Table of Contents
For Students
Chronology of crewed spaceflights
- On the Web:
- BBC Audio - The Real Story - The future of space exploration (June 18, 2025)
Crewed spaceflights, 1960–69
Crewed spaceflights during the 1960s are listed chronologically in the table.
| mission | country | crew | dates | notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Vostok 1 | U.S.S.R. | Yury Gagarin | April 12, 1961 | first person in space |
 | Mercury-Redstone 3 (Freedom 7) | U.S. | Alan Shepard | May 5, 1961 | first American in space |
 | Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7) | U.S. | Virgil Grissom | July 21, 1961 | spacecraft sank during splashdown after Grissom's exit |
 | Vostok 2 | U.S.S.R. | Gherman Titov | Aug. 6–7, 1961 | first to spend more than one day in space; youngest person (25 years old) in space |
 | Mercury-Atlas 6 (Friendship 7) | U.S. | John Glenn | Feb. 20, 1962 | first American in orbit |
 | Mercury-Atlas 7 (Aurora 7) | U.S. | Scott Carpenter | May 24, 1962 | part of flight directed by manual control |
| Vostok 3 | U.S.S.R. | Adriyan Nikolayev | Aug. 11–15, 1962 | first simultaneous flight of two spacecraft | |
 | Vostok 4 | U.S.S.R. | Pavel Popovich | Aug. 12–15, 1962 | first simultaneous flight of two spacecraft |
 | Mercury-Atlas 8 (Sigma 7) | U.S. | Walter Schirra, Jr. | Oct. 3, 1962 | first longer-duration U.S. flight (9 hours 13 minutes) |
 | Mercury-Atlas 9 (Faith 7) | U.S. | L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. | May 15–16, 1963 | first U.S. flight longer than one day |
 | Vostok 5 | U.S.S.R. | Valery Bykovsky | June 14–19, 1963 | longest solo spaceflight |
 | Vostok 6 | U.S.S.R. | Valentina Tereshkova | June 16–19, 1963 | first woman in space |
 | X-15 Flight 90 | U.S. | Joseph Walker | July 19, 1963 | first aircraft to fly into space |
| X-15 Flight 91 | U.S. | Joseph Walker | Aug. 22, 1963 | set unofficial altitude record of 108 km (67 miles) | |
| Voskhod 1 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Komarov; Konstantin Feoktistov; Boris Yegorov | Oct. 12–13, 1964 | first multiperson crewed spacecraft; first doctor in space (Yegorov) | |
 | Voskhod 2 | U.S.S.R. | Pavel Belyayev; Aleksey Leonov | March 18–19, 1965 | first person to walk in space (Leonov) |
 | Gemini 3 | U.S. | Virgil Grissom; John Young | March 23, 1965 | first spacecraft to maneuver in orbit |
 | Gemini 4 | U.S. | James McDivitt; Edward White | June 3–7, 1965 | first American to walk in space (White) |
 | Gemini 5 | U.S. | L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.; Charles Conrad | Aug. 21–29, 1965 | new space endurance record (7 days 23 hours) |
 | Gemini 7 | U.S. | Frank Borman; James Lovell, Jr. | Dec. 4–18, 1965 | new space endurance record (13 days 19 hours) |
 | Gemini 6 | U.S. | Walter Schirra, Jr.; Thomas Stafford | Dec. 15–16, 1965 | first rendezvous of two crewed spacecraft (Gemini 6 and 7) |
 | Gemini 8 | U.S. | Neil Armstrong; David Scott | March 16–17, 1966 | first docking of two spacecraft |
 | Gemini 9 | U.S. | Thomas Stafford; Eugene Cernan | June 3–6, 1966 | unable to dock with Agena rocket stage |
 | Gemini 10 | U.S. | John Young; Michael Collins | July 18–21, 1966 | first space walk from one spacecraft to another |
 | Gemini 11 | U.S. | Charles Conrad; Richard Gordon | Sept. 12–15, 1966 | first spacecraft docking on first orbit after launch |
 | Gemini 12 | U.S. | James Lovell, Jr.; Edwin ("Buzz") Aldrin | Nov. 11–15, 1966 | three space walks (Aldrin) that solved problems (exhaustion and suit overheating) from previous flights |
| Soyuz 1 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Komarov | April 23–24, 1967 | first spaceflight casualty; parachute deployed incorrectly during reentry | |
 | Apollo 7 | U.S. | Walter Schirra, Jr.; Donn Eisele; Walter Cunningham | Oct. 11–22, 1968 | first crewed flight of Apollo spacecraft; first illness suffered in space |
| Soyuz 3 | U.S.S.R. | Georgy Beregovoy | Oct. 26–30, 1968 | attempted to dock with uncrewed Soyuz 2 | |
 | Apollo 8 | U.S. | William Anders; Frank Borman; James Lovell, Jr. | Dec. 21–27, 1968 | first to fly around the Moon |
 | Soyuz 4 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Shatalov; Aleksey Yeliseyev (down); Yevgeny Khrunov (down) | Jan. 14–17, 1969 | docked with Soyuz 5 on Jan. 16 |
| Soyuz 5 | U.S.S.R. | Boris Volynov; Aleksey Yeliseyev (up); Yevgeny Khrunov (up) | Jan. 15–18, 1969 | Yeliseyev and Khrunov spacewalked to Soyuz 4 | |
 | Apollo 9 | U.S. | James McDivitt; David Scott; Russell Schweickart | March 3–13, 1969 | test of Lunar Module in Earth orbit |
 | Apollo 10 | U.S. | Thomas Stafford; John Young; Eugene Cernan | May 18–26, 1969 | rehearsal for first Moon landing |
 | Apollo 11 | U.S. | Neil Armstrong; Edwin ("Buzz") Aldrin; Michael Collins | July 16–24, 1969 | first to walk on the Moon (Armstrong and Aldrin) |
 | Soyuz 6 | U.S.S.R. | Georgy Shonin; Valery Kubasov | Oct. 11–16, 1969 | Kubasov performed welding experiments; rendezvous with Soyuz 7 and 8 |
| Soyuz 7 | U.S.S.R. | Anatoly Filipchenko; Vladislav Volkov; Viktor Gorbatko | Oct. 12–17, 1969 | unsuccessful attempt to dock with Soyuz 8 | |
| Soyuz 8 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Shatalov; Aleksey Yeliseyev | Oct. 13–18, 1969 | unsuccessful attempt to dock with Soyuz 7 | |
 | Apollo 12 | U.S. | Charles Conrad; Richard Gordon; Alan Bean | Nov. 14–24, 1969 | landed near uncrewed Surveyor 3 space probe |
