub-orbital flight - (9040 miles)
May 24 11:30 GMT	Saunders-Roe Black Knight	Woomera	RAE	Gaslight Re-entry vehicle	RAE	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	May 24, 1960	Failure
May 24 17:31 GMT	Atlas-Agena-A	LC-14, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	Midas 2	US Air Force	LEO	Detection of IR-sources	May 26, 1960	Successful
May 27	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	May 27, 1960	Successful
June 4	R-7 (A-1)	Baikonur	RVSN	(none)	N/A	N/A	Operational Readiness Test	N/A	Successful
June 11 06:30 GMT	Atlas D	LC-11, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful
June 21 10:05 GMT	Saunders-Roe Black Knight	Woomera	RAE	Gaslight Re-entry vehicle	RAE	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	June 21, 1960	Successful
June 22 06:00 GMT	Thor-Able-Star	Thor Agena-A	US Navy	Transit 2A	US Navy	LEO	Satellite navigation system	N/A	Successful
June 22 06:00 GMT	Thor-Able-Star	Thor Agena-A	US Navy	Solrad 1	US Navy	LEO	Solar physics	N/A	Successful
June 22 14:49 GMT	Atlas D	LC-14, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Failure	Electrical malfunction
June 24	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	June 24, 1960	Successful
June 28 02:30 GMT	Atlas D	LC-12, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful
July 1	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	July 1, 1960	Failure	Exploded above pad
July 2 00:04 GMT	Scout X-1	Wallops Island	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	Test LV	N/A	Failure	First flight of Scout X-1
July 2 06:58 GMT	Atlas D	LC-11, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Failure	Electrical malfunction
July 22 23:46 GMT	Atlas D	LC-576-B1, Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Failure
July 25 11:54 GMT	Saunders-Roe Black Knight	Woomera	RAE	Gaslight Re-entry vehicle	RAE	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	July 25, 1960	Successful
July 28	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	July 28, 1960	Failure
July 28	R-7 8K72 (Vostok/A-1)	Baikonur	RVSN	Korabl-Sputnik, 2 dogs	RVSN	Intended: LEO	Test prototype Vostok spacecraft	July 28, 1960	Failure	Exploded above pad
July 29 14:13 GMT	Atlas D	LC-14, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	Mercury-Atlas 1	NASA	Intended: LEO	Test Mercury spacecraft	August 9, 1960	Failure	LV exploded
August 9 18:09 GMT	Atlas D	LC-12, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful
August 10	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	August 10, 1960	Successful
August 10 20:38 GMT	Thor Agena-A	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Discoverer 13	US Air Force	LEO	Spy satellite	August 11, 1960	Successful	First successful recovery of object from orbit
August 12 13:00 GMT	Atlas D	LC-11, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful
August 12 09:36 GMT	Delta DM-19	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	NASA	Echo 1	NASA	LEO	Communications satellite (passive)	May 24, 1968	Successful	30.5 m diameter balloon
August 18 19:55 GMT	Thor Agena-A	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Discoverer 14	US Air Force	LEO (polar)	Spy satellite	August 19, 1960	Successful	First aerial recovery from orbit
August 19	R-7 8K72 (Vostok/A-1)	Baikonur	RVSN	Korabl-Sputnik 2 (Sputnik V) various animals and plants	RVSN	LEO	Test prototype Vostok spacecraft		Successful
August 30	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	August 30, 1960	Successful
September 12 20:38 GMT	Atlas D	LC-576-B3, Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Failure
September 13 22:19 GMT	Thor Agena-A	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Discoverer 15	US Air Force	LEO	Spy satellite		Partial failure	capsule recovery failed
September 17 00:50 GMT	Atlas D	LC-11, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful
September 19 18:31 GMT	Atlas D	LC-14, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful
September 21 13:02 GMT	Vought Blue Scout	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	HETS	US Air Force		Investigate radiation		Failure	Spacecraft radio malfunction - no data relayed First Blue Scout launch
September 25	Atlas D Able	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	Pioneer 30	NASA		Lunar exploration.	September 25, 1960	Failure	Exploded during ascent
September 28	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	September 28, 1960	Successful
September 29	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	September 29, 1960	Successful
September 29 20:21 GMT	Atlas D	LC-576-B2, Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Failure
October 4 15:23 GMT	Scout X-1	Wallops Island	US Air Force	USAF Radiation Probe	US Air Force		Investigate radiation		Successful
October 4 17:45 GMT	Thor Able-Star	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	US Army	Courier 1B	US Army	LEO	Communications satellite	October 21, 1960	Successful	First active repeater
October 7	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	October 7, 1960	Successful
October 10 14:27 GMT	Molniya	Baikonur	USSR	Mars 1960A aka Marsnik 1	USSR	intended Mars fly-by	Mars exploration	October 10, 1960	Failure	Destroyed in a launch failure
October 13 04:53 GMT	Atlas D	LC-576-B3, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Failure
October 13 09:34 GMT	Atlas D	LC-11, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful	3 black mice carried aboard and recovered
October 22 05:13 GMT	Atlas D	LC-14, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful
October 24	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	October 24, 1960	Successful
November 3 11:16 GMT	Juno II	LC-26, Cape Canaveral	NASA	Explorer 8	NASA	LEO	Ionospheric exploration	December 27, 1960	Successful
November 8 13:18 GMT	Vought Blue Scout	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	HETS	US Air Force		Investigate magnetosphere		Failure
November 12 20:38 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Discoverer 17	US Air Force	LEO	Spy satellite	November 14, 1960	Successfull
November 15 05:54 GMT	Atlas D	LC-12, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful
November 16 20:35 GMT	Atlas D	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	(none)	N/A	N/A	ICBM Research and Development	N/A	Successful
November 21 14:00 GMT	Redstone	LC-5, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	Mercury-Redstone 1	NASA	Intended: Sub-orbital	Test Mercury spacecraft	T+1 second	Failure	Engine failed at T+1 second, rocket fell back onto the pad without exploding. Launch Escape system fired, but did not remove capsule
November 23 11:13 GMT	Delta DM-19	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	NASA	TIROS 2	NASA	LEO	Weather satellite	January 22, 1961	Successful
December 1 07:30 GMT	R-7 8K72 (Vostok/A-1)	Baikonur	RVSN	Korabl-Sputnik 3 (Sputnik VI), various animals and plants.	RVSN	LEO	Test prototype Vostok spacecraft	December 2, 1960	Failure	Disintergrated during re-entry
December 3	Titan I	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	Never left ground	Failure	Exploded on pad following collapse of tower.
December 4 21:14 GMT	Scout X-1	Wallops Island	US Air Force	Explorer (9) S 56	US Air Force	Intended: LEO	Investigate radiation	December 4, 1960	Failure	Second stage malfunction
December 7 20:38 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Discoverer 18	US Air Force	LEO	Spy satellite	November 10, 1960	Successfull
December 15	Atlas D Able	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	Pioneer 31	NASA		Lunar exploration	December 15, 1960	Failure	Exploded during ascent
December 19 16:15 GMT	Redstone	LC-5, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	Mercury-Redstone 1A	NASA	Sub-orbital	Test Mercury spacecraft	December 19, 1960	Successful
December 20	Titan I	Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	RVX-4 Re-entry vehicle	US Air Force	Sub-orbital	Test Re-entry vehicle	December 20, 1960	Failure
December 20 20:38 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Discoverer 19	US Air Force	LEO	Spy satellite	N/A	Successfull
December 22	R-7 8K72K (Vostok/A-1)	Baikonur	RVSN	Korabl-Sputnik, 2 dogs	RVSN	Intended:LEO	Test prototype Vostok spacecraft	December 22, 1960	Failure	Third stage malfunction. Dogs recovered alive.