1970 in spaceflight

1970 saw Japan and China launch their first rockets and satellites. Apollo 13 was launched; after suffering an explosion in deep space it had to circumnavigate the moon and use the LM as a life boat. Apollo 13 was a successful disaster in which the crew survived. The Soviet space program launched lunar rovers this was known as the Lunokhod program. Also continued success of the Venera 7 Venus probes in which it became the first man-made spacecraft to successfully land on another planet and to transmit data from there back to Earth survived 23 minutes on the surface before being crushed.

Launches

This is a list of spaceflights launched in 1970.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Launch Date/Time	Rocket	Launch Site	Launch Contractor	Payload	Operator	Orbit	Mission/ Function	Re-Entry/ Destruction	Outcome	Remarks
February 11 GMT	Lambda-4S	Kagoshima	Japan	Ōsumi	Tokyo univ.	LEO	Technology	August 2, 2003	Successful	First satellite launched by Japan
March 3 21:15 GMT	Black Arrow	Woomera	RAE	(none)	N/A	N/A	Test LV	N/A	Successful
April 11 19:13 GMT	Saturn V (C-5)	LC-39A, Kennedy	NASA	Apollo 13 CSM Odyssey	NASA	Intended: Lunar orbit Actual: Lunar free return	Manned Lunar orbit.	April 15, 1970	Failure	Explosion in Service Module crippled spacecraft, resulting in mission abort.
				Apollo 13 LM Aquarius	NASA	Intended: Lunar landing Actual: Lunar free return	Manned lunar landing	April 15, 1970	Failure	Mission aborted due to CSM malfunction. LM used to help bring crew back to Earth.
April 24	Long March 1 Rocket	Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center	PRC	Dong Fang Hong I	PRC	LEO	Test satellite	In orbit	Successful	First satellite launched by China
June 1 19:00 GMT	Soyuz (R-7/A-2)	LC-1/5, Baikonur	RVSN	Soyuz 9 2 Cosmonauts	RVSN	LEO	Manned Orbital Spaceflight	June 19, 1970 11:58 GMT	Successful	Longest Manned flight involving only one spacecraft. (As of 09/06/06)
June 1 19:00 GMT	Black Arrow	Woomera	RAE	Orba	RAE	LEO	Micrometeoroid detection satellite	June 19, 1970 11:58 GMT	Failure	First British attempt to launch a satellite. Failed to reach orbit after premature 2nd stage cutout.
December 12 10:54 GMT	Scout B	San Marco mobile range, Kenya	CRA	Uhuru	NASA	LEO	X-ray astronomy	Still in orbit	Successful	First satellite dedicated to X-ray astronomy.

Deep Space Rendez-vous in 1970

• April 15 — Apollo 13 lunar flyby at 254 km (sample return mission)
• September 20 — Luna 16, 100g from Mare Fecunditatis (sample return mission)
• October 24 — Zond 8 circumlunar flight of the Moon (1,110 km)
• November 17 — Luna 17 delivered Lunokhod 1 at Mare Imbrium
• December 15 — Venera 7 atmospheric probe worked for 23 min on the Venerian surface

References

Kyle, Ed. "Space Launch Report".  Wade, Mark. "Encyclopedia Astronautica".  Krebs, Gunter. "Chronology of Space Launches". Gunter's Space Page.  "Space Information Center". JAXA.  McDowell, Jonathan. "Jonathan's Space Report". Jonathan's Space Page.  "Mission Set Database". NASA GSFC.  "NASASpaceFlight.com".  "Launch Logs". Orbital Report News Agency.  "Space Calendar". NASA JPL.  "Southwest Space Archive".  "Launch Forecast". Space.com.  "Spaceflight Now".  Pietrobon, Steven. "Steven Pietrobon's Space Archive".  "U.S. Space Objects Registry".  "Хроника освоения космоса ('Chronicle of space exploration')" (in Russian). Cosmoworld.ru.

Generic references:

Preceded by 1969

Timeline of spaceflight 1970

Succeeded by 1971