List of spaceflight records

The first space rendezvous was accomplished by Gemini 6A and Gemini 7 in 1965

This is a list of spaceflight records. Most of these records relate to human spaceflights, but some unmanned and canine records are included.

First independent human spaceflight by country

Country	Mission and launch vehicle	Crew	Date	Type
USSR	Vostok 1, Vostok-K	Yuri Gagarin	12 April 1961	Orbital
USA	Freedom 7, Mercury-Redstone	Alan Shepard	5 May 1961	Sub-orbital
Russia (as successor of the USSR)	Soyuz TM-14, Soyuz-U2	Klaus-Dietrich Flade Aleksandr Kaleri Aleksandr Viktorenko	17 March 1992	Orbital
China	Shenzhou 5, Long March 2F	Yáng Lìwěi	15 October 2003	Orbital

Ten longest human space flights

Valeri Polyakov

• Valeri Polyakov, launched 8 January 1994 (Soyuz TM-18), stayed at Mir for 437.7 days, during which he orbited the Earth about 7,075 times and traveled 300,765,000 km (186,887,000 mi), returning 22 March 1995 (Soyuz TM-20).

• Sergei Avdeyev, launched 13 August 1998 (Soyuz TM-28), stayed at Mir for 379.6 days, returned on 28 August 1999.

• Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov, launched 21 December 1987 (Soyuz TM-4), stayed at Mir for 364.9 days, returned on 21 December 1988.

• Yuri Romanenko, launched 5 February 1987 (Soyuz TM-2), stayed at Mir for 326.5 days, returned on 29 December 1987.

• Sergei Krikalev, launched 18 May 1991 (Soyuz TM-12), stayed at Mir for 311.8 days, returned on 25 March 1992.

• Valeri Polyakov, launched 29 August 1988 (Soyuz TM-6), stayed at Mir for 240.9 days, returned on 27 April 1989.

• Michael Lopez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin launched 18 September 2006 (Soyuz TMA-9), stayed at ISS for 215.4 days, returned on 21 April 2007. This flight is also the longest of any American.

• Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai Budarin, launched 29 January 1998 (Soyuz TM-27), stayed at Mir for 207.5 days, returned on 25 August 1998.

• Gennady Padalka, launched 26 March 2009 (Soyuz TMA-14), stayed at ISS for 198.7 days, returned on 11 October 2009.

• Gennady Padalka, launched 13 August 1998 (Soyuz TM-28), stayed at Mir for 198.7 days, returned on 28 February 1999.

Longest single flight by woman

• Sunita Williams holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 195 days set on the International Space Station Expedition 15 in 2007. She landed with STS-117, 22 June 2007.

Longest continuous occupation of space

• An international partnership consisting of Russia, the United States, the European Union, Canada, Japan and Brazil have jointly maintained a continuous manned presence in space since 31 October 2000 when Soyuz TM-31 was launched on a mission to dock with the International Space Station. The International Space Station has been in continuous use for &1000000000000001100000011 years, &10000000000000123000000123 days. It broke the record of 9 years 358 days of the Soviet/Russian Space Station Mir on 23 October 2010.

Longest solo flight

• Valery Bykovsky flew for 4 days and 23 hours solo in Vostok 5, 14–19 June 1963. The flight set a space endurance record which was broken in 1965 by the (non-solo) Gemini 5 flight.

First animal in orbit

• Laika was a Soviet female canine launched on 3 November 1957 on Sputnik 2. The technology to deorbit had not yet been developed, so there was no expectation for survival. She died several hours into flight.

Longest canine single flight

• Veterok (Ветерок, "Little Wind") and Ugolyok (Уголёк, "Ember") were launched on 22 February 1966 on board Cosmos 110 and spent 22 days in orbit before landing on 16 March.

Longest time on lunar surface

• Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt of the Apollo 17 mission stayed for 74 hours 59 minutes 40 seconds (over 3 days) on the lunar surface after they landed on 11 December 1972. They performed three EVA's (extra-vehicular activity) totalling 22 hours 3 minutes, 57 seconds (as commanders were always the first one out of the LM and the last to get back in, Cernan's EVA time was slightly longer).

Longest time in lunar orbit

• Ronald Evans of Apollo 17 mission stayed in lunar orbit for 6 days and 4 hours (148 hours).

Farthest humans from Earth

• Apollo 13 crew; Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, John Swigert while passing over the far side of the moon at an altitude of 254 km (158 mi) from the lunar surface, were 400,171 km (248,655 mi) from Earth. This record breaking distance was reached at 0:21 UTC on 15 April 1970.

Highest altitude for manned non-lunar mission

• Gemini 11 crew Charles Conrad, Jr and Richard F. Gordon, Jr. fired their Agena Target Vehicle rocket engine on 14 September 1966, at 40 hours 30 minutes after liftoff and achieved an apogee altitude of 1,374.1 km (853.8 mi).

Fastest

• The Apollo 10 crew; Thomas Stafford, John W. Young and Eugene Cernan achieved the highest speed relative to Earth ever attained by humans; 39,896 km/h (11.1 km/s, 24,790 mph, approx 0.0037 percent the speed of light). The record was set 26 May 1969

Earliest-born to go into space

• Man - Georgy Beregovoy born 15 April 1921, on Soyuz 3 in 1968.
• Woman - Valentina Tereshkova born 6 March 1937, on Vostok 6 in 1963.

Youngest (age during space flight)

• Gherman Titov, aged 25 years, on Vostok 2 on 6 August 1961.

Oldest (age during space flight)

• John Glenn at age 77, 29 October 1998 on STS-95.

• 

Most spaceflights

• 7 spaceflights
  • Franklin Chang-Diaz - Costa Rica/USA*
  • Jerry L. Ross - USA

• 6 spaceflights
  • John W. Young - USA
  • Curtis Brown - USA
  • Michael Foale - Britain/USA*
  • Sergei Krikalev - Russia
  • Story Musgrave - USA
  • James Wetherbee - USA

* Dual citizen.

Most time in space

• Man - Sergei Krikalev has spent 803 days, 9 hours and 39 minutes, or 2.2 years in space over the span of six spaceflights on Soyuz, the Space Shuttle, Mir, and International Space Station.
• Woman - Peggy Whitson has spent 376 days, 17 hours and 22 minutes in space over the span of two spaceflights to the International Space Station.

Most spacewalks

• Man - Anatoly Solovyev, 16 spacewalks for total of 77 hours, 41 minutes (which is also the duration record).
• Woman - Peggy Whitson, 6 spacewalks for a total time of 39 hours and 46 minutes.

Most spacewalks during a single mission

• Michael Lopez-Alegria, five spacewalks during Expedition 14 on the ISS.

Human spaceflight firsts

First	Person(s)	Mission	Country	Date
Person to reach space Person in orbit	Yuri Gagarin	Vostok 1	USSR	12 April 1961
Person to land (splashdown) in a spacecraft after sub-orbital spaceflight	Alan Shepard	Freedom 7	USA	5 May 1961
Person in space for over 24 hours Multiple orbits spaceflight	Gherman Titov	Vostok 2	USSR	6 August 1961- 7 August 1961
Person to land (splashdown) in a spacecraft after orbital flight	John Glenn	Friendship 7	USA	20 February 1962
Group flight Adjacent orbits Spacecraft-to-spacecraft communications	Andrian Nikolayev Pavel Popovich	Vostok 3 Vostok 4	USSR	12 August 1962- 15 August 1962
Woman in space Civilian in space	Valentina Tereshkova	Vostok 6	USSR	16 June 1963- 19 June 1963
Spaceflight (suborbital) by winged spacecraft	Joe Walker	X-15 Flight 90	USA	19 July 1963
Person to enter space twice (suborbital flights above 100 km)	Joe Walker	X-15 Flights 90 and 91	USA	22 August 1963
Three-person spaceflight, single spacecraft Persons to land in a spacecraft on hard ground Manned flight without pressurized spacesuits	Vladimir Komarov Konstantin Feoktistov Boris Yegorov	Voskhod 1	USSR	12 October 1964- 13 October 1964
Spacewalk	Alexey Leonov	Voskhod 2	USSR	18 March 1965
Orbital maneuvers (change orbit)	Gus Grissom, John W. Young	Gemini 3	USA	23 March 1965
Person to fly two orbital spaceflights	Gordon Cooper	Faith 7 Gemini 5	USA	15 May 1963- 16 May 1963; 21 August 1965- 29 August 1965
Persons to spend one week in space	Gordon Cooper Pete Conrad	Gemini 5	USA	21 August 1965- 29 August 1965
Space rendezvous (orbital maneuver and station-keeping) Four people in space	Frank Borman, Jim Lovell Walter Schirra, Thomas Stafford	Gemini 7 Gemini 6A	USA	15 December 1965- 16 December 1965
Space docking	Neil Armstrong David Scott	Gemini 8 and Agena	USA	16 March 1966
Multiple rendezvous	John W. Young Michael Collins	Gemini 10 with Agena 10 and Agena 8	USA	19 July 1966; 20 July 1966
Spaceflight fatality (during landing)	Vladimir Komarov	Soyuz 1	USSR	23 April 1967- 24 April 1967
Persons to leave Low Earth orbit (LEO) Persons to enter lunar orbit	Frank Borman Jim Lovell Bill Anders	Apollo 8	USA	24 December 1968- 25 December 1968
Space docking of two manned spacecraft Dual spacewalk Сrew transfer (Khrunov, Yeliseyev)	Vladimir Shatalov Boris Volynov Aleksei Yeliseyev Yevgeny Khrunov	Soyuz 4 Soyuz 5	USSR	16 January 1969
Moon landing/ planetary surface EVA	Neil Armstrong Buzz Aldrin	Apollo 11	USA	20 July 1969
Time five people are in space	Georgi Shonin, Valeri Kubasov Anatoly Filipchenko, Vladislav Volkov, Viktor Gorbatko	Soyuz 6 Soyuz 7	USSR	12 October 1969- 13 October 1969
Triple spaceflight Seven-people in space	Shonin, Kubasov Filipchenko, Volkov, Gorbatko Vladimir Shatalov, Aleksei Yeliseyev	Soyuz 6 Soyuz 7 Soyuz 8	USSR	13 October 1969- 16 October 1969
Person to fly two lunar flights	James A. Lovell	Apollo 13 (previous flight Apollo 8)	USA	11 April 1970- 17 April 1970
People to spend two weeks in space	Andrian Nikolayev Vitali Sevastyanov	Soyuz 9	USSR	1 June 1970- 19 June 1970
People to EVA out of sight of their spacecraft	Alan Shepard Edgar Mitchell	Apollo 14	USA	6 February 1971
Manned space station	Georgi Dobrovolski Viktor Patsayev Vladislav Volkov	Soyuz 11 docked with Salyut 1	USSR	7 June 1971- 29 June 1971
In-space fatalities	Georgi Dobrovolski Viktor Patsayev Vladislav Volkov	Soyuz 11	USSR	29 June 1971
EVA in outer space outside Low Earth orbit (trans-Earth trajectory)	Al Worden	Apollo 15	USA	5 August 1971
Person twice in lunar orbit (during separate lunar expeditions)	John W. Young	Apollo 16	USA	16 April 1972- 27 April 1972
People in orbit for four weeks	Pete Conrad Joseph Kerwin Paul Weitz	Skylab 2	USA	25 May 1973- 22 June 1973
People in orbit for eight weeks	Alan Bean Jack Lousma Owen Garriott	Skylab 3	USA	28 July 1973- 25 September 1973
People in orbit for 12 weeks	Gerald Carr William Pogue Edward Gibson	Skylab 4	USA	16 November 1973- 8 February 1974
Spaceflight aborted during liftoff (at 145 kilometres (90 mi) altitude) Re-entry (emergency) with 20g acceleration	Vasily Lazarev, Oleg Makarov	Soyuz 18a	USSR	5 April 1975
Crew to visit occupied space station	Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Oleg Makarov	Soyuz 27 visits Salyut 6 EO-1 crew	USSR	10 January 1978- 16 January 1978
People in orbit 19 weeks (4 months)	Vladimir Kovalyonok, Aleksandr Ivanchenkov	Salyut 6 EO-2, Soyuz 29-Soyuz 31	USSR	15 June 1978- 2 November 1978
People in orbit 26 weeks (6 months)	Leonid Popov, Valery Ryumin	Salyut 6 EO-4, Soyuz 35-Soyuz 37	USSR	9 April 1980- 11 October 1980
Spaceflight (orbital) by winged spacecraft	John W. Young Robert L. Crippen	STS-1	USA	12 April 1981
Person to fly four different types of spacecraft	John W. Young	STS-1,	USA	12 April 1981
Four-person spaceflight, single spacecraft	Vance Brand, Robert F. Overmyer Joseph P. Allen, William B. Lenoir	STS-5	USA	11 November 1982- 16 November 1982
Five-person spaceflight, single spacecraft	Robert L. Crippen, Frederick H. Hauck John M. Fabian, Sally K. Ride, Norman E. Thagard	STS-7	USA	18 June 1983- 24 June 1983
Six-person spaceflight, single spacecraft	John W. Young, Brewster H. Shaw, Owen K. Garriott, Robert A. Parker, Byron K. Lichtenberg - USA Ulf Merbold - Germany (European Space Agency)	STS-9	USA  West Germany	28 November 1983- 8 December 1983
Untethered spacewalk	Bruce McCandless II	STS-41-B	USA	7 February 1984
Time eight people in space, no docking	Oleg Atkov, Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovyov - USSR Vance D. Brand, Robert L. Gibson, Bruce McCandless II, Ronald McNair, Robert L. Stewart - USA	Salyut 7 EO-3, Soyuz T-10, STS-41-B	USSR USA	8 February 1984- 11 February 1984
Time 11 people in space, no docking	Oleg Atkov, Leonid D. Kizim, Yuri Malyshev, Vladimir Solovyov, Gennady Strekalov -USSR Robert L. Crippen, Terry J. Hart, George Nelson, Francis Scobee, James van Hoften - USA Rakesh Sharma - India	STS-41-C, Salyut 7 EO-3, Soyuz T-10-Soyuz T-11	USSR USA India	6 April 1984- 11 April 1984
People to complete four spacewalks during the same mission	Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovyov	Salyut 7	USSR	26 April - 18 May 1984
Spacewalk by woman	Svetlana Savitskaya	Soyuz T-12	USSR	25 July 1984
People in orbit 33 weeks (7 months)	Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovyov, Oleg Atkov	Salyut 7 EO-3, Soyuz T-10-Soyuz T-11	USSR	8 February 1984- 2 October 1984
Seven person spaceflight, single spacecraft	Robert L. Crippen, Jon A. McBride, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Sally K. Ride, David C. Leestma, Paul D. Scully-Power - USA Marc Garneau- Canada	STS-41-G	USA Canada	5 October 1984- 13 October 1984
Time two women in space	Kathryn D. Sullivan, Sally K. Ride	STS-41-G	USA	5 October 1984- 13 October 1984
Partial crew exchange at a space station	Alexander Volkov, Vladimir Vasyutin replace Vladimir Dzhanibekov	Soyuz T-14, Salyut 7	USSR	17 September 1985- 26 September 1985
Eight person spaceflight, single spacecraft	Henry W. Hartsfield, Steven R. Nagel, Bonnie J. Dunbar, James F. Buchli, Guion S. Bluford - USA Reinhard Furrer, Ernst Messerschmid - West Germany Wubbo Ockels - Netherlands (European Space Agency)	STS-61-A	USA  West Germany  Netherlands	30 October 1985- 6 November 1985
Fatalities during launch	Francis "Dick" Scobee Michael J. Smith Ellison Onizuka Judith Resnik Ronald McNair Sharon Christa McAuliffe Gregory Jarvis	STS-51-L	USA	28 January 1986
Space station to space station flight/ Space station to space station return flight/ Expedition on two space stations	Leonid Kizim Vladimir Solovyov	Soyuz T-15 from Mir to Salyut 7 back to Mir	USSR	15 March 1986- 16 July 1986
Complete crew exchange at a space station	Vladimir Titov, Musa Manarov replace Yuri Romanenko, Alexander Alexandrov	Soyuz TM-4-Soyuz TM-2, Soyuz TM-3, at Mir	USSR	21 December 1987- 29 December 1987
People in orbit 52 weeks (one year)	Vladimir Titov, Musa Manarov	Mir EO-3, Soyuz TM-4-Soyuz TM-6	USSR	21 December 1987- 21 December 1988
Time 12 people in space; no docking	Shuttle: Vance Brand, Samuel Durrance, Guy S. Gardner, Jeffrey A. Hoffman, John M. Lounge, Ronald Parise, Robert A. Parker - USA Mir: Gennady Manakov, Gennady Strekalov - Russia Soyuz and Soyuz/Mir: Musa Manarov, Viktor Afanasyev - Russia Toyohiro Akiyama - Japan	STS-35, Mir EO-7, Soyuz TM-10-Soyuz TM-11	USSR USA Japan	2 December 1990- 10 December 1990
Time three women in space	Millie Hughes-Fulford, Tamara E. Jernigan, M. Rhea Seddon	STS-40	USA	5 June 1991- 14 June 1991
Three-person spacewalk	Pierre J. Thuot, Richard J. Hieb Thomas D. Akers	STS-49	USA	13 May 1992
Time 13 people in space; no docking	Shuttle: Steve Oswald, William Gregory, John Grunsfeld, Wendy Lawrence, Tammy Jernigan, Sam Durrance, Ron Parise - USA Mir: Aleksandr Viktorenko, Yelena Kondakova, Valeriy Polyakov - Russia Soyuz/Mir: Vladimir Dezhurov, Gennady Strekalov - Russia Norman E. Thagard - USA	STS-67, Mir, Soyuz TM-20, Soyuz TM-21	USA Russia	14 March 1995- 18 March 1995
Time ten people in one spacecraft; docking	Robert L. Gibson, Charles J. Precourt, Ellen S. Baker, Bonnie J. Dunbar, Gregory J. Harbaugh Norman E. Thagard - USA Anatoly Solovyev, Nikolai Budarin, Vladimir Dezhurov, Gennady Strekalov - Russia	STS-71, Mir, Soyuz TM-21	USA Russia	29 June 1995- 4 July 1995
Person to complete seven trips to space	Jerry L. Ross	STS-110	USA	19 April 2002
Privately-funded human space flight (suborbital)	Mike Melvill	SpaceShipOne flight 15P	USA	21 June 2004
Time 13 people in one spacecraft; docking	Michael Barratt, Mark L. Polansky, Douglas G. Hurley, Christopher J. Cassidy, Thomas H. Marshburn, David Wolf, Timothy Kopra - USA Gennady Padalka, Roman Romanenko - Russia Robert Thirsk, Julie Payette - Canada Frank De Winne - Belgium (European Space Agency) Koichi Wakata - Japan	ISS, Soyuz TMA-14, Soyuz TMA-15, STS-127	USA Russia Canada Belgium Japan	17 July 2009
Time four women in space	Shuttle: Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson - USA Naoko Yamazaki - Japan ISS: Tracy Caldwell Dyson - USA	STS-131 ISS Expedition 23	USA Japan	5 April 2010- 20 April 2010

Total time in space

The following is a list of the 50 space travelers with the most total time in space, as of 16 March 2010.:       Active       Retired       Currently in space

Rank	Person	Days	Flights	Status	Nationality
1	Sergei Krikalev	803.371	6	Retired (Alive)	Russia / Soviet Union
2	Alexandr Kaleri	769.276	5	Active	Russia
3	Sergei Avdeyev	747.593	3	Retired (Alive)	Russia / Soviet Union
4	Valeriy Polyakov	678.690	2	Retired (Alive)	Russia / Soviet Union
5	Anatoly Solovyev	651.117	5	Retired (Alive)	Russia / Soviet Union
6	Gennady Padalka	585.369	3	Active	Russia
7	Viktor Afanasyev	555.772	4	Retired (Alive)	Russia / Soviet Union
8	Yury Usachev	553.016	4	Retired (Alive)	Russia
9	Musa Manarov	541.021	2	Retired (Alive)	Azerbaijan / Soviet Union
10	Yuri Malenchenko	514.539	4	Active	Russia
11	Alexander Viktorenko	489.066	4	Retired (Alive)	Russia / Soviet Union
12	Nikolai Budarin	444.060	3	Retired (Alive)	Russia
13	Yuri Romanenko	430.765	3	Retired (Alive)	Soviet Union
14	Alexander Volkov	391.495	3	Active	Russia / Soviet Union
15	Yuri I. Onufrienko	389.282	2	Retired (Alive)	Russia
16	Vladimir G. Titov	387.036	4	Retired (Alive)	Russia / Soviet Union
17	Vasili Tsibliyev	381.662	2	Retired (Alive)	Russia
18	Valery G. Korzun	381.653	2	Retired (Alive)	Russia
19	Michael Fincke	381.633	3	Active	United States
20	Pavel Vinogradov	380.678	2	Active	Russia
21	Peggy A. Whitson	376.738	2	Active	United States
22	Leonid Kizim	374.749	3	Retired (Deceased)	Soviet Union
23	Michael Foale	373.763	6	Active	United States / United Kingdom
24	Aleksandr Serebrov	372.954	4	Retired (Alive)	Russia / Soviet Union
25	Valeri Ryumin	371.725	4	Retired (Alive)	Russia / Soviet Union
26	Fyodor Yurchikhin	370.832	3	Active	Russia
27	Sergey Volkov	365.940	3	Active	Russia
28	Jeffrey Williams	362.060	3	Active	United States
29	Vladimir Solovyov	361.952	2	Retired (Alive)	Soviet Union
30	Oleg Kotov	359.943	2	Active	Russia
31	Thomas Reiter	350.239	2	Retired (Alive)	Germany
32	Mikhail Tyurin	344.213	2	Active	Russia
33	Talgat Musabayev	339.409	3	Retired (Alive)	Russia
34	Vladimir Lyakhov	333.324	3	Retired (Alive)	Soviet Union
35	Yuri P. Gidzenko	329.950	3	Retired (Alive)	Russia
36	Gennadi Manakov	309.889	2	Retired (Alive)	Russia / Soviet Union
37	Aleksandr P. Aleksandrov	309.758	2	Retired (Alive)	Soviet Union
38	Gennady Strekalov	268.938	5	Retired (Deceased)	Russia / Soviet Union
39	Michael Lopez-Alegria	257.944	4	Active	United States
40	Viktor Savinykh	252.849	3	Retired (Alive)	Soviet Union
41	Vladimir Dezhurov	244.229	2	Retired (Alive)	Russia
42	Oleg Atkov	236.950	1	Retired (Alive)	Soviet Union
43	Carl E. Walz	230.212	4	Retired (Alive)	United States
44	Leroy Chiao	229.362	4	Retired (Alive)	United States
45	Daniel W. Bursch	226.594	4	Retired (Alive)	United States
46	William S. McArthur	224.930	4	Active	United States
47	Shannon W. Lucid	223.161	5	Active	United States
48	Valentin Lebedev	219.250	2	Retired (Alive)	Soviet Union
49	Vladimir Kovalyonok	216.382	3	Retired (Alive)	Soviet Union
50	Kenneth D. Bowersox	211.594	5	Retired (Alive)	United States

Total human spaceflight time by country

Total astronaut hours completed by nation of citizenship.

Person days in space as of January 18, 2010

Rank	Nation	Total person-days
1	USSR / Russia	21,050.94 * **
2	USA	19,634.94 * **
—	ESA Austria Belgium Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Ireland Italy Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom	1,725.118
3	Germany	493.64
4	France	433.19
5	Japan	432.52
6	United Kingdom	381.65 *
7	Canada	360.51
8	Italy	262.15
9	Belgium	207.65
10	Costa Rica	66.76 *
11	Switzerland	42.50
12	Hungary	34.448 *
13	Sweden	26.74
14	China	19.06
15	Spain	18.88
16	Netherlands	17.90
17	Israel	15.93
18	Ukraine	15.69 *
19	Bulgaria	11.91
20	Malaysia	10.885
21	Iran	10.878 *
22	South Korea	10.875
23	South Africa	9.893
24	Brazil	9.888
25	Syria	8.9
26	Afghanistan	8.85
27	Czechoslovakia	7.93
28	Austria	7.928
29	Poland	7.919
30	Slovakia	7.914
31	India	7.903
32	Cuba	7.863
33	Mongolia	7.863
34	Vietnam	7.862
35	Romania	7.862
36	Saudi Arabia	7.069
37	Mexico	6.878

As of 6 November 2007

* Dual citizens counted under both nationalities.

** and counting

Notable unmanned spaceflights

In reference to:	Spacecraft	Event	Country	Date
Earth	A-4(V-2)	First rocket to reach space (suborbital flight)	Germany	June 1944
Earth	V-2 No. 20	First living organisms (fruit flies) in space (suborbital flight)	USA	20 February 1947
Earth	R-1V	First animals (dogs) in space (suborbital flight) successfully recovered	USSR	22 July 1951
Earth	Sputnik 1	First satellite in orbit	USSR	4 October 1957
Earth	Sputnik 2	First animal in orbit, Laika the dog	USSR	3 November 1957
Earth	Vanguard 1	Oldest satellite still in orbit— expected to stay in orbit 240 years. Ceased transmission in May 1964	USA	17 March 1958
Earth	Jupiter AM-13	First monkey in space	USA	13 December 1958
Earth	Luna 1	First spacecraft to reach Earth's escape velocity	USSR	4 January 1959
Moon	Luna 1	First flyby, dist. of 5,995 km	USSR	4 January 1959
Sun	Luna 1	First spacecraft in heliocentric orbit	USSR	4 January 1959
Moon	Luna 2	First impact	USSR	14 September 1959
Moon	Luna 3	First image of lunar far-side	USSR	7 October 1959
Earth	Discoverer 13	First satellite recovered from orbit	USA	11 August 1960
Earth	Korabl-Sputnik 2	First living beings recovered from orbit.	USSR	19 August 1960
Venus	Venera 1	First flyby, dist. of 100,000 km (lost communication contact before)	USSR	19 May 1961
Venus	Mariner 2	First planetary flyby, dist. of 34,762 km (with communication contact)	USA	14 December 1962
Mars	Mariner 4	First Mars flyby, first planetary imaging, dist. of 9,846 km	USA	14 July 1965
Moon	Luna 9	First soft landing, first pictures from lunar surface	USSR	31 January 1966
Venus	Venera 3	First impact	USSR	1 March 1966
Moon	Luna 10	First orbiter	USSR	3 April 1966
Moon	Zond 5	First to circle the Moon and return to land on Earth First animals to circle the Moon	USSR	15 September 1968
Venus	Venera 7	First soft landing	USSR	1 August 1970
Moon	Luna 16	First automated sample return	USSR	24 September 1970
Moon	Luna 17	First automated roving vehicle - Lunokhod 1	USSR	17 November 1970
Mars	Mariner 9	First orbiter	USA	14 November 1971
Mars	Mars 2	First impact	USSR	27 November 1971
Mars	Mars 3	First soft landing, telemetry signal for 20 seconds before transmissions ceased	USSR	2 December 1971
Sun	Pioneer 10	First spacecraft to reach Sun's escape velocity	USA	3 December 1973
Jupiter	Pioneer 10	First flyby, dist. of 130,000 km	USA	3 December 1973
Mercury	Mariner 10	First flyby, dist. of 703 km	USA	29 March 1974
Venus	Venera 9	First orbiter First surface-level imaging of another planet	USSR	22 October 1975
Sun	Helios 2	Highest velocity of a spacecraft relative to the sun, 252,792 km/h. Closest ever approach to the sun at a record distance of 0.29 AU (43 million km), slightly inside the orbit of Mercury. Record still unbeaten as of November 2009 but to be beaten by the future Solar Orbiter probe (0.23 AU / 33 million km).	West Germany	17 April 1976
Mars	Viking 1	First surface-level imaging of Mars	USA	20 July 1976
Saturn	Pioneer 11	First flyby, dist. of 21,000 km	USA	1 September 1979
Venus	Venera 13	First sound record on another planet	USSR	1 March 1982
Interstellar space	Pioneer 10	First extra-solar spacecraft (disputed because only according to some definitions)	USA	13 June 1983
Venus	Vega 1	First helium balloon atmospheric probe	USSR	11 June 1985
Comet Giacobini-Zinner	International Cometary Explorer (ICE)	First flyby through comet tail, dist. of 7,800 km, no pictures.	USA	11 September 1985
Uranus	Voyager 2	First flyby, dist. of 81,500 km	USA	24 January 1986
Comet Halley	Vega 1	First comet flyby with pictures returned, dist. of 8,890 km	USSR	6 March 1986
Orbital Spaceplane	Buran	First fully automated orbital flight of a spaceplane (with airstrip landing)	USSR	15 November 1988
Neptune	Voyager 2	First flyby, dist. of 40,000 km	USA	25 August 1989
951 Gaspra	Galileo probe	First asteroid flyby, dist. of 1,600 km	USA	29 October 1991
Jupiter	Galileo probe	First impact	USA	21 September 2003
Jupiter	Galileo probe	First orbiter	USA	7 December 1995
Mars	Mars Pathfinder	First automated roving vehicle - Sojourner	USA	4 July 1997
433 Eros	NEAR Shoemaker	First asteroid orbiter	USA	14 February 2000
433 Eros	NEAR Shoemaker	First asteroid soft landing	USA	12 February 2001
Saturn	Cassini orbiter	First orbiter	ESA USA	1 July 2004
Solar wind	Genesis	First sample return from farther than the Moon	USA	8 September 2004
Titan	Huygens probe	First soft landing	ESA USA	14 January 2005
Comet Tempel 1	Deep Impact	First comet impact	USA	4 July 2005
25143 Itokawa	Hayabusa	First asteroid ascent First interplanetary escape without undercarriage cutoff	JPN	19 November 2005
81P/Wild	Stardust	First sample return from comet	USA	15 January 2006
Farthest distance from Earth	Voyager 1	At greatest distance from Earth, 17.4 billion km	USA	As of December 2010
Longest time in operation	Pioneer 6	Longest operating space probe, brief contact was reestablished on 8 December 2000, after nearly 35 years in space.	USA	As of 2005
Earth to Venus trajectory	IKAROS	First interplanetary solar sail	JPN	set sail on 10 June 2010
25143 Itokawa	Hayabusa	First sample return from asteroid	JPN	13 June 2010
Mercury	MESSENGER	First orbiter	USA	17 March 2011
L2 Lagrangian point	Chang'e 2	First object to reach the L2 Lagrangian point directly from lunar orbit.	China	August 25, 2011

External links

• Russia's unmanned moon missions