1961 in spaceflight

1961 in spaceflight

The Vostok 1 spacecraft, aboard which Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth on 12 April 1961
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
Crewed flights
Orbital	2
Suborbital	2
Total travellers	4
v t e

1961 in spaceflight

Timeline of spaceflight ← 1960 1962 →

← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec →

Orbital and Suborbital launches

Main articles: 1961 in spaceflight (January–June) and 1961 in spaceflight (July-December)

Deep Space Rendezvous

Date (GMT)	Spacecraft	Event	Remarks
19 May	Venera 1	First flyby of Venus	Spacecraft was already non-functional as communication had been lost en route, closest approach: 100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi)[1]

Notable creations of orbital debris

Date/Time (UTC)	Source object	Event type	Pieces tracked	Remarks
29 June[2]	Thor-Able upper stage of Transit 4A navigation satellite	Rocket explosion	294[2]	First explosion of a rocket stage in orbit creating hundreds of debris pieces

Orbital launch statistics

Country		Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures
	Soviet Union	9	5	4	0
	United States	41	23	16	2
World		50	28	20	2

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

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