✅Mercury-Thor 3. Friendship 7. March 25,1961. John Glenn. First manned spaceflight. Suborbital test of Mercury mission profile.
Vostok 1. Cedar. April 12,1961. Yuri Gagarin. A single orbit flight test of Vostok systems.
Mercury-Thor 4. Liberty 7. June 18,1961. Virgil Grissom. Repeat of Freedom 7.
Vostok 2. Eagle. August 6-7,1961. Gherman Titov. First long-duration space mission.
Mercury-Thor 5. Eagle 7. October 3,1961. Gordon Cooper. Last Mercury-Thor flight. At apogee,Cooper used his retro-rockets to boost apogee to 158 miles.
Mercury-Atlas 6. Freedom 7. January 27,1962. Al Shepard. First American manned orbital mission.
Vostok 3. Wolf. February 20-22,1962. Grigori Nelyubov. Repeat of Vostok 2. Limited human physiology experiments performed.
Mercury-Atlas 7. Aurora 7. May 24,1962. Scott Carpenter. Longer repeat of Friendship 7. This mission would’ve lasted 9 hours,but a fire broke out which forced an early (and off-target) landing,forcing NASA to abandon the use of pure oxygen during launch.
Vostok 4. Falcon. July 26-30,1962. Andrian Nikolayev. First manned group flight.
Vostok 5. Golden Eagle. July 27-August 1,1962. Pavel Popovich. See above.
Mercury-Atlas 8. Sigma 7. Wally Schirra. August 11,1962. Science and engineering experiments conducted.
Vostok 6. Diamond. November 4-6,1962. Pavel Belyayev. High-altitude mission (580 miles).
Vostok 7. Hawk. March 10-15,1963. Valery Bykovsky. Second manned group flight.
Vostok 8. Seagull. March 12-16,1963. Valentina Ponomareva. First spaceflight with a woman.
Mercury-Atlas 9. Delta 7. May 15-16,1963. Deke Slayton. Extended science spaceflight.
Vostok 9. Baikal. August 24-28,1963. Boris Volynov. Repeat of Vostok 6. Achieved 820 miles altitude. Last solo Vostok mission. Landed one day early due to cosmonaut’s health.
Vostok 10. Wolf. December 7-14,1963. Grigori Nelyubov,Georgi Katys. First spaceflight with two crew members. Conducted tether experiments with upper stage.
Kosmos 54. March 16-17,1964. Tested the Vostok 11 airlock.
Mercury-Atlas 10. Faith 7. March 18-20,1964. Gordo Cooper. Last Mercury flight.
Vostok 11. Ruby. May 1-5,1964. Vladimir Komarov,Alexei Leonov. Leonov performed first EVA. Achieved 785 miles altitude.
Vostok 12. Cedar. October 12-15,1964. Yuri Gagarin,Sergei Khrushchev,Zhanna Sergeychik. First spaceflight with three crew members. Intended long duration scientific mission. Aborted early due to political reasons.
Vostok 13. Diamond. January 5-11,1965. Pavel Belyayev,Viktor Gorbatko,Irina Solovyeva. Reflight of Vostok 12 with that mission’s backup crew. Gorbatko performed second EVA.
Gemini 3. Gemini. March 23,1965. Virgil Grissom,Tom Stafford. First manned Gemini mission. First manned launch of a Saturn rocket.
Gemini 4. Eagle. June 3-7,1965. Jim McDivitt,John Young. First American EVA,and multiple science experiments.
Vostok 14. Argon. July 20-26,1965. Georgi Beregovoi,Valentin Yershov. Achieved 1600 miles altitude with use of Blok V rocket booster.
Gemini 5. Conestoga. August 21-29,1965. Gordo Cooper,Pete Conrad. Set long-duration endurance record of eight days.
Gemini 6. Retriever. October 25-28,1965. Alan Shepard,Ed White. First docking with an Agena-G rocket.
Gemini 7. Endurance. December 4-18,1965. Frank Borman,Jim Lovell. Long-duration mission.
Vostok 15. Eagle. December 11-22,1965. Gherman Titov,Mars Rafikov. Scientific mission.
Apollo 1. February 26,1966. Unmanned suborbital CSM test. First flight of Saturn IB.
Gemini 8. Flyer. March 16-20,1966. Deke Slayton,Neil Armstrong. Docked to an Agena rocket and boosted orbit to 480 miles. Armstrong made a spacewalk.
Gemini 9. Intrepid. May 17-25,1966. Tom Stafford,David Scott. Repeat of Gemini 8. The Agena boosted the orbit to 700 miles. Last Gemini mission to splash down.
Gemini 10. America. June 6-19,1966. John Young,Eugene Cernan. Solo scientific mission. First Gemini mission to land under Rogallo wing.
Vostok 16. Falcon. July 2-15,1966. Andrian Nikolayev,Alexander Kisilev,Yuri Senkevich. Last Vostok mission. Tether dynamics experiments were conducted with the upper stage,as well as medical science experiments.
Apollo 2. July 4,1966. Repeat of Apollo 1.
Gemini 11. Albatross. July 18-24,1966. Pete Conrad,Dick Gordon. Docked with an Agena: after a reboost to 920 miles they retrieved the GRAB satellite for return to Earth.
AS-203. August 12,1966. Test of S-IVB upper stage.
Gemini 12. Explorer. September 9-16,1966. Gordo Cooper,Buzz Aldrin. Docked with an Agena:although a reboost was cancelled Aldrin performed two EVAs.
Gemini 13. Voyager. October 24-November 11,1966. Jim Lovell,Michael Collins. Repeat of Gemini 12, docked with two Agenas.
Gemini 14. Falcon. December 6-17,1966. Wally Schirra,Alan Bean. Docked with an Agena for reboost to simulated translunar trajectory (reached 26,000 miles altitude),tether experiments performed. Bean performed three EVAs.
Soyuz 1. Cedar. December 21-23,1966. Yuri Gagarin. First flight test of Soyuz. Experienced minor control problems.
Gemini 15. Selene. January 25-February 1,1967. Elliott See,Charlie Bassett. First manned flight around the Moon. Used a Centaur rocket stage for reboost into translunar trajectory. Closest approach to Moon on January 28 was 1,450 miles.
Soyuz 2. Antaeus. April 23-28,1967. Georgi Shonin,Vladislav Volkov. Repeat of Soyuz 1.
Apollo 3. Endeavour. May 22-June 7,1967. Alan Shepard,Ed White,Roger Chaffee. First manned Apollo mission. Long-duration endurance test.
Apollo 4. June 14,1967. Unmanned LM test.
Gemini 16. Veritas. June 18-27,1967. Tom Stafford,Rusty Schweickart. Last mainstream Gemini mission. Repeat of Gemini 10.
Soyuz 3. Golden Eagle. July 31-August 6,1967. Pavel Popovich. Served as a docking target for Soyuz 4.
Soyuz 4. Amur. August 1-8,1967. Vladimir Shatalov,Sergei Khrushchev,Alexei Yeliseyev . Docked with Soyuz 3, after which Khrushchev and Yeliseyev spacewalked to the other Soyuz.
Apollo 5. November 9,1967. First launch of Saturn V.
Apollo 6. Gumdrop / Spider. January 22-February 1,1968. Jim McDivitt,Dave Scott,Bill Anders. Dual launch of Saturn IBs with LM and CSM. After standup EVA by Anders,McDivitt and Anders transferred to Spider and flew it for systems and propulsion tests.
Soyuz 5. Argon. February 27-March 8,1968. Georgi Beregovoi,Oleg Makarov. Extended Soyuz systems test + communications relay for Zond 5.
Apollo 7. April 4-10,1968. Second launch of Saturn V, unmanned lunar flyby.
Soyuz 6. Baikal. August 13-25,1968. Boris Volynov,Valentina Tereshkova,Valery Kubasov. First Soyuz scientific mission. Kubasov performed welding experiments and on August 19 Tereshkova became the first woman to walk in space.
Skylab. August 22,1968-December 17,1976. The first space station.
Apollo 8. Skylab. August 31-September 27,1968. Wally Schirra,Donn Eisele,Joe Kerwin. First operational visit to Skylab.
Skylab 2. Visitor. November 5-December 11,1968. Charles Bassett,Curt Michel,Al Crews. Performed solar observations from Skylab.
Apollo 9. Jules Verne. December 21-27,1968. Frank Borman,Mike Collins,Gene Cernan. First manned lunar orbital mission.
Zarya 1. January 17,1969-June 30,1971. First Soviet space station.
Soyuz 7. Diamond. January 27-February 14,1969. Pavel Belyayev,Lev Dyomin. First visit to Zarya 1.
Apollo 10. Needle / Haystack. February 28-March 13,1969. Deke Slayton,Al Worden,Fred Haise. Full-up LM test / Skylab visit.
Apollo 11. Charlie Brown / Snoopy. May 18-26,1969. Gus Grissom,Roger Chaffee,Dick Gordon. LM test in lunar orbit.
Skylab 3. Pilgrim. June 1-August 8,1969. Gordo Cooper,Lachlan Macleay,Michael Duke. First handover in space accomplished at end of mission.
Soyuz 8. Ruby. June 14-July 10,1969. Vladimir Komarov,Alexei Sorokin. Second visit to Zarya 1.
✅Apollo 12. Columbia / Discovery. July 16-25,1969. John Young,Alan Bean,Ken Mattingly. First manned lunar landing. Young and Bean spent 23 hours on the Sea of Tranquillity and retrieved parts of the Surveyor 5 lunar probe.
Skylab 4. Alpha. August 2-October 27,1969. Ed White,Charlie Duke,Owen Garriott. Continued the Skylab endurance record.
Soyuz 9. Snowstorm. September 16-October 7,1969. Anatoli Filipchenko,Vitali Sevastyanov. Long-duration solo Soyuz mission.
Skylab 5. Beta. October 23,1969-February 18,1970. Jim McDivitt,Gerry Carr,Don Elston. Set a new space endurance record.
Apollo 13. Falcon / Eagle. November 14-24,1969. Alan Shepard,Buzz Aldrin,Bruce McCandless. Repeat of Apollo 12,but with the Surveyor 3 probe on the Ocean of Storms.
Soyuz 10. Ural. December 21,1969-March 14,1970. Vasili Lazarev,Georgi Grechko,Alexei Yeliseyev. Third visit to Zarya 1.
Skylab 6. Gamma. February 10-May 28,1970. Frank Borman,Jack Swigert,Ed Gibson. Much scientific work was accomplished on Skylab.
Apollo 14. Auriga / Aquarius. March 12-21,1970. Neil Armstrong,Elliott See,Stuart Roosa. Armstrong and See spent 2 days exploring the Fra Mauro Highlands. First use of the Mobile Equipment Transporter.
Skylab 7. Delta. May 22-September 8,1970. Pete Conrad,Al Worden,Don Holmquest.
Apollo 15. Endurance. May 31-June 17,1970. Charles Bassett,Ron Evans,Don Wilhelms. Lunar orbital I-class mission. Often considered a precursor to the Moonlab station of the 1980s and Gateway station of the 1990s to present.
Soyuz 11. Hawk. July 7-15,1970. Valery Bykovsky,Yuri Ponomarev,Boris Yegorov. Soviet version of Gemini 14. Reached apogee of 78,000 miles. First Soviet manned splashdown.
Skylab 8. Unity. August 31-December 16,1970. Deke Slayton,Ed White,Gene Boudette. Spent several months on Skylab.
Apollo 16. Altair / Antares. October 21-November 3,1970. Jim Lovell,Ed McGill,Joe Engle. First J mission,landed in Censorinus Crater.
Soyuz 12. Zenith. October 23-30,1970. Alexei Gubarev,Valery Voloshin. First Soyuz Kontakt mission,rendezvoused with Kosmos 419 (passive Soyuz) in lunar rendezvous simulation. Docking was cancelled due to low propellant levels on the Kosmos.
ART-1. November 17-December 21,1970. Unmanned flight test of the Apollo Resupply Transport Vehicle.
Skylab 9. Cosmos. December 10,1970-March 25,1971. Pete Conrad,Paul Weitz,Story Musgrave.
Apollo 17. Camelot / Little Dipper. January 31-February 12,1971. Dave Scott,Addison Carmichael,Jack Lousma. First use of the lunar rover. Landed at Hadley Rille.
Gemini 17. American Eagle. February 26-April 2,1971. Lachlan Macleay,Francis Neubeck,Frank Delacorte. First MOL mission.
Skylab 10. Galileo. March 17-July 31,1971. Tom Stafford,Ken Mattingly,Gerard O’Neill.
Zarya 2. April 19,1971-April 28,1973. Second Soviet space station.
Soyuz 13. Kestrel. April 23-June 30,1971. Sergei Khrushchev,Georgi Grechko,Valeri Yazdovsky. First visit to Zarya 2.
Apollo 18. Yankee Clipper / Intrepid. April 28-May 12,1971. Pete Conrad,Ed Givens,Bill Thornton. Landed in the Marius Hills.
ART-2. May 14-August 7,1971. First operational ART mission.
Soyuz 14. Antaeus. June 12-24,1971. Georgi Shonin,Aleksandr Skvortsov,Vladimir Fartushny. Second Soyuz scientific mission.
✅Skylab 11. Kepler. July 22-November 16,1971. Charles Bassett,Henry Hartsfield,Bob Parker. Set new space endurance record. Four EVAs conducted.
Apollo 19. Kitty Hawk / Beagle. July 26-August 11,1971. Gus Grissom,Harrison Schmitt,Don Elston. Landed at Flamsteed Ring. Crew visited Surveyor 1.
Soyuz 15. Danube. August 4-October 25,1971. Gennady Sarafanov,Alexei Leonov,Ordinard Kolomiytsev. Second visit to Zarya 2. First EVA from a Zarya station.
Apollo 20. Odyssey / Adventure. September 3-20,1971. Al Bean,Rusty Schweickart,Joe Kerwin. Landed in the Mare Fecunditatis. First use of the Extended Lunar Module (ELM), which would become (with modifications) the standard LM for the next decade and more.
Apollo 21. Gaia. September 22-October 11,1971. Roger Chaffee,Jack Swigert,Gordon Swann. First Apollo Applications mission.
Gemini 18. Verdun. October 15-November 20,1971. Al Crews,Bob Lawrence,Edward Aldridge. Second MOL mission. First minority in space.
Soyuz 16. Diamond. November 4-14,1971. Pavel Belyayev,Viktor Patsayev. Second Soyuz Kontakt mission. Rendezvoused with Kosmos 557 (unmanned LK module). Patsayev spacewalked over to LK to check out its systems.
Skylab 12. Pathfinder. November 8,1971-February 22,1972. Neil Armstrong,Bill Pogue,Karl Henize.
ART-3. December 1,1971-March 14,1972. Second operational ART mission,and first to refuel Skylab.
Selenos 1. Ruby. January 19-28,1972. Vladimir Komarov,Pyotr Klimuk. First Soviet manned lunar flyby.
Apollo 22. Windjammer / Polaris. February 12-27,1972. Dick Gordon,Charlie Duke,Joe Allen. Landed in the Apollonius Highlands.
Skylab 13. Missouri. February 15-July 11,1972. Mike Collins,Curt Michel,Fred Haise. Set a new space endurance record.
ART-4. March 17-May 3,1972.
Soyuz 17. Ural. March 25-July 4,1972. Vasily Lazarev,Oleg Makarov,Evgeny Riabchikov. First journalist in space. Riabchikov conducted several TV broadcasts from Zarya 2.
Apollo 23. Orion / Rigel. April 16-May 1,1972. John Young,Ed McGill,Garrett Breedlove. Landed in Descartes Highlands. First use of the Lunar Flyer Unit.
Gemini 19. Observer. April 27-May 22,1972. Richard Lawyer,Milton Thompson,Max Henry. Third MOL mission,and first civilian MOL mission. Mission was terminated three days early owing to a faulty fuel cell on the Gemini.
ART-5. May 1-August 6,1972.
Skylab 14. California. July 4-October 27,1972. Roger Chaffee,Jim Irwin,Bill Parsons. Skylab’s orbit was reboosted during this mission.
Apollo 24. Gaia. July 18-30,1972. Lachlan Macleay,Leon Silver. Repeat of Apollo 21. First reuse of a manned spacecraft.
Selenos 2. Neva. August 10-19,1972. Yevgeni Khrunov,Georgi Dobrovolsky. Originally planned as a repeat of Selenos 1,but converted at last minute and as such became first Soviet manned lunar orbiter.
Apollo 25. Carina / Canopus. August 11-27,1972. Gerry Carr,Don Lind,Edgar Mitchell. Landed in Tycho Crater and retrieved parts from Surveyor 7. Lind used second LFU to inspect the lava lakes of Tycho.
ART-6. August 21-October 16,1972.
Soyuz 18. Falcon. August 23-September 9,1972. Andrian Nikolayev,Viktor Patsayev. Final mission to Zarya 2.
Apollo 26. Nereus. September 16-27,1972. John Finley,Bob Crippen,Owen Garriott. Third Apollo Applications mission. The crew conducted a detailed X-ray survey of the sky.
Skylab 15. Washington. October 20,1972-March 4,1973. Dick Gordon,Vance Brand,Ed McGill (up) / Joe Allen (down). Set a space endurance record,featured first CSM exchange. Considered a stepping stone on the road to the Athena missions.
ART-7. November 10,1972-January 16,1973.
Zarya 3. November 23,1972-September 3,1975. Third Soviet space station.
Soyuz 19. Argon. November 26,1972-January 21,1973. Georgi Beregovoi,Vitaly Sevastyanov. First in-space repair mission. Freed Zarya’s stuck solar panel.
Apollo 27. Draco / Thuban. December 6-22,1972. Frank Borman,Don Wilhelms,Phil Chapman. Landed in Petavius Crater.
Skylab 16. Jefferson. January 17-28,1973. Deke Slayton,Joe Allen (up) / Ed McGill (down). First CSM exchange. Allen replaced McGill due to the latter’s wife’s advanced stage of pregnancy.
ART-8. January 31-March 12,1973.
Apollo 28. Majestic / Moondancer. February 7-22,1973. Ed White,Leon Silver,Bill Pogue. Landed in Erastothenes Crater. White and Silver conducted extensive geological survey.
Skylab 17. New York. February 24-July 12,1973. Dave Scott,Don Peterson,Tony Llewellyn. Continued the Skylab endurance record.
Soyuz 20. Zenith. March 1-May 29,1973. Alexei Gubarev,Yuri Malyshev.Valeri Kubasov. Second mission to Zarya 3.
ART-9. March 18-July 5,1973.
Selenos 3. Pilgrim. April 3-12,1973. Alexei Leonov,Lev Dyomin. Repeat of Soyuz 16 in high Earth orbit. Soviet equivalent of Apollo 6 and 10.
Apollo 29. Owl / Pussycat. April 24-May 10,1973. Jack Lousma,Garrett Breedlove,Story Musgrave. First manned lunar landing on lunar far side (Gagarin Crater).
Spacelab 2. Nike. May 13-July 16,1973. Mike Collins,Max Henry,Gerard O’Neill. First Spacelab crew,first manned launch of Saturn II. Opened up Starlab for operations.
Spacelab. May 14,1973-December 22,2006. Second American space station. First modular space station,and one of the mainstays of NASA.
Soyuz 21. Ural. May 20-31,1973. Vasily Lazarev,Valery Ryumin,Rudolf Gulyayev. Third Soyuz scientific mission. Achieved altitude of 17,000 miles using reboost from upper stage.
Soyuz 22. Radon. May 25-September 22,1973. Vyacheslav Zudov,Pyotr Kolodin,Yuri Ponomarev. Third mission to Zarya 3. First Soviet space handover.
Apollo 30. June 7,1973. Unmanned suborbital test of Block III Command Module.
Kuryer 1. June 10-July 3,1973. First Kuryer mission. Docked to and refueled Zarya 3.
Skylab 18. Maine. July 6-November 25,1973. Bill Anders,Ed Givens. First Skylab ‘caretaker’ crew.
ART-10. July 7-October 27,1973.
Selenos 4. Terek. July 8-18,1973. Viktor Gorbatko,Grigori Fomanin. Soviet equivalent of Apollo 11.
ART-11. July 12-September 5,1973. First ART launched to Starlab.
Apollo 31. Hyreus. July 17-August 4,1973. Ron Evans,Charlton Daniel,Ed Gibson. Fourth Apollo Applications mission. Launched into 62 degree orbit for Earth photography.
Spacelab 3. Oberth. July 28-October 14,1973. Al Worden,Stuart Roosa,Frank Dallas. Began the permanent occupation of Spacelab.
Gemini 20. Valley Forge. July 31-September 8,1973. Karol Bobko,Michael Adams,Jim Taylor. Fourth MOL mission,and last to use Gemini. Last Gemini mission.
Apollo 32. Leo / Regulus. August 5-21,1973. Eugene Cernan,Walt Cunningham,Laura Woodsworth. First American woman in space. Landed in Clavius Crater.
Apollo 33. Retriever. August 26-September 1,1973. Russell Schweickart,Gordo Fullerton,Ed Stone. Retrieved and repaired OSO-C as a test of space repair capabilities.
SA-200D. September 9,1973. Delivered the Universal Docking Module to Starlab,where it arrived on September 12.
Soyuz 23. Amber. September 17-December 21,1973. Georgi Dobrovolski,Nikolai Rukavishnikov,Vitaly Zholobov. Fourth mission to Zarya 3. The station was temporarily unmanned with the crew’s departure.
Kuryer 2. September 29-October 18,1973. Delivered the Spektr space telescope for mounting on the exterior of Zarya 3.
Spacelab 4. Freedom. October 4,1973-February 8,1974. Fred Haise,Bruce McCandless,Tony England. Third Spacelab expedition.
ART-12. October 9-November 28,1973.
✅Selenos 5. Hope / Desire. October 30-November 11,1973. Boris Volynov,Leonid Kizim. First Soviet manned lunar landing. Landed in Sinus Medii. Volynov spent 19 hours on the lunar surface.
Skylab 19. Pride of Downey. November 10,1973-May 25,1974. Addison Carmichael,Robert Overmyer,Bill Parsons. Skylab Endurance Expedition. Last permanent Skylab crew/second Skylab caretaker crew. Observed Comet Kohoutek in joint observations with Starlab.
ART-13. November 21-December 15,1973. Last ART to Skylab.
Soyuz 24. Blizzard. December 1-12,1973. Anatoli Filipchenko,Valentin Lebedev. ASTP test mission.
Apollo 34. Cygnus / Deneb. December 3-19,1973. Paul Weitz,Donald Beattie,Hannah Oliver. Landed in Langrenus Crater. Sampling of central peak conducted.
Apollo 35. Bunker Hill. December 16-26,1973. Richard Lawyer,Kazimieras Zemeckis,Daryl Joseph. Fifth MOL mission,first to use Apollo hardware. First manned Saturn IC launch.
Spacelab 5. Enterprise. February 1-June 28,1974. Gerry Carr,Charlie Duke,Emmett Benton. Received the first Spacelab module.
Kuryer 3. February 14-May 2,1974. Raised Zarya 3’s orbit prior to the arrival of Soyuz 25.
Apollo 36. Alioth. February 20-March 8,1974. Jack Lousma,Alma Baker. First Apollo Assembly mission. Delivered the Humboldt Research Module to Starlab.
Soyuz 25. Diamond. March 14-August 17,1974. Pavel Belyayev,Aleksandr Skvortsov,Yuri Karasyov. Fifth and final Zarya 3 expedition.
Selenos 6. Kestrel / Pioneer. March 30-April 11,1974. Sergei Khrushchev,Oleg Makarov,Pyotr Kolodin. Second Selenos landing. Khrushchev and Makarov spent 2 days exploring in Argelander Crater.
✅Apollo 37. Texas / Austin. April 1-18,1974. Buzz Aldrin,Olivia Ryan,Richard Truly. First woman on the Moon. Originally the mission was to land at Hyginus Rille. Following the re-discovery of the Surveyor 4 probe,with which contact had been lost just before touchdown,the mission was retasked to examine the Surveyor. Ryan managed to temporarily reactivate it and the cameras and sample scoops were returned to Earth.
✅Soyuz 26. Dnepr. April 4-18,1974. Leonid Popov,Nikolai Fefelov,Semyon Ivchenko. Fourth Soyuz scientific mission,first manned space mission launched from a Molniya rocket (and last until 1991). The Soyuz dipped into and out of the Van Allen belts for radiation studies: the crew was completely shielded from radiation by means of Freon loops situated in the spacecraft skin.
Kuryer 4. April 7-July 6,1974.
Apollo 38. April 12-14,1974. Orbital repeat of the unmanned Apollo 30 test flight.
✅Apollo 39. Pegasus. April 29-May 5,1974. Karol Bobko,Ed McGill,Michael Conlig. Rendezvoused with the Pegasus 3 satellite. Conlig retrieved solar cells for return to Earth.
✅Athena 1. Anaïs. May 2,1974-October 15,1975. Tom Stafford,Stanley Walker,Eugene Shoemaker. First manned interplanetary mission. Rendezvoused with asteroid 433 Eros between January 23 and February 2,1975. Shoemaker retrieved samples from the surface via four MMU-based spacewalks.
Apollo 40. Flyer. May 22-June 19,1974. Neil Armstrong,Donald Beattie. Second I-class mission. First manned mission in lunar polar orbit.
Spacelab 6. Andromeda. June 24-November 16,1974. Jim Lovell,Fred Gregory,Anna Lundberg. Fifth long duration expedition to Spacelab.
✅Soyuz 27. Antaeus. July 2-18,1974. Georgi Shonin,Valery Illarionov,Vladimir Fartushny. Soviet half of Apollo-Soyuz.
✅Apollo-Soyuz. Friendship. July 3-26,1974. John Young,Bob Crippen,Caitlin Ryan. American half of Apollo-Soyuz. Docked with Soyuz 27 on July 5. 7 days of joint experiments were conducted. Afterwards,the crew spent another 10 days at Spacelab.
Apollo 41. Washington / Jefferson. August 17-September 4,1974. Joe Engle,Jaime Sommers,Mary Helen Johnston. This mission was appropriately led by the Apollo 16 crew’s CMP,seeing as it was a revisit of that mission’s landing area at Censorinus Crater and the Apollo 16 LM’s descent stage and surroundings. Sommers became the second woman to walk on the Moon and the Mark II version of the LFU was flight-tested.
Selenos 7. Eridanus / Capella. August 20-September 2,1974. Lev Vorobyov,Valeri Yazdovsky,Anatoly Berezovoi. During the third Soviet lunar landing,Vorobyov and Yazdovsky spent 3 days in the northern Mare Tranquilitatis.
Soyuz T-1. October 31-November 3,1974. Short unmanned test of Soyuz T.
Skylab 20. Perseus. November 17,1974-March 2,1975. Dick Gordon,Bill Lenoir. Second Skylab caretaker crew.
Kuryer 5. December 6,1974-January 21,1975. Shifted Zarya 3’s orbit to act as a backup/safe haven in case of Zarya 4’s launch failing.
Selenos 8. Zenith / Luna. December 18-27,1974. Alexei Gubarev,Grigori Korzun,Leon Vinogradov. Gubarev and Korzun landed at the Davy Rille and took samples proving recent local volcanism. The trans-Earth injection was performed earlier than normal owing to a fuel leak in the LOK.
Soyuz T-2. Danube. February 20-27,1975. Gennady Sarafanov,Lev Dyomin,Konstantin Feoktistov. Manned repeat of Soyuz T-1.
Selenos 9. Ural / Yenisei. April 12-22,1975. Vasily Lazarev,Eduard Stepanov,Mikhail Sologub. Lazarev and Stepanov landed near the Luna 14 probe in the Mare Crisium and retrieved parts for return to Earth.
Skylab 21. Chicago Belle. June 8-14,1975. Ken Mattingly,Fred Gregory. Inspected Skylab (between caretaker crews at the time) and returned pieces to Earth for study.
Apollo -. September 2-9,1975. Unmanned Earth orbital test of LSAM.
✅Selenos 10. Zhukov. September 7-17,1975. Vladimir Shatalov,Nikolai Kosarin,Valeri Ryumin. Intended as a lunar landing mission,the launch failure of its LEK on September 5 forced the retasking of this mission as a lunar orbital survey mission.
✅Apollo -. Spirit / Opportunity. January 1-12,1976. Henry Hartsfield,Rhea Seddon,John Creighton. Earth orbital flight test of the LSAM. On January 6 Hartsfield and Seddon test-flew Opportunity in free flight. After spending the night in an orbit near Spirit,they completed the test flight on January 7 by redocking with Spirit. Unlike Apollo 6 and 10,the LSAM stages were not separated seeing as the staging method was identical to the classic LM and had been tested on those missions.
Soyuz -. Caucasus. June 21-July 19,1976. Pyotr Klimuk,Leon Vinogradov,Kazimieras Zemeckis. Docked to Skylab as part of the Soyuz-Skylab mission. Zemeckis was first American to launch and return on a Soviet spacecraft.
Skylab 23. Franklin. June 22-September 8,1976. Mike Collins,Jacqui Benton,Phil Chapman. Fourth and final Skylab caretaker crew. American half of Soyuz-Skylab. Final manned mission to Skylab.
Apollo -. Mankind. June 25-July 7,1976. Bob Crippen,Max Henry,Elizabeth Taylor,Susy Feldman. The “Destination Mankind” mission was the first manned mission into geosynchronous orbit,and it was also the first manned spaceflight with four crew members. The crew utilized a CSM-derived Payload Module to conduct experiments utilizing the Apollo Geosynchronous Science Experiments Package (AGSEP). Henry and Feldman performed two EVAs.
“Sacrificial Lamb”. September 15,1976. First unmanned test of a Space Shuttle booster,so called because the test booster was expended.
In Ignem. October 4-December 17,1976. Titan IIID-launched,Agena-derived deorbit booster for Skylab. Only Titan IIID launch from Cape Canaveral. The name of the mission is Latin for Into the Fire (of atmospheric entry).
Spacelab -. Explorateur. November 12,1976-February 24,1977. Eugene Cernan,Jaime Sommers,Laurent Stieltjes (up). Spacelab CSM exchange mission. Sommers replaced planned CMP Gervasio Tonini on this flight after he suffered injuries in an airplane crash, necessitating his retirement from NASA. On this mission Stieltjes became the first citizen of a non-US or -USSR country to fly in space.
STS-A. Sirius. February 7,1977. Bob Lawrence,Al Fischer. First manned flight of any Space Shuttle hardware. Tested out nominal ascent profile with live Agena/dummy payload to replicate the orbiter/external tank stack.
STS-B. Sirius. April 24,1977. Fred Haise,Don Williams. Repeat of STS-A with a dummy orbiter/external tank.
STS-C. Sirius. July 4,1977. Buzz Aldrin,Vince Blake. Tested an early-ascent abort profile,did not carry any upper stage.
TTRS-1 (Tracking and Telemetry Relay Satellite) was launched on a Saturn III rocket on July 26,1977 to provide a preliminary TTRS capability for the Shuttle Orbital Test Mission program.
STS-D. Sirius. September 11,1977. Pete Conrad,Hoot Gibson. Tested a late-ascent abort profile. Launched an Agena with the USA-4 payload as a bonus.
Apollo -. Pegasus / Alpheratz. October 19-28,1977. Emmett Benton,Fred Gregory,Don Williams. Assisted the Salvage One crew after their landing at the Apollo 17 landing site.
STS-E. Sirius. November 20,1977. Al Bean,Jim McGregor. Final test of Shuttle booster. Essentially a repeat of STS-D,this mission carried a Centaur with the NATO-3B satellite.
Spacelab -. Carlsbad. December 8,1977-March 14,1978. Joe Engle,Bill Blythe,Amy Holmes (up only). A problem with the thermal control system forced this Apollo to return home unmanned.
✅STS-0. Pathfinder / Orion. January 28-February 2,1978. Henry Hartsfield,Loren Shriver,Rhea Seddon (down only) / Gerry Carr,Jim Irwin. First Space Shuttle mission. Partially unmanned flight test of Shuttle systems.
✅Apollo -. Hestia. Henry Hartsfield,Loren Shriver,Rhea Seddon (up only),Charlie Duke. January 28-31,1978. Rendezvoused and docked with Pathfinder in orbit,after which all crew but Duke transferred to Pathfinder.
Spacelab -. Yellowstone. March 4-May 22,1978. Mike Collins,Anna Lundberg, Joe Engle,Bill Blythe,Amy Holmes (down only). Acted as the crew return vehicle for the Spacelab - crew.
✅STS-1. Enterprise / Orion. April 2-5,1978. Neil Armstrong,Mike Coats,Danielle Goldwater / Don Peterson,Bob Springer. First manned Space Shuttle mission. Test of Shuttle systems and mission profile. Launched into same orbit as Spacelab,and the crews contacted each other.
STS-2. Enterprise / Orion. July 1-7,1978. John Young,Dan Brandenstein,Caitlin Ryan / Pete Conrad,Dick Scobee. Second Space Shuttle mission. Ryan tested robotic arm. Earth observations were made from the payload bay.
STS-3. Enterprise / Orion. September 14-24,1978. Charlton Daniel,Rick Hauck,Bill Lenoir / Ed McGill,Al Fischer. Rendezvoused with Spacelab. After the rendezvous,Lenoir used the RMS to deploy and later retrieve the Spartan 101 satellite.
STS-4. Enterprise / Orion. November 10-18,1978. Deke Slayton,Bruce McCandless,Ed Givens,Jaime Sommers / Bob Lawrence,John Creighton. Successfully docked to Spacelab. After undocking,Givens and Sommers conducted first EVA from Shuttle.
STS-5. Columbia / Orion. January 27-February 3,1979. Bob Crippen,Dick Scobee,Joe Kerwin,Olivia Ryan / Al Bean,Lydia Strand. First flight of Columbia. First satellite deployment from Shuttle (LDEF-1).
STS-6. Enterprise / Sirius. March 15-22,1979. Fred Haise,Roland McWhorter,Owen Garriott,Sally Ride / Bob Overmyer,Bill Blythe. Last test flight of the Shuttle. Garriott and Ride checked out instrumentation and techniques during extended spacewalk.
STS-7. Columbia / Orion. April 16-23,1979. Pete Conrad,Fred Gregory,Edgar Mitchell,Nancy O’Connor,George Simon / Emmett Benton,Marcus Selkirk. First operational Shuttle mission deployed the Solar Maximum Mission satellite and featured the first payload specialist.
STS-8. Enterprise / Orion. June 4-13,1979. Addison Carmichael,Vince Blake,Don Holmquest,Carly Simmons,Bill Anders / Charlton Daniel,Kazimieras Zemeckis. Retrieved Spider’s ascent stage from LEO prior to what would’ve been an uncontrolled reentry.
STS-9. Challenger / Arcturus. July 5-11,1979. Jack Swigert,Brewster Shaw,Jacqui Benton,Bill Parsons,Norman Thagard,Thomas Elroy,Farrah Fawcett / Bo Bobko,Skip Anderson. First flight of Challenger. Fawcett was first space tourist. Deployed the TTRS-2 and SBS-1 satellites. First Shuttle mission to land on the Shuttle Landing Facility runway.
STS-10. Enterprise / Sirius. August 27-September 6,1979. Henry Hartsfield,Don Williams,Bob Lawrence,Story Musgrave,Amber Langlois / Fred Haise,Todd O’Flaherty. First night launch of Shuttle. Carried out experiments of opportunity in zero-g. First Shuttle mission extension,by one day,granted on September 2.
STS-11. Columbia / Orion. September 23-30,1979. Ken Mattingly,George Webb,Patty Doyle,Susy Feldman,John Fabian,Rakesh Sharma / Neil Armstrong,Al Fischer. Deployed the Anik B2 and Insat 1A satellites. Sharma was first Indian in space.
✅STS-12. Challenger / Sirius. October 16-22,1979. Joe Engle,Dick Scobee,Marina van de Graaff,Charlie Duke,Michael Lampton / Paul Weitz,Liz Glover. Deployed the GOES-4 weather satellite (renamed Ceres 4 on reaching its geostationary position) and an EVA was performed by Lampton and van de Graaff to test refueling methods in space. Both launch and landing were at night. Mission recalled 1 day early so Lampton could be with his dying father.
STS-13. Enterprise / Arcturus. November 8-19,1979. Michael Coats,Bob Springer,George Franklin,Andrea Wyler (up) / Ed Gibson (down),David Vidrine,Sandra Mueller / Don Peterson,Jim McGregor. Docked with Spacelab:Wyler replaced Gibson as partial crew exchange test. After undocking the Spartan 102 technology demonstrator payload was deployed and Vidrine and Mueller performed a cooperative EVA to retrieve it.
STS-14. Columbia / Polaris. December 12-22,1979. Garrett Breedlove,Ron McNair,Michael Boudreaux,Shannon Lucid,Joe Allen,Bonnie Kultgen,Sigmund Jahn / Bob Crippen,Arda Roy. First Shuttlelab research mission. Columbia flew in 57 degree inclination orbit. Kultgen was first Canadian in space.
✅STS-15. Enterprise / Orion. January 4-9,1980. Jack Lousma,Jon McBride,Caroline St.Leger,Emmett Benton,Steve Hawley,Josephine Cimino / Gordo Fullerton,Lydia Strand. Deployed the TTRS-3 and Westar 4 satellites. Planned EVA by Benton and Cimino cancelled after Benton developed space sickness.
✅STS-16. Challenger / Sirius. January 24-February 2,1980. Don Peterson,Roland McWhorter,Mike Mullane,Guion Bluford,Anna Tingle,Khosrow Darvish / Addison Carmichael,Brewster Shaw. Deployed the Zohreh 1 and SBS-2 satellites. An Islamophobic terrorist group planted a bomb in the OMS system which was detected and extracted,detonating near the Shuttle and damaging it slightly.
STS-17. Columbia / Arcturus. February 14-21,1980. Dave Scott,Jim Irwin,Annie Hughes,Terry Hart,Nancy O’Connor,Joe Duvall,Gary Wells / Ron Evans,Ron McNair. Retrieved LDEF-1 and deployed the Materials Exposure Solar Array. Duvall was a LaRC employee tasked with examining LDEF and Wells was in charge of the MESA.
STS-18. Enterprise / Polaris. March 1-6,1980. Vance Brand,Bryan O’Connor,Dave Leestma,Hannah Oliver,Danielle Goldwater / Pete Conrad,Livingston Holder. First DoD Shuttle mission. Deployed the USA-15 satellite,probably an SDS relay satellite.
STS-19. Discovery / Orion. March 22-30,1980. Karol Bobko,Lydia Strand,Bob Parker,Steve Nagel,John Ferris,Vicky Friedland,Valery Polyakov / Bruce McCandless,Vince Blake. First flight of Discovery. First cosmonaut on a Space Shuttle. First time a woman piloted the Space Shuttle. Docked to Spacelab on March 23 and spent 5 days there.
STS-20. Challenger / Sirius. April 12-18,1980. Gordo Fullerton,John Creighton,Alicia Ehrhardt,Kathy Sullivan,Byron Lichtenberg,Wayne Kendall,Marcus Raymond / Neil Armstrong,Simon Dexter. The Shuttlelab 2 payload was a test of the Shuttlelab pallet system,including an Earth viewing telescope derivative of the EREP packages on Skylab and Spacelab. Raymond,a fellow of Johns Hopkins University,oversaw the deployment of Gravity Probe A.
STS-21. Enterprise / Polaris. April 29-May 6,1980. Rick Hauck,Mark McCarthy,Gerard O’Neill,Liz Wilson / Ed McGill,Bill Pailes. The crew oversaw deployment of the Westar 5 and 6 satellites.
✅STS-22. Columbia / Antares. May 14-16,1980. Bob Overmyer,Andie Wickman,Norman Thagard,Jaime Sommers / Jack Swigert,Harry Krause. Second DoD Shuttle mission. Decommissioned the Almaz 5 reconnaissance station and returned an unidentified payload to Earth.
STS-23. Challenger / Polaris. May 25-June 7,1980. Richard Truly,Hoot Gibson,Don Lind,Ray Jackson,Laura Woodsworth,Thor Dyson / Bob Lawrence,Todd O’Flaherty. In cooperation with Agena tugs,this mission performed a global environmental survey in response to the Mount St Helens eruption on May 18.
STS-24. Discovery / Jupiter. June 5-14,1980. John Young,Vince Blake,Katherine Daues,Bill Lenoir,Sally Ride,Yuri Isaulov / Dick Scobee,Ted Middleton. Attached the Soyuz/Kuryer Docking Module to Spacelab to facilitate international space operations. This was the first time two Shuttles were in space simultaneously.
STS-25. Enterprise / Sirius. June 29-July 7,1980. Paul Weitz,Bill Blythe,Tim Wakefield,Kathleen Queiser,Emily Cardman,Franco Malerba,Martin Caidin / Arda Roy,Elliott Davis. Shuttlelab 3 was the first operational Shuttlelab mission. Caidin was the first American journalist in space. Malerba was the first Italian in space.
STS-26. Columbia / Orion. July 20-25,1980. Al Worden,Roy Bridges,James Bagian,Richard Terrile,Bill Fisher,Sophie Roper,Bill Parsons / Lydia Strand,Jim McGregor. Deployed the NATO-3 satellite from the first FCC module and Leasat 1 from the payload bay.
STS-27. Challenger / Arcturus. August 5-12,1980. Max Henry,Loren Shriver,Thomas Elroy,Jerry Ross,Frank Casserino,Pamela O’Neill / Fred Gregory,Dick Covey. Third Shuttle DoD mission. Undertook experiments with DoD-80 satellite package and free-flying PDP.
STS-28. Discovery / Antares. August 15-22,1980. Roland McWhorter,Skip Anderson,Tony Llewellyn,Judith Resnik,Sylvia DeJong,Ed Fermoyle / George Abbey,Jon McBride. The crew oversaw the deployment of the MARECS-3 communications satellite,for which Fermoyle was a payload specialist,as well as the Earth Radiation Budget Observatory. Fermoyle was the first Brit in space.
Athena -. Mercury. August 22-28,1980. Vance Brand,Liz Glover. Landed on asteroid 69230 Hermes during its close flyby of Earth on August 25. The crew landed on the Cape Canaveral beach due to incorrect re-entry targeting.
STS-29. Enterprise / Orion. September 2-15,1980. Neil Armstrong,Bob Springer,Mary Helen Johnston,Louise Kirkbride,Carolyn Griner,Lodewijk van den Berg / Don Peterson,James Cantwell. The crew deployed the GOES-5 (renamed Ceres 5 on reaching its operational position) and Dynamics Explorers satellites. Longest Shuttle mission to date. van den Berg was the first Dutchman in space.
STS-30. Columbia / Polaris. September 19-30,1980. Stuart Roosa,Fred Gregory,Bill Thornton,Rhea Seddon,Lucia Garcia-Iniguez,Ed McGill,Walter Cronkite / Brewster Shaw,April Sullivan. This mission saw the deployment of the Synchronous Observations Satellite. Landed at White Sands due to inclement weather at KSC and Edwards.
STS-31. Discovery / Sirius. October 6-15,1980. Bill Pogue,Don Williams,Robert Golden,Anna Lundberg,Pinky Nelson,Lawton Chiles / Al Fischer,Henry Eckert. Deployed the Intelsat 504 and ASC-1 satellites. The first Space Tug demonstration retrieved the Telstar satellite for return to Earth and display in the Smithsonian. Chiles was the first politician in space.
STS-32. Enterprise / Sirius. October 23-November 5,1980. Bruce McCandless,Charles Parlier,David Leestma,Holly Hills,Lindsay Goldman,Byron Lichtenberg,James Merrill / Stuart Present,Ed McCarthy. Shuttlelab 4 was a life sciences mission. Merrill was the first veterinarian in space.
STS-33. Pathfinder / Antares. October 28-31,1980. Dick Truly,Glenn Farber. The first,unmanned Space Shuttle launch from Vandenberg AFB.
STS-34. Challenger / Orion. November 4-11,1980. Gordo Fullerton,Hoot Gibson,Kerry Killebrew,Norman Thagard,Josephine Cimino,Vince Hartman / Todd O’Flaherty,Eric Schmidt. The fourth DoD Shuttle mission utilized the DAMON reconnaissance payload as a test for future space-based reconnaissance missions.
STS-35. Discovery / Arcturus. November 20-December 3,1980. Jack Swigert,Charles Bolden,Shannon Lucid,Owen Garriott,Amber Langlois,Pete McAllister / Simon Dexter,Tony Birnbaum. This was a test flight of the 2MS satellite bus.
STS-36. Columbia / Sirius. December 10-22,1980. Buzz Aldrin,John Creighton,Bob Lawrence,Michael Boudreaux,Bonnie Dunbar,Valentin Lebedev / Bob Springer,Harry Krause. This mission,after deploying the Intelsat 502 satellite,spent five days in a co-inclined orbit with the Zarya 4 space station in order to evaluate mission performance for planned joint Shuttle-Zarya 5 missions. The crew inspected the abandoned station from afar,but per Soviet request they did not attempt to rendezvous or dock.
STS-37. Atlantis / Antares. December 25,1980-January 4,1981. Jack Lousma,Lydia Strand,Bonnie Kultgen,Mike Mullane,Anna Fisher,Tracey Sauerland,George Franklin / Jim McGregor,Christine Talerico. This mission,the first of Atlantis,saw the deployment of the TTRS-4 and SBS-3 satellites,various payload bay experiments,and the first time a Space Shuttle stayed in space over the New Year.
STS-38. Enterprise / Polaris. January 8-15,1981. Karol Bobko,Ron McNair,Thor Dyson,Vicky Friedland,Roy Wilkins / Stuart Present,Keith Cooper. Deployed the Intelsat 503 and Astrolink 1A satellites.
STS-39. Challenger / Arcturus. January 13-22,1981. Charlton Daniel,Bill Anders,Story Musgrave,Joanna Douglas,Sally Ride / Al Fischer,Curt Brown. Deployed the first Hypervelocity Research Vehicle.
STS-40. Columbia / Pegasus. January 28-February 3,1981. Lachlan Macleay,Bill Blythe,Charles Jones,Andrea Wyler,Manley Carter,Gary Payton / Arda Roy,Elliott Davis. The fifth DoD Shuttle mission deployed the Teal Ruby satellite.
STS-41. Atlantis / Sirius. February 5-10,1981. Dick Scobee,George Webb,Michael Lampton,Amy Holmes,John Ferris,Paul Velasco / Ron Evans,Livingston Holder. Deployed the BusinessLink A1 and A2 satellites. Velasco was the first teacher in space.
STS-42. Discovery / Orion. February 14-24,1981. Pete Conrad,Dick Covey,Mary Hart,Robin Donati,Byron Lichtenberg,Marina van de Graaff,Christa Corrigan / Jim Irwin,Jacqui Benton. This flight to Spacelab involved the first use of an MPOM,and was the first flight of the MPOM Peary. It was also the first mission to perform a Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver.
STS-43. Challenger / Antares. February 22-28,1981. Henry Hartsfield,Bryan O’Connor,Susan Browning,Steve Nagel,Thomas Elroy,Brooke Dennis,David Vidrine / Bill Blythe,Harry Osborne. The sixth DoD Shuttle mission retrieved and attempted to repair the inoperative KH-9 18 satellite:however,it was eventually decided to return the satellite to Earth for repair and relaunch.
STS-44. Enterprise / Sirius. March 3-6,1981. Bob Springer,Hoot Gibson,Steve Hawley,Tish Ambrose,Scott Reeves / Al Fischer,Ted Middleton. This mission was retooled from its original purpose to act as a rescue mission for the Intelsat 506 commercial satellite,stranded in LEO by an upper stage failure on January 20. The second Space Tug was attached to the satellite and it was successfully dispatched to its assigned geostationary orbital slot.
STS-45. Columbia / Andromeda. March 8-17,1981. Garrett Breedlove,Jacob Wilder,Ellison Onizuka,Olivia Ryan,Tony England,Faith Cantrell,Jill Sands / Andie Wickman,Philip I’Anson. First Shuttle flight beyond low Earth orbit: performed a powered lunar flyby at an altitude of 25 miles on March 13. Sands was a payload specialist employed by National Geographic magazine: she would later go on to fly in space again.
SLS-1. Jupiter. March 9,1981. Addison Carmichael,Charlie Bolden,Rhea Gibson. First flight of the SLS booster on its own. Deployed the Refueling Module for Columbia’s External Propellant Tank.
STS-. Columbia / Sirius. October 26-31,1981. Don Williams,Glenn Farber,Becca Wilder,Grace Oliver,Byron Lichtenberg,Richard Terrile / Lydia Strand,Angela Vanderwal. This mission deployed the Voyager-Venus 1 probe.
STS-. Discovery / Polaris. October 28-November 4,1981. Joe Engle,Gareth Williams,Christa Corrigan-Coats,Tom McKean,Jena Drezner,Bonnie Kultgen / Arda Roy,Patrick Hopkins. This mission saw the deployment of Voyager-Venus 2 and the flight of the Spacehab Demo module.
✅STS -. Constitution / Antares. April 19-20,1982. Fred Gregory,Elizabeth DiGregorio,James Holtzman,Midge Klump, Gerald Miller,Dave Hernandez,Joanna Polniaczek (down only) / Ed McCarthy,Phil Grant. The first flight of Constitution saw the rescue of the stranded crew of Skyship,the first hypersonic airliner,which had accidentally achieved orbit three days earlier.
✅Moonlab 1-2. Phoebe. July 2-October 17,1982. Gordo Fullerton,Clarence Hatleberg,Tish Ambrose. Manned commissioning flight of the Moonlab lunar orbital space station,launched with Moonlab on a Saturn VC rocket. Due to a mistargeted TLI burn,the CSM had to burn much of its fuel supply to compensate, necessitating the launch of an Agena tug with the Moonlab 3 crew to provide the necessary velocity for the TEI burn.
Moonlab 3. Northampton. October 6,1982-March 18,1983. Stuart Roosa,Henry Eckert,Shannon Lucid. This was the first operational Moonlab mission.
✅Virgin Lunatic 3. Phoebe. January 6-22,1992. Charles Bassett,Richard Branson,Carly Simmons,Tom Hanks,John Glenn,Wally Funk,James Michener. First (acknowledged) private lunar mission: first (acknowledged) lunar landing to employ a direct-ascent flight profile. Landed near Luna Base on January 9, crew spent 6 days as guests of the base crew.
✅Virgin Lunatic 4. Phoebe. March 10-19,1992. Ed Givens,Richard Branson,Marina van de Graaff,Rob Navias,Leah Kilbourne,Thomas Harmon,Richard Starkey,John Archer. Landed in Harpalus Crater after test of 24-hour translunar flight profile. Archer had been in the 1950 film Destination Moon,which featured a landing in Harpalus Crater,and he placed a replica of the film’s spaceship Luna to mark the landing spot.
Virgin Lunatic 5. Cyrano. June 4-16,1992. Richard Branson,Addison Carmichael,Dave Hilmers,Otto Bagman,Jessica McAllery,Darcy Kaymen,Al Franken,Wubbo Ockels. Landed at Hadley Rille.
Virgin Lunatic 6. Phoebe. September 1-10,1992. Harry Krause,Richard Branson,Glenn Farber,Bruce McCandless,Cathy Silvers,Don Wilhelms,Pete Grafton,Kara Mays,Tessa Campanelli. Landed at Fra Mauro.
