A selected timeline 1961-2012

1961

Apr

May

Aug

Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to fly in space and completes one orbit Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space on a suborbital flight Gherman Titov is launched on the first 24 h mission (of 17 orbits)

1962

Feb

Jul

Aug

John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth (with 3 orbits) First X-15 flight to exceed 50 miles (Robert White)

Andrian Nikolayev sets new endurance record (3 da 22 h)

1963

Jun

Aug

Valeri Bykovsky sets new endurance record (4 da 23 h) Valentina Tereshkova becomes first woman in space (2 da 22 h) Highest X-15 flight (66.75 miles) (Joseph Walker)

1964

Oct

First multiperson space crew (three cosmonauts on Voskhod 1 First civilians in space

1965

Mar

Mar

Jun

Aug

Dec

Alexei Leonov becomes first person to walk in space First U. S. multiperson crew (two astronauts on Gemini 3) Ed White becomes first American to walk in space Gemini 5 sets new endurance record (7 da 22 h)

Cooper becomes first person to orbit Earth a second time Gemini 7 sets new endurance record (13 da 18h)

First space rendezvous (Gemini 6 with Gemini 7)

1966

Mar

Sep

First space docking (Gemini 8 with Agena unmanned target vehicle)

Gemini 11 attains highest altitude of Earth orbital manned flight (850 miles)

1967

Jan

Apr

Three Apollo 1 astronauts killed in pad fire

Soyuz 1 pilot Vladimir Komarov killed during landing phase

1967

Oct

Nov

(icont.)

X-15 fastest flight (4,520mph or Mach 6.7 by Pete Knight)

X-15 pilot Michael Adams is killed in crash of #3 aircraft after reaching 50.4 miles

1968

Aug

Oct

Dec

Thirteenth and final X-15 astro-flight First three-man Apollo flight (Apollo 7)

Schirra becomes first person to make three orbital space flights Apollo 8 becomes first lunar orbital mission

1969

Jan

Mar

May

Jul

Oct

Nov

Soyuz 5/4 first manned docking and crew transfer (by EVA) Manned test of LM in Earth orbit (Apollo 9)

Manned test of LM in lunar orbit (Apollo 10)

First manned lunar landing (Apollo 11)

First three-spacecraft (Soyuz 6, 7, 8) operations Second manned lunar landing (Apollo 12)

1970

Apr

Jun

Apollo 13 aborted lunar landing mission

Lovell becomes first to fly in space four times

Soyuz 9 cosmonauts set new endurance record (17 da 16 h)

1971

Feb

Apr

Jun

Jul

Third manned lunar landing (Apollo 14)

Launch of world’s first space station (Salyut, which de-orbits October 1971) First space station (Salyut) crew Killed during entry phase (Soyuz 11)

Fourth manned lunar landing (Apollo 15)

1972

Apr

Dec

Fifth manned lunar landing (Apollo 16)

Sixth and final (Apollo) manned lunar landing (Apollo 17)

1973

Apr

May

Jul

Nov

Salyut 2 (Almaz) fails in orbit (de-orbits in 26 days)

Launch of unmanned Skylab (re-enters Jul 1979)

First Skylab crew sets new endurance record of 28 days Second Skylab crew increases endurance record (59 days 11 h) Third and final Skylab crew increases endurance record (84 da 1 h)

1974

Jun

Jul

Dec

Launch of Salyut 3 (Almaz), which de-orbits January 1975 First successful Soviet space station mission (Soyuz 14) Launch of Salyut 4 (de-orbits February 1977)

1975

Apr

Jul

Soyuz 18-1 crew survive launch abort

Soyuz 19 and Apollo dock in space (first international mission)

1977

Sep

Dec

Salyut 6 launched (de-orbits July 1982)

First Salyut 6 resident crew set new endurance record (96 da lOh)

1978

Jan

Mar

Jun

First Soyuz exchange mission (Soyuz 27 for Soyuz 26)

First Soviet Interkosmos mission (Czechoslovakian)

First non-Soviet, non-American person in space (Remek) Second Salyut 6 crew sets new endurance record (139 da 14 h)

1979

Feb

Third Salyut 6 resident crew increases endurance record (175 da)

1980

Apr

Jun

Fourth Salyut 6 resident crew increases endurance record (187 da 20 h) First manned flight of Soyuz T variant

1981

Apr

Nov

First Shuttle launch (Columbia STS-1) on 20th anniversary of Gagarin’s flight John Young becomes first to make five space flights.

First return to space by manned spacecraft (Columbia STS-2)

1982

Apr

May

Nov

Salyut 7 launched (de-orbits February 1991)

First Salyut 7 resident crew sets new endurance record (211 da 9 h)

First “operational” Shuttle mission (STS-5) is also the first four-person launch

1983

Apr

Jun

Sep

Nov

First flight of Challenger

Sally Ride becomes first U. S. woman in space during STS-7 First five-person launch Soyuz T10-1 launchpad abort First Spacelab mission (STS-9)

First six-person launch

John Young flies record sixth mission

1984

Feb

Feb

Jul

Aug

Oct

First use of MMU (STS-41-B) on untethered space walks Third Salyut 7 resident crew sets new endurance record (236 da 22 h) Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to walk in space (Soyuz T12/Salyut 7)

First flight of Discovery (STS-41-D)

First seven-person launch (STS-41-G)

Kathy Sullivan becomes first American woman to walk in space

1985

Jan

Jul

Oct

Oct

First classified DOD Shuttle mission (STS-51C) First Shuttle abort-to-orbit profile (STS-5IF) First flight of Atlantis (STS-51J)

First eight-person launch (STS-61A)

1986

Jan

Feb

Mar

Challenger and its crew of seven lost 73 seconds after launch (STS-51L) Mir core module launched unmanned First resident crew to Mir (Soyuz T-15)

1987

Feb

Dec

Second Mir resident crew sets new endurance record (326 da 11 h)

First manned Soyuz TM variant

First flight of over a year as third Mir resident crew sets endurance record (365 da 22 h)

1988

Sep

Shuttle retum-to-flight mission (STS-26)

1990

Apr

Hubble Space Telescope deployment (STS-31)

1992

May

First flight of Endeavour (STS-49)

1993

Dec

First Hubble Service Mission (STS-61)

1994

Jan

Feb

Valeri Polyakov sets new endurance record (437 da 17 h) for one mission (lands March 1995)

First Russian cosmonaut to fly on Shuttle (Krikalev during STS-60)

1995

Feb

Mar

Jul

Nov

First Shuttle-Міг rendezvous (STS-63/Mir)

Eileen Collins becomes first female Shuttle pilot First American launched on Soyuz (Thagard on Soyuz TM-21) First Shuttle docking with Mir (STS-71, Thagard down) Second Shuttle-Міг docking (STS-74)

1996

Mar

Sep

Nov

Third Shuttle-Міг docking (STS-76, Lucid up)

Fourth Shuttle-Міг docking (STS-79, Lucid down, Blaha up) Longest Shuttle mission (17da 15h, STS-80)

Musgrave becomes only astronaut to fly all five orbiters

1997

Jan

Feb

May

Jun

Sep

Fifth Shuttle-Міг docking (STS-81, Blaha down, Linenger up)

Second Hubble Service Mission (STS-82)

Sixth Shuttle-Міг docking (STS-81, Linenger down, Foale up)

Collision between unmanned Progress vessel and Mir space station damages Spektr module

Seventh Shuttle-Міг docking (STS-86, Foale down, Wolf up)

1998

Jan

Jun

Oct

Nov

Dec

Eighth Shuttle-Міг docking (STS-89, Wolf down, Thomas up)

Ninth and final Shuttle-Міг docking (STS-91, Thomas down)

John Glenn returns to space aged 77 (36 years after his first space flight) First ISS element launched (Zarya FGB)

First ISS Shuttle mission (STS-88)

1999

Jul

Aug

Dec

Eileen Collins becomes first female U. S. mission commander (STS-93) Mir vacated for first time in 10 years Third Hubble Service Mission (STS-103)

2000

Apr

Oct

Last (28th) Mir resident crew (72 da) First ISS resident crew launched

2001

Mar

Apr

Mir space station de-orbits after 15 years’ service

Dennis Tito becomes first space flight participant or “tourist”

2002

Mar

Apr

Oct

Fourth Hubble Service Mission (STS-109)

Jerry Ross becomes first person to fly seven missions in space First manned flight of Soyuz TMA

2003

Feb

Apr

Oct

Columbia and crew of seven lost during entry phase of mission STS-107

ISS assumes two-person caretaker crews

First Chinese manned space flight (Shenzhou 5)

Yang Liwei becomes first Chinese national in space

2004

Sep

Oct

SpaceShipOne flies to 337,500 ft (102.87 km)

SpaceShipOne flies to 367,442ft (111.99km) and wins $10 million X-Prize

2005

Jul

Oct

First post-Columbia (STS-107) Shuttle retum-to-flight mission (STS-114) First Chinese two-man space flight (Shenzhou 6)

2006

Jul

Aug

Sep

Second post Columbia (STS-107) Shuttle retum-to-flight mission (STS-121) ISS returns to three-person capability Resumption of ISS construction (STS-115)

2007

Aug

Oct

Barbara Morgan becomes the first educator astronaut (teacher) in space (STS-118)

Peggy Whitson becomes first female space station commander (TMA-11/ISS-16)

2008

Apr

Sep

Oct

Sergei Volkov becomes first son of a cosmonaut (Aleksandr Volkov) to fly in space

Zhai Zhigang becomes first Chinese to perform EVA (Shenzhou 7)

Richard Garriott becomes first son of an astronaut (Owen Garriott) to fly in space

2009

May

Final Hubble Service Mission (SM4) Final Shuttle-based EVAs (STS-125)

May

Six-person ISS resident crew operations commence (ISS-20)

Nov

Final ISS crew member to return by Shuttle (Stott on STS-129)

2010

Oct

Maiden launch of Soyuz TMA-M spacecraft

2011

Feb

Final flight (39th) of OV-103 Discovery (STS-133)

Apr

Soyuz TMA-21 (call sign Gagarin) celebrates 50 years of human space flight

May

Final (25th) flight of OV-105 Endeavour Final EVAs by Shuttle crew members (STS-134) ISS assembly complete

Jul

Final Shuttle mission (STS-135)

Final flight (33rd) of OV-104 Atlantis

2012

Jun

First Chinese space station crew (Shenzhou 9, which lasted 13 days) First Chinese female citizen in space (Liu Yang)