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