1968 in spaceflight

1968 in spaceflight
	The crew of Apollo 8 were the first humans to witness Earthrise, photographed by William Anders on 24 December 1968
Orbital launches
First	7 January
Last	26 December
Total	128
Successes	119
Failures	9
Partial failures	3
Rockets
Maiden flights	Delta M; Delta N
Retirements	Delta J; Kosmos-3
Crewed flights
Orbital	3
	v; t; e;

The United States National Space Science Data Center catalogued 157 spacecraft placed into orbit by launches, which occurred in 1968.^[1] The first crewed Apollo missions occurred in 1968. It was also the year in which Earth lifeforms first left low Earth orbit, during the successful Zond 5 mission to the Moon and the Zond 6 lunar mission which crashed upon return, and the year that humans first left low Earth orbit, during the successful Apollo 8 mission to the Moon.

Quick Facts Orbital launches, First ...

Quick Facts

[1]

Date (UTC)	Spacecraft	Event	Remarks
10 January	Surveyor 7	Lunar landing	in the debris from Tycho crater
31 January	Lunar Orbiter 5	Lunar impact
10 April	Luna 14	Lunar orbit insertion
18 September	Zond 5	Flyby of the Moon; first return to Earth after flight to Moon; first Earth life forms to travel around the Moon (two Russian tortoises)	Closest approach: 1,950 kilometres (1,210 mi)
14 November	Zond 6	Flyby of the Moon, with turtles, flies, and bacteria	Closest approach: 2,420 kilometres (1,500 mi)
24 December	Apollo 8	Lunar orbit insertion; first humans to travel around the Moon
25 December	Apollo 8	Leaves lunar orbit	Completed 10 orbits

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
7 January 06:30	Atlas-SLV3 Centaur-D		AC-15	Cape Canaveral SLC-36A

		Surveyor 7	NASA	Selenocentric	Lunar lander	10 January (on Moon)	Successful
11 January 16:16	Delta E1		D-56	Vandenberg SLC-2E

		Explorer 36 (GEOS-B)	NASA	Low Earth	Research	In orbit	Successful
16 January 12:00	Voskhod			Plesetsk Site 41/1

		Kosmos 199 (Zenit-2 #58)	GRU	Low Earth Orbit	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Successful
17 January 10:12	Thor SLV-2A Agena-D			Vandenberg SLC-2W

		OPS 1965 Multigroup 3&Setter 1B-2	USAF	Low Earth	ELINT	In orbit	Successful
18 January 19:04	Titan IIIB Agena-D			Vandenberg SLC-4W

		OPS 5028 KH-8 4311	USAF	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Successful
19 January 22:00	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/2

		Kosmos 200 (Tselina O #2)		Low Earth Orbit	SIGINT	In orbit	Successful
22 January 22:48:09	Saturn IB (C-1B)			Cape Canaveral LC-37B		NASA

		Apollo 5	NASA	LEO	Test Lunar Module	12 February 1968 09:59	successful
		Minor malfunction of LM descent stage engine, otherwise successful
24 January 22:26	Thorad-SLV2G Agena-D			Vandenberg SLC-1E

		OPS 5028 KH-4A 1045	CIA	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Successful
		Tivoli 1	USAF	Low Earth	ELINT	In orbit	Successful

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
6 February 08:00	Voskhod			Baikonur Site 31/6

		Kosmos 201 (Zenit-4 #38)	GRU	Low Earth Orbit	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Successful
7 February 10:43	Molniya-M / Blok L			Baikonur Site 1/5

		(Ye-6LS No 112)		Selenocentric	Lunar Orbiter	7 February	Failure
20 February 10:03	Kosmos-2			Kapustin Yar Site 86/1

		Kosmos 202 (DS-U2-V #4)		Low Earth Orbit	Ionospheric research	24 March	Successful
20 February 16:00	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/2

		Kosmos 203 (Sfera #1)		Low Earth Orbit	Geodesy	In orbit	Successful

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
2 March 03:55	Scout-A			Vandenberg SLC-5

		OPS 7034 Transit-O 18	USN	Low Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Successful
2 March 18:29	Proton K / Blok D			Baikonur Site 81/23		MOM

		Zond 4 (L1 6)	MOM	Lunar free-return	Prototype Soyuz 7K-L1P/Zond	9 March	Successful
4 March 13:06	Atlas-SLV3 Agena-D			Cape Canaveral LC-13

		OGO 5 (EGO 3)	NASA	Low Earth	Research	In orbit	Successful
5 March 11:20	Kosmos-2			Plesetsk Site 133/1

		Kosmos 204 (DS-P1-I #3)		Low Earth Orbit	Radar calibration	2 March 1969	Successful
5 March 12:30	Voskhod			Plesetsk Site 41/1

		Kosmos 205 (Zenit-2 #59)	GRU	Low Earth Orbit	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Successful
5 March 18:28	Scout-B			Wallops LA-3

		Explorer 37 (Solrad 9)	NASA	Low Earth	Research	16 November 1990	Successful
6 March 11:02	Kosmos-2			Kapustin Yar Site 86/1

		(DS-U1-Ya #1)		Low Earth Orbit	Magnetosphere research	6 March	Failure
13 March 19:51	Titan IIIB Agena-D			Vandenberg SLC-4W

		OPS 5057 KH-8 4312	USAF	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Successful
14 March 09:34	Vostok-2M			Plesetsk Site 41/1

		Kosmos 206 (Meteor-1 #9)		Low Earth Orbit	Meteorology	22 April 1989	Successful
14 March 22:00	Thorad-SLV2G Agena-D			Vandenberg SLC-1E

		OPS 4849 KH-4A 1046	CIA	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Successful
		OPS 7076 Lampan 1 / Sampan 2	USAF	Low Earth	ELINT	In orbit	Successful
16 March 12:30	Voskhod			Plesetsk Site 41/1

		Kosmos 207 (Zenit-4 #39)	GRU	Low Earth Orbit	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Successful
21 March 09:50	Voskhod			Baikonur Site 1/5

		Kosmos 208 (Zenit-2M #1,Gektor #1) & Nauka-1KS 1L	GRU	Low Earth Orbit	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Successful
22 March 09:30	Tsyklon-2A			Baikonur Site 90/19

		Kosmos 209 (US-AO #4)		Low Earth Orbit	US-A prototype	In orbit	Successful

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
3 April 11:00	Voskhod			Plesetsk Site 41/1

		Kosmos 210 (Zenit-2 #60)	GRU	Low Earth Orbit	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Successful
4 April 12:00:02	Saturn V (C-5)			LC-39A, Kennedy		NASA

		Apollo 6	NASA	Low Earth (achieved) TLI to direct return abort (planned)	Test CSM heat shield at Lunar return speeds. Test S-IVB re-ignition in LEO.	4 April 1968 21:57:26	Partial failure
		Experienced Pogo oscillation during S-IC first stage ascent. S-IVB failed restart test.
6 April 09:59	Atlas F OV1			Vandenberg LC-576A2

		OV1 13	USAF	Low Earth	Radiation belt research	In orbit	Successful
		OV1 14	USAF	Low Earth	Radiation belt research	In orbit	Successful
7 April 10:09	Molniya-M / Blok L			Baikonur Site 1/5

		Luna 14		Selenocentric	Lunar Orbiter	In orbit	Successful
9 April 11:26	Kosmos-2			Plesetsk Site 133/1

		Kosmos 211 (DS-P1-Yu #12)		Low Earth Orbit	Radar calibration	In orbit	Successful
14 April 10:00	Soyuz			Baikonur Site 31/6

		Kosmos 212 (Soyuz Test #5)		Low Earth Orbit	Test spacecraft	In orbit	Successful
15 April 09:34	Soyuz			Baikonur Site 1/5

		Kosmos 213 (Soyuz Test #6)		Low Earth Orbit	Test spacecraft	In orbit	Successful
17 April 17:00	Titan IIIB Agena-D			Vandenberg SLC-4W

		OPS 5105 KH-8 4313	USAF	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Successful
18 April 10:30	Voskhod			Plesetsk Site 41/1

		Kosmos 214 (Zenit-4 #40)	GRU	Low Earth Orbit	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Successful
18 April 22:29	Kosmos-2			Kapustin Yar Site 86/1

		Kosmos 215 (DS-U1-A #1)		Low Earth Orbit	Aeronomy	30 June	Successful
20 April 10:30	Voskhod			Baikonur Site 31/6

		Kosmos 216 (Zenit-2 #61)	GRU	Low Earth Orbit	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Successful
21 April 04:20	Molniya-M / Blok ML			Baikonur Site 1/5

		Molniya-1 08		Molniya orbit	Communications	In orbit	Successful
22 April 23:01	Proton K / Blok D			Pad 81/23, Baikonur		MOM

		Zond (L1 7)	MOM	Lunar Free-return	Prototype Soyuz 7K-L1P/Zond	22 April	Failure
24 April 16:00	Tsyklon-2A			Baikonur Site 90/19

		Kosmos 217 (I2M #1)		Low Earth Orbit	ASAT target	26 April	Partial failure
		The satellite did not separate from the upper stage and was placed into lower than planned orbit
25 April 00:45	R-36-O			Baikonur Site 162/36

		Kosmos 218 (OGCh #17)	RVSN	Low Earth Orbit	FOBS test	25 April	Successful
26 April 04:42	Kosmos-2			Kapustin Yar Site 86/1

		Kosmos 219 (DS-U2-D #2)		Low Earth Orbit	Magnetosphere research	2 March 1969	Successful

1968 in spaceflight

Deep space lunar missions

Orbital launches

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Suborbital Launches

January-December

Orbital launch summary

References

Wikiwand - on

1968 in spaceflight

Timeline of spaceflight ← 1967 1969 →