Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.
Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Chronology of crewed spaceflights
Crewed spaceflights, 1960β69
Crewed spaceflights during the 1960s are listed chronologically in the table.
News •
Japan launches spacecraft to mysterious moons of Mars in a bold mission to bring home soil samples
• Oct. 20, 2026, 12:20 AM ET (AP)
| 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. 6β7, 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. 11β15, 1962 | first simultaneous flight of two spacecraft | |
| Vostok 4 | U.S.S.R. | Pavel Popovich | Aug. 12β15, 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 15β16, 1963 | first U.S. flight longer than one day | |
| Vostok 5 | U.S.S.R. | Valery Bykovsky | June 14β19, 1963 | longest solo spaceflight | |
| Vostok 6 | U.S.S.R. | Valentina Tereshkova | June 16β19, 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. 12β13, 1964 | first multiperson crewed spacecraft; first doctor in space (Yegorov) | |
| Voskhod 2 | U.S.S.R. | Pavel Belyayev; Aleksey Leonov | March 18β19, 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 3β7, 1965 | first American to walk in space (White) | |
| Gemini 5 | U.S. | L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.; Charles Conrad | Aug. 21β29, 1965 | new space endurance record (7 days 23 hours) | |
| Gemini 7 | U.S. | Frank Borman; James Lovell, Jr. | Dec. 4β18, 1965 | new space endurance record (13 days 19 hours) | |
| Gemini 6 | U.S. | Walter Schirra, Jr.; Thomas Stafford | Dec. 15β16, 1965 | first rendezvous of two crewed spacecraft (Gemini 6 and 7) | |
| Gemini 8 | U.S. | Neil Armstrong; David Scott | March 16β17, 1966 | first docking of two spacecraft | |
| Gemini 9 | U.S. | Thomas Stafford; Eugene Cernan | June 3β6, 1966 | unable to dock with Agena rocket stage | |
| Gemini 10 | U.S. | John Young; Michael Collins | July 18β21, 1966 | first space walk from one spacecraft to another | |
| Gemini 11 | U.S. | Charles Conrad; Richard Gordon | Sept. 12β15, 1966 | first spacecraft docking on first orbit after launch | |
| Gemini 12 | U.S. | James Lovell, Jr.; Edwin ("Buzz") Aldrin | Nov. 11β15, 1966 | three space walks (Aldrin) that solved problems (exhaustion and suit overheating) from previous flights | |
| Soyuz 1 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Komarov | April 23β24, 1967 | first spaceflight casualty; parachute deployed incorrectly during reentry | |
| Apollo 7 | U.S. | Walter Schirra, Jr.; Donn Eisele; Walter Cunningham | Oct. 11β22, 1968 | first crewed flight of Apollo spacecraft; first illness suffered in space | |
| Soyuz 3 | U.S.S.R. | Georgy Beregovoy | Oct. 26β30, 1968 | attempted to dock with uncrewed Soyuz 2 | |
| Apollo 8 | U.S. | William Anders; Frank Borman; James Lovell, Jr. | Dec. 21β27, 1968 | first to fly around the Moon | |
| Soyuz 4 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Shatalov; Aleksey Yeliseyev (down); Yevgeny Khrunov (down) | Jan. 14β17, 1969 | docked with Soyuz 5 on Jan. 16 | |
| Soyuz 5 | U.S.S.R. | Boris Volynov; Aleksey Yeliseyev (up); Yevgeny Khrunov (up) | Jan. 15β18, 1969 | Yeliseyev and Khrunov spacewalked to Soyuz 4 | |
| Apollo 9 | U.S. | James McDivitt; David Scott; Russell Schweickart | March 3β13, 1969 | test of Lunar Module in Earth orbit | |
| Apollo 10 | U.S. | Thomas Stafford; John Young; Eugene Cernan | May 18β26, 1969 | rehearsal for first Moon landing | |
| Apollo 11 | U.S. | Neil Armstrong; Edwin ("Buzz") Aldrin; Michael Collins | July 16β24, 1969 | first to walk on the Moon (Armstrong and Aldrin) | |
| Soyuz 6 | U.S.S.R. | Georgy Shonin; Valery Kubasov | Oct. 11β16, 1969 | Kubasov performed welding experiments; rendezvous with Soyuz 7 and 8 | |
| Soyuz 7 | U.S.S.R. | Anatoly Filipchenko; Vladislav Volkov; Viktor Gorbatko | Oct. 12β17, 1969 | unsuccessful attempt to dock with Soyuz 8 | |
| Soyuz 8 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Shatalov; Aleksey Yeliseyev | Oct. 13β18, 1969 | unsuccessful attempt to dock with Soyuz 7 | |
| Apollo 12 | U.S. | Charles Conrad; Richard Gordon; Alan Bean | Nov. 14β24, 1969 | landed near uncrewed Surveyor 3 space probe |






























