1961 in spaceflight
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For launches in the first half of the year, see 1961 in spaceflight (January–June), for launches in the second half, see 1961 in spaceflight (July–December)
 The Vostok 1 spacecraft, aboard which Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth on 12 April 1961 |
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| Orbital launches | |
|---|---|
| First | 31 January |
| Last | 22 December |
| Total | 50 |
| Successes | 28 |
| Failures | 20 |
| Partial failures | 2 |
| Catalogued | 36 |
| National firsts | |
| Spaceflight |  Italy |
| Space traveller |  Soviet Union United States |
| Rockets | |
| Maiden Flights | Atlas LV-3A Agena-B Kosmos-2I 63S1 Saturn I (suborbital test) |
| Retirements | Atlas LV-3A Agena-A Juno II |
| Manned flights | |
| Orbital | 2 |
| Suborbital | 2 |
| Total travellers | 4 |
Contents |
| ← Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec → |
[edit] Deep Space Rendezvous
| Date (GMT) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 May | Venera 1 | Flyby of Venus | Spacecraft was already non-functional as communication had been lost en route, closest approach: 100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi) |
[edit] Orbital launch summary
[edit] By country
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| Orbital launch attempts by country in 1961 | ||||||
| Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soviet Union |
9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | |
| United States |
41 | 23 | 16 | 2 |
[edit] By rocket
| Rocket | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlas LV-3A Agena-A | United States |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Retired |
| Atlas LV-3A Agena-B | United States |
7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | Maiden flight |
| Atlas LV-3B | United States |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | First orbital launch |
| RM-90 Blue Scout II | United States |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | First orbital launch |
| Juno II | United States |
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | Retired |
| Kosmos-2I 63S1 | Soviet Union |
2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Molniya 8K78 | Soviet Union |
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Scout X-1 | United States |
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| Thor DM-21 Ablestar | United States |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| Thor DM-21 Agena-B | United States |
17 | 11 | 6 | 0 | |
| Thor DM-19 Delta | United States |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Vostok-K 8K72K | Soviet Union |
5 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
[edit] By orbit
| Orbital regime | Launches | Achieved | Not Achieved | Accidentally Achieved | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Earth | 41 | 28 | 13 | 3 | |
| Medium Earth | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| High Earth | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | Including Highly elliptical orbits |
| Heliocentric | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
[edit] References
[edit] Footnotes
| Timeline of spaceflight | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940s | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 | |||||||
| 1950s | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | |||
| 1960s | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | |||
| 1970s | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | |||
| 1980s | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | |||
| 1990s | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | |||
| 2000s | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |||
| 2010s | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |||||||||
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