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Encyclopedia entry

Manned Space Firsts

Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.

Who did what when ? -- a list of manned space firsts...

  • 1961 April 12 - Vostok 1. Flight Time: 0.0750 days. First man in space. Record flight duration. Speed (7,844 m-s) and altitude (315 km) records.
  • 1961 May 5 - Mercury MR-3. Flight Time: 0.0107 days. First American in space. First manual orientation of a manned spacecraft.
  • 1961 August 6 - Vostok 2. Flight Time: 1.05 days. Record flight duration. First astronaut to experience space sickness.
  • 1962 February 20 - Mercury MA-6. Flight Time: 0.21 days. First American in orbit.
  • 1962 July 17 - X-15 Flight 62. Flight Time: 0.0072 days. First rocketplane to reach space (USAF definition).
  • 1962 August 11 - Vostok 3. Flight Time: 3.93 days. Record flight duration. First simultaneous flight of two manned spacecraft.
  • 1962 August 12 - Vostok 4. Flight Time: 2.96 days. First Ukrainian astronaut.
  • 1962 October 3 - Mercury MA-8. Flight Time: 0.38 days. Speed record (7,850 m-s).
  • 1963 January 17 - X-15 Flight 77. Flight Time: 0.0065 days. First civilian flight above 80 km.
  • 1963 June 14 - Vostok 5. Flight Time: 4.96 days. Record flight duration.
  • 1963 June 16 - Vostok 6. Flight Time: 2.95 days. First woman in space.
  • 1963 July 19 - X-15 Flight 90. Flight Time: 0.0079 days. First rocketplane to reach space (FAI definition).
  • 1964 October 12 - Voskhod 1. Flight Time: 1.01 days. First multi-crew spaceflight. Altitude record (336 km). First crew to fly without spacesuits.
  • 1965 March 18 - Voskhod 2. Flight Time: 1.08 days. First space walk. Speed (7,892 m-s) and altitude (475 km) records.
  • 1965 March 23 - Gemini 3. Flight Time: 0.20 days. First spacecraft to maneuver in orbit. First flight of Gemini spacecraft. First American to fly twice into space.
  • 1965 June 3 - Gemini 4. Flight Time: 4.08 days. First American space walk. First American long-duration spaceflight.
  • 1965 August 21 - Gemini 5. Flight Time: 7.96 days. First American flight to seize duration record from Soviet Union.
  • 1965 December 4 - Gemini 7. Flight Time: 13.77 days. Record flight duration to that date.
  • 1965 December 15 - Gemini 6. Flight Time: 1.08 days. First rendezvous of two spacecraft.
  • 1966 March 16 - Gemini 8. Flight Time: 0.45 days. First docking of two spacecraft. First American emergency landing.
  • 1966 July 18 - Gemini 10. Flight Time: 2.95 days. First free space walk from one spacecraft to another. First rendezvous with two different spacecraft in one flight. Altitude (763 km) record.
  • 1966 September 12 - Gemini 11. Flight Time: 2.97 days. Speed (8,003 m-s) and altitude (1,372 km) records. First docking with another spacecraft on first orbit after launch. First test of tethered spacecraft.
  • 1966 November 11 - Gemini 12. Flight Time: 3.94 days. First completely successful space walk.
  • 1968 October 11 - Apollo 7. Flight Time: 10.84 days. First manned test of the Apollo spacecraft.
  • 1968 December 21 - Apollo 8. Flight Time: 6.13 days. First manned flight to lunar orbit. Speed (10,807 m-s) and altitude (378,504 km) records.
  • 1969 January 14 - Soyuz 4. Flight Time: 2.97 days. First Russian docking.
  • 1969 January 15 - Soyuz 4-5. Flight Time: 1.99 days. First crew transfer in space.
  • 1969 March 3 - Apollo 9. Flight Time: 10.04 days. First manned test of the Lunar Module. First test of the Apollo space suits. First manned flight of a spacecraft incapable of returning to earth.
  • 1969 May 18 - Apollo 10. Flight Time: 8.00 days. Speed record (11,107 m-s).
  • 1969 July 16 - Apollo 11. Flight Time: 8.14 days. First manned lunar landing.
  • 1969 October 11 - Soyuz 6. Flight Time: 4.95 days. First simultaneous flight of three manned spacecraft. First vacuum welding in space.
  • 1969 October 12 - Soyuz 7. Flight Time: 4.94 days. First simultaneous flight of three manned spacecraft.
  • 1969 October 13 - Soyuz 8. Flight Time: 4.95 days. First simultaneous flight of three manned spacecraft.
  • 1970 April 11 - Apollo 13. Flight Time: 5.95 days. Altitude (401,056 km) record.
  • 1970 June 1 - Soyuz 9. Flight Time: 17.71 days. Record flight duration.
  • 1971 January 31 - Apollo 14. Flight Time: 9.00 days. Only Mercury astronaut to reach moon.
  • 1971 June 6 - Soyuz 11. Flight Time: 23.77 days. First space station mission. Record flight duration.
  • 1971 July 26 - Apollo 15. Flight Time: 12.30 days. First use of lunar rover on moon.
  • 1972 December 7 - Apollo 17. Flight Time: 12.58 days. First geologist to walk on the moon.
  • 1973 May 25 - Skylab 2. Flight Time: 28.03 days. Record flight duration.
  • 1973 July 28 - Skylab 3. Flight Time: 59.46 days. Record flight duration.
  • 1973 November 16 - Skylab 4. Flight Time: 84.05 days. Record flight duration.
  • 1973 December 18 - Soyuz 13. Flight Time: 7.87 days. First Byelorussian astronaut. First space mission devoted to a single scientific instrument.
  • 1974 July 3 - Soyuz 14. Flight Time: 15.73 days. First military space station mission.
  • 1975 January 11 - Soyuz 17. Flight Time: 29.56 days. First successful Russian civilian space station mission.
  • 1975 April 5 - Soyuz 18-1. Flight Time: 0.0149 days. First manned spaceflight abort.
  • 1975 July 15 - Soyuz 19 (ASTP). Flight Time: 5.94 days. First docking between two spacecraft launched from different nations.
  • 1975 July 15 - Apollo (ASTP). Flight Time: 9.06 days. First international joint manned space mission; first docking between two spacecraft launched from different countries.
  • 1977 February 7 - Soyuz 24. Flight Time: 17.73 days. First complete change of cabin atmosphere for a space station.
  • 1977 December 10 - Salyut 6 EO-1. Flight Time: 96.42 days. Record flight duration. First mission to receive visiting crews launched aboard another spacecraft, and to be resupplied by a logistics spacecraft. First Soviet EVA since Voskhod 2.
  • 1978 January 10 - Salyut 6 EP-1. Flight Time: 5.96 days. First docking to a space station of two manned spacecraft at one time. First station 'lifeboat' swap.
  • 1978 March 2 - Salyut 6 EP-2. Flight Time: 7.93 days. First Czech astronaut.
  • 1978 June 15 - Salyut 6 EO-2. Flight Time: 139.62 days. Record flight duration.
  • 1978 June 27 - Salyut 6 EP-3. Flight Time: 7.92 days. First Polish astronaut.
  • 1978 August 26 - Salyut 6 EP-4. Flight Time: 7.87 days. First German astronaut.
  • 1979 February 25 - Salyut 6 EO-3. Flight Time: 175.02 days. Record flight duration.
  • 1979 April 10 - Salyut 6 EP-5-1. Flight Time: 1.96 days. First Bulgarian astronaut.
  • 1980 April 9 - Salyut 6 EO-4. Flight Time: 184.84 days. Record flight duration.
  • 1980 May 26 - Salyut 6 EP-5. Flight Time: 7.87 days. First Hungarian astronaut.
  • 1980 July 23 - Salyut 6 EP-7. Flight Time: 7.86 days. First Vietnamese astronaut.
  • 1980 September 18 - Salyut 6 EP-8. Flight Time: 7.86 days. First Cuban astronaut. First person of African descent to fly in space.
  • 1981 March 22 - Salyut 6 EP-9. Flight Time: 7.86 days. First Mongolian astronaut.
  • 1981 April 12 - STS-1. Flight Time: 2.26 days. First rocketplane flight to orbit. First flight of space shuttle.
  • 1981 May 14 - Salyut 6 EP-10. Flight Time: 7.86 days. First Rumanian astronaut.
  • 1981 November 12 - STS-2. Flight Time: 2.26 days. First reuse of a manned space vehicle. First use of a remote manipulator in space.
  • 1982 March 22 - STS-3. Flight Time: 8.00 days. First space shuttle landing at White Sands.
  • 1982 May 13 - Salyut 7 EO-1. Flight Time: 211.38 days. Record flight duration.
  • 1982 June 24 - Salyut 7 EP-1. Flight Time: 7.91 days. First French astronaut.
  • 1982 June 27 - STS-4. Flight Time: 7.05 days. First Getaway Specials flown.
  • 1982 August 19 - Salyut 7 EP-2. Flight Time: 7.91 days. Second woman in space.
  • 1982 November 11 - STS-5. Flight Time: 5.09 days. Record crew size aboard a single spacecraft. First operational STS mission, first satellite deployment, first four-person spacecraft crew.
  • 1983 April 4 - STS-6. Flight Time: 5.02 days. First flight of space shuttle Challenger. First space walk of Shuttle program
  • 1983 June 18 - STS-7. Flight Time: 6.10 days. First US woman in space. Record crew size aboard a single spacecraft to that date. Thagard flew ahead of his class because NASA desperately wanted a physician to study space sickness, which had severely impacted STS-5 operations.
  • 1983 August 30 - STS-8. Flight Time: 6.05 days. First African-American in space. First shuttle night launch and night landing.
  • 1983 September 26 - Soyuz T-10-1. Flight Time: 0.0001 days. First manned pad abort.
  • 1983 November 28 - STS-9. Flight Time: 10.32 days. First West German to fly in space. First Spacelab mission. Record crew size (six) in a single spacecraft.
  • 1984 February 3 - STS-41-B. Flight Time: 7.97 days. First untethered space walk. First shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center.
  • 1984 February 8 - Salyut 7 EO-3. Flight Time: 236.95 days. Record flight duration.
  • 1984 April 3 - Salyut 7 EP-3. Flight Time: 7.90 days. First Indian astronaut.
  • 1984 April 6 - STS-41-C. Flight Time: 6.99 days. First repair on-orbit of a satellite.
  • 1984 July 17 - Salyut 7 EP-4. Flight Time: 11.80 days. First woman to walk in space.
  • 1984 August 30 - STS-41-D. Flight Time: 6.04 days. First flight of shuttle Discovery.
  • 1984 October 5 - STS-41-G. Flight Time: 8.22 days. First spaceflight to include two women. First American woman to walk in space. First Canadian astronaut. Record crew size aboard a single spacecraft.
  • 1984 November 8 - STS-51-A. Flight Time: 7.99 days. First retrieval and return to earth of a satellite for repair and relaunch.
  • 1985 January 24 - STS-51-C. Flight Time: 3.06 days. First shuttle military mission.
  • 1985 April 12 - STS-51-D. Flight Time: 7.00 days. First politician in space.
  • 1985 June 6 - Salyut 7 EO-4-1a. Flight Time: 168.16 days. First manned operations in a second space station module.
  • 1985 June 6 - Salyut 7 EO-4-1b. Flight Time: 112.13 days. First docking with and repair of dead-in-space station.
  • 1985 June 17 - STS-51-G. Flight Time: 7.07 days. First Saudi astronaut.
  • 1985 August 27 - STS-51-I. Flight Time: 7.10 days. First retrieval, repair, and relaunch of a satellite in orbit.
  • 1985 October 3 - STS-51-J. Flight Time: 4.07 days. First flight of shuttle Atlantis.
  • 1985 October 30 - STS-61-A. Flight Time: 7.03 days. Record crew size aboard a single spacecraft. First Dutch astronaut.
  • 1986 January 28 - STS-51-L. Flight Time: 0.0008 days. First shuttle launch from pad LC-39B.
  • 1986 March 13 - Mir EO-1. Flight Time: 125.00 days. First spacecraft to fly between two space stations.
  • 1987 February 5 - Mir LD-1. Flight Time: 326.48 days. Record flight duration.
  • 1987 July 22 - Mir EP-1. Flight Time: 7.96 days. First Syrian astronaut.
  • 1987 December 21 - Mir EO-3. Flight Time: 365.94 days. Record flight duration.
  • 1988 August 29 - Mir EP-3. Flight Time: 8.85 days. First Afghani astronaut.
  • 1990 December 2 - Mir Kosmoreporter. Flight Time: 7.91 days. First Japanese astronaut.
  • 1991 May 18 - Mir Juno. Flight Time: 7.88 days. First British astronaut.
  • 1991 October 2 - Mir Austromir. Flight Time: 7.93 days. First Austrian astronaut. First Kazakh astronaut.
  • 1992 March 24 - STS-45. Flight Time: 8.92 days. First Belgian astronaut.
  • 1992 May 7 - STS-49. Flight Time: 8.89 days. First flight of shuttle Endeavour. First three-person spacewalk.
  • 1992 June 25 - STS-50. Flight Time: 13.81 days. First extended-duration shuttle mission.
  • 1992 July 31 - STS-46. Flight Time: 7.97 days. First Italian astronaut. First Swiss astronaut.
  • 1992 September 12 - STS-47. Flight Time: 7.94 days. First on-time Shuttle launch since November 1985. First Japanese astronaut. First African-American woman to fly in space. First married couple to fly on the same space mission
  • 1993 April 8 - STS-56. Flight Time: 9.26 days. First radio contact between Shuttle and Mir space station.
  • 1993 June 21 - STS-57. Flight Time: 9.99 days. First flight of Spacehab module.
  • 1993 September 12 - STS-51. Flight Time: 9.84 days. First shuttle night landing in Florida.
  • 1994 January 8 - Mir LD-4. Flight Time: 437.75 days. Record flight duration.
  • 1994 February 3 - STS-60. Flight Time: 8.30 days. First flight of a Russian cosmonaut aboard an American spacecraft.
  • 1994 July 8 - STS-65. Flight Time: 14.75 days. First Japanese woman to fly in space.
  • 1995 February 3 - STS-63. Flight Time: 8.27 days. First African-American to walk in space. First female shuttle pilot. First rendezvous of a shuttle with the Mir space station.
  • 1995 March 2 - STS-67. Flight Time: 16.63 days. First shuttle mission connected to the Internet.
  • 1995 March 14 - Mir EO-18. Flight Time: 115.36 days. First American to fly aboard a Russian spacecraft.
  • 1995 June 27 - Mir EO-19. Flight Time: 75.47 days. First docking of US spacecraft with the Mir space station.
  • 1995 June 27 - STS-71. Flight Time: 9.81 days. First docking of a US spacecraft with the Mir space station.
  • 1996 March 22 - STS-76. Flight Time: 9.22 days. First American EVA on Mir space station.
  • 1997 July 1 - STS-94. Flight Time: 15.70 days. First shuttle mission reflight (same vehicle, crew, and payload as STS-83 mission).
  • 1998 January 23 - STS-89. Flight Time: 8.82 days. First Uzbek astronaut. First flight of Block IIA SSME engines.
  • 1998 June 2 - STS-91. Flight Time: 9.83 days. First shuttle flight with super light-weight external tank.
  • 1998 October 29 - STS-95. Flight Time: 8.91 days. First Spanish astronaut. Oldest man in space, longest gap between two flights for an astronaut.
  • 1998 December 3 - STS-88. Flight Time: 11.80 days. First ISS assembly mission.
  • 1999 February 20 - Mir Stefanik. Flight Time: 7.91 days. First Slovak astronaut.
  • 1999 May 27 - STS-96. Flight Time: 9.80 days. First docking with the ISS.
  • 2000 May 19 - STS-101. Flight Time: 9.84 days. First flight with new 'glass cockpit'.
  • 2000 October 11 - STS-92. Flight Time: 12.90 days. 100th shuttle mission + 100th US spacewalk.
  • 2001 February 7 - STS-98. Flight Time: 12.89 days. Delivered Destiny module, making the ISS heavier than Mir.
  • 2001 April 28 - ISS EP-1. Flight Time: 7.92 days. First space tourist.
  • 2002 April 25 - ISS EP-3. Flight Time: 9.89 days. First South African astronaut.
  • 2002 October 30 - ISS EP-4. Flight Time: 10.87 days. First flight of the Soyuz TMA spacecraft.
  • 2002 November 24 - ISS EO-6. Flight Time: 161.05 days. First station crew to have to return in a lifeboat spacecraft.
  • 2003 January 16 - STS-107. Flight Time: 15.94 days. First Israeli astronaut.
  • 2003 October 15 - Shenzhou 5. Flight Time: 0.89 days. First Chinese man in space.
  • 2004 June 21 - SpaceShipOne Flight 15P. Flight Time: 0.0021 days. First private manned spaceflight.
  • 2004 October 4 - SpaceShipOne Flight 17P. Flight Time: 0.0167 days. Suborbital altitude record for a manned spaceplane
  • 2006 March 30 - ISS EP-10. Flight Time: 9.89 days. First Brazilian astronaut.
  • 2006 September 18 - ISS EP-11. Flight Time: 10.88 days. First female space tourist. First Iranian astronaut.
  • 2006 December 10 - STS-116. Flight Time: 12.86 days. First Swedish astronaut.
  • 2006 December 10 - ISS EO-14-1. Flight Time: 194.75 days. Record duration female mission.
  • 2007 October 10 - ISS EO-16. Flight Time: 191.80 days. First female space station commander.
  • 2008 April 8 - Soyuz TMA-12 ISS EP-14 - Flight Time: 10.88402778 Ko San;Yi Soyeon First Korean astronaut mission. Mission to swap Soyuz lifeboats docked to station.
  • 2008 September 25 - Shenzhou 7 Flight Time: 2.85 days - First Chinese EVA. First Chinese three-crew spaceflight.
  • 2009 March 26 - Soyuz TMA-14 ISS EP-16 Flight Time: 12.81 days - First space tourist to fly to space twice.
  • 2012 June 16 - Shenzhou 9 - Flight Time: 12.64 days - First Chinese space station mission. First Chinese woman in space.