Astronomy:List of spaceflight records

Short description: Extreme benchmarks set off Earth by astronauts, launchers and probes

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

Records and firsts in spaceflight are broadly divided into crewed and uncrewed categories. Records involving animal spaceflight have also been noted in earlier experimental flights, typically to establish the feasibility of sending humans to outer space.

The notion of "firsts" in spaceflight follows a long tradition of firsts in aviation, but is also closely tied to the Space Race. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Soviet Union and the United States competed to be the first countries to accomplish various feats. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial orbital satellite. In 1961, Soviet Vostok 1 cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to enter space and orbit the Earth, and in 1969 American Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the Moon. No human has traveled beyond low Earth orbit since 1972, when the Apollo program ended.

During the 1970s, the Soviet Union directed its energies to human habitation of space stations of increasingly long durations. In the 1980s, the United States began launching its Space Shuttles, which carried larger crews and thus could increase the number of people in space at a given time. Following their first mission of détente on the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the Soviet Union and the United States again collaborated with each other on the Shuttle-Mir initiative, efforts which led to the International Space Station (ISS), which has been continuously inhabited by humans for over 20 years.

Other firsts in spaceflight involve demographics, private enterprise, and distance. Dozens of countries have sent at least one traveler to space. In 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space, aboard Vostok 6. In the early 21st century, private companies joined government agencies in crewed spaceflight: in 2004, the sub-orbital spaceplane SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded crewed craft to enter space; in 2020, SpaceX's Dragon 2 became the first privately developed crewed vehicle to reach orbit when it ferried a crew to the ISS. As of 2024, the uncrewed probe Voyager 1 is the most distant artificial object from the Earth, part of a small class of vehicles that are leaving the Solar System.

First independent suborbital and orbital human spaceflight by country

Country	Mission	Crew	Spacecraft	Launch vehicle	Date	Type
USSR	Vostok 1	Yuri Gagarin	Vostok 3KA	Vostok-K	12 April 1961	Orbital
USA	Mercury-Redstone 3 (Freedom 7)	Alan Shepard	Mercury Spacecraft No.7	Mercury-Redstone	5 May 1961	Sub-orbital
USA	Mercury-Atlas 6 (Friendship 7)	John Glenn	Mercury Spacecraft No.13	Atlas LV-3B	20 February 1962	Orbital
USSR	Soyuz 18A	Vasily Lazarev, Oleg Makarov	Soyuz 7K-T	Soyuz 11A511	5 April 1975	Sub-orbital
Russia	Soyuz TM-14	Aleksandr Viktorenko, Aleksandr Kaleri, Klaus-Dietrich Flade	Soyuz-TM	Soyuz-U2	17 March 1992	Orbital
China	Shenzhou 5	Yang Liwei	Shenzhou spacecraft	Long March 2F	15 October 2003	Orbital
Russia	Soyuz MS-10	Aleksey Ovchinin, Nick Hague	Soyuz-MS	Soyuz-FG	11 October 2018	Sub-orbital

Human spaceflight firsts

Note: Some space records are disputed as a result of ambiguities surrounding the border of space. Most records follow the FAI definition of the space border which the FAI sets at an altitude of 100 km (62.14 mi). By contrast, the NASA-, USAF- and FAA-defined border of space is at 50 mi (80.47 km).

First	Person(s)	Mission	Country	Date
Person to reach space Person in orbit	Yuri Gagarin	Vostok 1	USSR	12 April 1961
Person to make suborbital flight Person to land in water (splashdown) Person to manually pilot spacecraft.	Alan Shepard	Freedom 7	USA	5 May 1961
Person in space for over 24 hours Multiple orbits during a spaceflight	Gherman Titov	Vostok 2	USSR	6 August 1961 – 7 August 1961
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 and in orbit (at the time of selection)	Valentina Tereshkova	Vostok 6	USSR	16 June 1963 – 19 June 1963
Spaceflight (suborbital) by winged spacecraft Civilian in space (at the time of flight)	Joe Walker	X-15 Flight 90	USA	19 July 1963
Person to enter space twice (suborbital flights above 100 kilometres (62 mi))	Joe Walker	X-15 Flights 90 and 91	USA	22 August 1963
Three-person spaceflight in a single spacecraft Human spaceflight without pressurized spacesuits	Vladimir Komarov Konstantin Feoktistov Boris Yegorov	Voskhod 1	USSR	12 October 1964 – 13 October 1964
Spacewalk	Alexei 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 at the same time	Frank Borman, Jim Lovell Walter Schirra, Thomas Stafford	Gemini 7 Gemini 6A	USA	15 December 1965 – 16 December 1965
Civilian in orbit (at the time of flight)	Neil Armstrong	Gemini 8	USA	16 March 1966 – 17 March 1966
Space docking	Neil Armstrong David Scott	Gemini 8 and Agena	USA	16 March 1966
Multiple (dual) rendezvous (with Agena 10, then Agena 8)	John W. Young Michael Collins	Gemini 10	USA	19 July 1966 20 July 1966
Persons to exceed 1,000 km above Earth	Pete Conrad Richard F. Gordon Jr.	Gemini 11	USA	12 September 1966 – 15 September 1966
Spaceflight death (during landing)	Vladimir Komarov	Soyuz 1	USSR	23 April 1967 – 24 April 1967
Person to complete three spaceflights Person to fly three different types of spacecraft	Walter Schirra	Mercury-Atlas 8 Gemini 6A Apollo 7	USA	22 October 1968
Persons to leave low Earth orbit (LEO) Persons to enter the gravitational influence of another celestial body Persons to enter lunar orbit	Frank Borman Jim Lovell Bill Anders	Apollo 8	USA	24 December 1968 – 25 December 1968
Space docking of two crewed spacecraft Dual spacewalk Сrew transfer (Khrunov, Yeliseyev)	Vladimir Shatalov Boris Volynov Aleksei Yeliseyev Yevgeny Khrunov	Soyuz 4 Soyuz 5	USSR	16 January 1969
Solo flight around the Moon	John Young	Apollo 10	USA	22 May 1969
Moon landing Planetary surface extra-vehicular activity (EVA)	Neil Armstrong Buzz Aldrin	Apollo 11	USA	20 July 1969
Five people in space at the same time	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 at the same time	Shonin, Kubasov Filipchenko, Volkov, Gorbatko Vladimir Shatalov, Aleksei Yeliseyev	Soyuz 6 Soyuz 7 Soyuz 8	USSR	13 October 1969 – 16 October 1969
Person to complete four spaceflights	James A. Lovell	Gemini 7 Gemini 12 Apollo 8 Apollo 13	USA	17 April 1970
Person to fly two lunar flights Person to complete two flights beyond low Earth orbit	James A. Lovell	Apollo 8 Apollo 13	USA	11 April 1970 – 17 April 1970
Persons to fly a free-return trajectory around a celestial body Furthest humans have traveled from Earth	James A. Lovell Jack Swigert Fred Haise	Apollo 13	USA	11 April 1970 – 17 April 1970
People to spend two weeks in space Night launch	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
Docking with space station (soft dock) Night landing	Vladimir Shatalov Aleksei Yeliseyev Nikolai Rukavishnikov	Soyuz 10 Salyut 1	USSR	22 April 1971 – 24 April 1971
Crewed space station In-space fatalities	Georgi Dobrovolski Viktor Patsayev Vladislav Volkov	Soyuz 11 Salyut 1	USSR	7 June 1971 – 29 June 1971
People to travel in a wheeled vehicle on a planetary body other than Earth	Dave Scott Jim Irwin	Apollo 15	USA	31 July 1971– 2 August 1971
Deep space EVA (trans-Earth trajectory)	Al Worden	Apollo 15	USA	5 August 1971
Person to be in lunar orbit twice (during separate lunar expeditions)	John W. Young	Apollo 10 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 kilometers (90 mi) altitude) Re-entry with 20g acceleration (emergency)	Vasily Lazarev, Oleg Makarov	Soyuz 18a	USSR	5 April 1975
International docking	Thomas P. Stafford, Vance D. Brand, Donald K. Slayton – USA Alexei Leonov, Valeri Kubasov – USSR	Apollo CSM, Soyuz 19	USA USSR	17 July 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 First, and only, crew launched on a rocket's maiden flight	John W. Young Robert L. Crippen	STS-1	USA	12 April 1981
Person to fly four different types of spacecraft	John W. Young	Gemini Apollo Lunar Module Space Shuttle	USA	12 April 1981
Person to complete five spaceflights	John W. Young	Gemini 3 Gemini 10 Apollo 10 Apollo 16 STS-1	USA	14 April 1981
Re-use of previously flown spacecraft (orbital)	Joe H. Engle Richard H. Truly	STS-2	USA	12 November 1981
Four-person spaceflight in a 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 in a 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 in a 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
Person to complete six spaceflights	John W. Young	Gemini 3 Gemini 10 Apollo 10 Apollo 16 STS-1 STS-9	USA	8 December 1983
Untethered spacewalk	Bruce McCandless II	STS-41-B	USA	7 February 1984
Eight people in space at the same time (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
11 people in space at the same time (no docking)	Oleg Atkov, Leonid D. Kizim, Yury 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 a woman	Svetlana Savitskaya	Soyuz T-12	USSR	25 July 1984
Welding in space	Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Svetlana Savitskaya	Salyut 7, 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 in a 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
Two women in space at the same time	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 in a 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
Deaths 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
12 people in space at the same time (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-10Soyuz TM-11	USSR USA Japan	2 December 1990 – 10 December 1990
Civilian to use a commercial space flight, and journalist to report on space from outer space	Toyohiro Akiyama – Japan	Soyuz TM-10, Soyuz TM-11	Japan	2 December 1990 – 10 December 1990
Three women in space at the same time	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
13 people in space at the same time (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
Ten people in a single 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
Space tourist	Dennis Tito	Soyuz TM-32/31, ISS EP-1	USA Russia	April 28, 2001 – May 6, 2001
Person to complete seven trips to space	Jerry L. Ross	STS-61B STS-27 STS-37 STS-55 STS-74 STS-88 STS-110	USA	19 April 2002
Privately funded human space flight (suborbital)	Mike Melvill	SpaceShipOne flight 15P	USA	21 June 2004
13 people in a single 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
Four women in space at the same time (docking)	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
Six spacecraft docked to a space station	ISS: Expedition 56	Dragon-15, Cygnus-9, Soyuz MS-08, Soyuz MS-09, Progress MS-08, Progress MS-09	USA Russia	9 July 2018
All-woman spacewalk Spacewalk by two women	Christina Koch Jessica Meir	ISS Expedition 61	USA	18 October 2019
Astronauts launched into orbit on commercial spacecraft Astronauts flying to a space station on commercial spacecraft	Bob Behnken Doug Hurley	Crew Dragon Demo-2	USA	30 May 2020 – 31 May 2020
16 people in space (50 miles) at the same time (no docking)	ISS: Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough, K. Megan McArthur, – USA Oleg Novitsky, Pyotr Dubrov – Russia Thomas Pesquet – France Akihiko Hoshide – Japan Tiangong: Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, Tang Hongbo, – China Unity: David Mackay, Michael Masucci, Beth Moses, - USA Sirisha Bandla – India Richard Branson, Colin Bennett – United Kingdom	Soyuz MS-18, SpaceX Crew-2, Shenzhou-12, Virgin Galactic Unity-22	USA China Russia France India Japan UK	11 July 2021
14 people in space (100 km) at the same time (no docking)	ISS: Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough, K. Megan McArthur, – USA Oleg Novitsky, Pyotr Dubrov – Russia Thomas Pesquet – France Akihiko Hoshide – Japan Tiangong: Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, Tang Hongbo, – China New Shepard: Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk - USA Oliver Daemen – Netherlands	Soyuz MS-18, SpaceX Crew-2, Shenzhou-12, Blue Origin NS-16	USA China Russia France Japan Netherlands	20 July 2021
Orbital spaceflight with an all private crew Fully commercial orbital spaceflight	Jared Isaacman Hayley Arceneaux Christopher Sembroski Sian Proctor	Inspiration4	USA	16 September 2021 – 18 September 2021
Woman commercial astronaut spaceship pilot Black woman spaceship pilot	Sian Proctor	Inspiration4	USA	16 September 2021 – 18 September 2021
Person with physical disability in space Wearing of prosthetics in space	Hayley Arceneaux	Inspiration4	USA	16 September 2021 – 18 September 2021
14 people in orbit at the same time (no docking)	ISS: Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough, K. Megan McArthur, – USA Oleg Novitsky, Pyotr Dubrov – Russia Thomas Pesquet – France Akihiko Hoshide – Japan Tiangong: Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, Tang Hongbo, – China Inspiration4: Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor, Christopher Sembroski - USA	Soyuz MS-18, SpaceX Crew-2, Shenzhou-12, Inspiration4	USA China Russia France Japan	16 September 2021 – 17 September 2021
19 people in space (100 km) at the same time (no docking)	ISS: Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron – USA Anton Shkaplerov, Pyotr Dubrov, Alexander Misurkin – Russia Matthias Maurer – Germany Yusaku Maezawa, Yozo Hirano – Japan Tiangong: Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, Ye Guangfu, – China New Shepard: Laura Shepard Churchley, Michael Strahan, Dylan Taylor, Evan Dick, Lane Bess, Cameron Bess - USA	Soyuz MS-19, Shenzhou-13, SpaceX Crew-3, Soyuz MS-20, Blue Origin NS-19	USA China Russia Germany Japan	11 December 2021
Flight to a space station with an all private crew Fully commercial flight to a space station	Michael López-Alegría Larry Connor Mark Pathy Eytan Stibbe	Axiom Mission 1 To ISS	USA Spain Canada Israel	8 April 2022 – 18 April 2022
Simultaneous continuous inhabitation of two crewed space stations	ISS: Soyuz and Crew Dragon (Starliner in Future) TSS: Shenzhou	ISS TSS	Canada European Space Agency Japan USA Russia China	5 June 2022 –
5 women in space at the same time (no docking)	ISS : Jessica Watkins, Nicole Mann – USA Anna Kikina – Russia Samantha Cristoforetti – Italy Tiangong : Liu Yang – China	SpaceX Crew-4, SpaceX Crew-5, Shenzhou-14	USA Russia Italy China	5 October 2022 - 14 October 2022
20 people in space (50 miles) at the same time (no docking)	ISS: Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg, Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Francisco Rubio – USA Andrey Fedyaev, Dmitry Petelin, Sergey Prokopyev – Russia Ali AlQarni, Rayyanah Barnawi – Saudi Arabia Sultan Al Neyadi – UAE TSS: Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming, Zhang Lu – China Unity 25: Michael Masucci, Frederick W. “CJ”Sturckow, Beth Moses, Luke Mays, Jamila Gilbert, Christopher Huie – USA	Axiom Mission 2, Soyuz MS-23, SpaceX Crew-6, Shenzhou 15, Virgin Galactic Unity 25	USA Russia China Saudi Arabia UAE	25 May 2023
17 people in orbit at the same time (no docking)	ISS: Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg, Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Francisco Rubio – USA Andrey Fedyaev, Dmitry Petelin, Sergey Prokopyev – Russia Ali AlQarni, Rayyanah Barnawi – Saudi Arabia Sultan Al Neyadi – UAE TSS: Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming, Zhang Lu, Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu, Gui Haichao – China	Axiom Mission 2, Soyuz MS-23, SpaceX Crew-6, Shenzhou 15, Shenzhou 16	USA Russia China Saudi Arabia UAE	30 May 2023 - 31 May 2023

Most spaceflights

Most launches from Earth

• 10 launches
  • Frederick W. Sturckow (USA), Space Shuttle and SpaceShipTwo (1998–2024)

Note: The six SpaceShipTwo flights surpass the U.S. definition of spaceflight (50 mi (80.47 km)), but fall short of the Kármán line (100 km (62.14 mi)), the FAI definition used for most space recordkeeping.

Most orbital launches from Earth

• 7 launches
  • Jerry L. Ross (USA), Space Shuttle (1985–2002)
  • Franklin Chang Díaz (Costa Rica/USA), Space Shuttle (1986–2002)

Most orbital launches overall

• 7 launches
  • John W. Young (USA) launched from Earth 6 times (two Gemini, two Apollo Command Module, two Space Shuttle) and from the Moon once (Apollo Lunar Module Ascent Stage) (1965–1983)
  • Jerry L. Ross (USA), Space Shuttle (1985–2002)
  • Franklin Chang Díaz (Costa Rica/USA*), Space Shuttle (1986–2002)

Largest number of different spacecraft at launch (from Earth only)

• 3 spacecraft
  • Walter Schirra (USA) – launched aboard a Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo (1962–1968)
  • John W. Young (USA) – launched aboard a Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle (1965–1983)
  • Soichi Noguchi (Japan) – launched aboard a Space Shuttle, Soyuz, and SpaceX Crew Dragon (2005–2020)
  • Shane Kimbrough (USA) – launched aboard a Space Shuttle, Soyuz, and SpaceX Crew Dragon (2008–2021)
  • Akihiko Hoshide (Japan) – launched aboard a Space Shuttle, Soyuz, and SpaceX Crew Dragon (2008–2021)
  • Thomas Marshburn (USA) – launched aboard a Space Shuttle, Soyuz, and SpaceX Crew Dragon (2007–2021)
  • Koichi Wakata (Japan) – launched aboard a Space Shuttle, Soyuz, and SpaceX Crew Dragon (1996–2022)
  • Peggy Whitson (USA) – launched aboard a Space Shuttle, Soyuz, and SpaceX Crew Dragon (2002–2023)
  • Michael López-Alegría (USA) – launched aboard a Space Shuttle, Soyuz, and SpaceX Crew Dragon (1995–2024)

Largest number of different launch vehicles (overall)

• 4 launch vehicles
  • John W. Young (USA) – launched from Earth aboard a Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle, and launched from the Moon aboard the Apollo Lunar Module Ascent Stage

Largest number of different launch sites

• 3 sites
  • Frederick W. Sturckow (USA) – Kennedy Space Center (four times aboard a Space Shuttle 1998–2010), Mojave Air and Space Port (aboard a Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo in 2018), and Spaceport America (also aboard a SpaceShipTwo, five times 2021-2024).
  • John Young (USA) - Cape Kennedy Air Force Station (now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, twice aboard a Gemini capsule 1965-1966), Kennedy Space Center (four times, twice aboard an Apollo capsule 1969-1971, twice aboard a Space Shuttle 1981-1983), Descartes Highlands (from the Moon aboard an Apollo Lunar Module, in 1971).
  • Neil Armstrong (USA) - Cape Kennedy Air Force Station (aboard a Gemini capsule in 1966), Kennedy Space Center (aboard an Apollo capsule in 1969), Tranquility Base (from the Moon aboard an Apollo Lunar Module, in 1969).
  • Buzz Aldrin (USA) - Cape Kennedy Air Force Station (aboard a Gemini capsule in 1966), Kennedy Space Center (aboard an Apollo capsule in 1969), Tranquility Base (from the Moon aboard an Apollo Lunar Module, in 1969).
  • Pete Conrad (USA) - Cape Kennedy Air Force Station (twice aboard a Gemini capsule 1965-1966), Kennedy Space Center (twice aboard an Apollo capsule 1969-1973), Ocean of Storms (from the Moon aboard an Apollo Lunar Module, in 1969).
  • Alan Shepard (USA) - Cape Kennedy Air Force Station (aboard a Mercury capsule in 1961), Kennedy Space Center (aboard an Apollo capsule in 1971), Fra Mauro (from the Moon aboard an Apollo Lunar Module, in 1971).
  • David Scott (USA) - Cape Kennedy Air Force Station (aboard a Gemini capsule in 1966), Kennedy Space Center (twice aboard an Apollo capsule 1969-1971), Hadley Rille (from the Moon aboard an Apollo Lunar Module, in 1971).
  • Gene Cernan (USA) - Cape Kennedy Air Force Station (aboard a Gemini capsule in 1966), Kennedy Space Center (twice aboard an Apollo capsule 1969-1972), Taurus-Littrow (from the Moon aboard an Apollo Lunar Module, in 1972).

Note: SpaceShipTwo flights are suborbital. SpaceShipTwo flights surpass the U.S. definition of spaceflight (50 mi (80.47 km)), but fall short of the Kármán line (100 km (62.14 mi)), the FAI definition used for most space recordkeeping.

Duration records

Most time in space

The record for most time in space is held by Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, who has spent 878 days in space over five missions. On 28 June 2015, Padalka surpassed the previous record holder, cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, who spent 803 days, 9 hours and 39 minutes (about 2.2 years) during six spaceflights on Soyuz, the Space Shuttle, Mir, and the International Space Station. Second place is currently held by Oleg Kononenko, have been in space for Template:Sum days on five spaceflights. Oleg Kononenko, who launched on board Soyuz MS-24 to ISS on 15 September 2023, is on his fifth spaceflight currently and is assigned for a one year long duration ISS mission. If this mission lasts 300–365 days, Kononenko will have spent a total of 1,036-1,101 days in space, exceeding the current record by Padalka. It is expected that Oleg Kononenko will break this record on February 4, 2024 at 07:30:08 UTC. He will thus also become the first person to stay 900 and 1,000 days in space.

{{As of|2024| |7} pacefacts">"Astronauts and Cosmonauts (sorted by "Time in Space")". spacefacts.de. http://www.spacefacts.de/english/e_tis.htm.  The current missions are listed but not included in day count.</ref> the 50 space travelers with the most total time in space are:

Color key:

•   Currently in space
•   Active
•   Retired
•   Deceased

Rank	Person	Days	Flights	Status	Nationality
1	Gennady Padalka	878.480	5	Retired	Russia
2	Oleg Kononenko	Template:Sum	5	Active	Russia
3	Yuri Malenchenko	827.389	6	Retired	Russia
4	Sergei Krikalev	803.371	6	Retired	Soviet Union / Russia
5	Aleksandr Kaleri	769.276	5	Retired	Russia
6	Sergei Avdeyev	747.593	3	Retired	Soviet Union / Russia
7	Anton Shkaplerov	709.336	4	Retired	Russia
8	Valeri Polyakov	678.690	2	Deceased	Soviet Union / Russia
9	Peggy Whitson	675.158	4	Active	United States
10	Fyodor Yurchikhin	672.860	5	Retired	Russia
11	Anatoly Solovyev	651.117	5	Retired	Soviet Union / Russia
12	Sergey Prokopyev	567.633	2	Active	Russia
13	Oleg Artemyev	560.614	3	Active	Russia
14	Viktor Afanasyev	555.772	4	Retired	Soviet Union / Russia
15	Yury Usachov	552.773	4	Retired	Russia
16	Sergey Volkov	547.931	3	Retired	Russia
17	Pavel Vinogradov	546.939	3	Retired	Russia
18	Aleksandr Skvortsov	545.964	3	Retired	Russia
19	Musa Manarov	541.021	2	Retired	Soviet Union (Azerbaijan)
20	Oleg Skripochka	536.159	3	Retired	Russia
21	Jeffrey Williams	534.116	4	Retired	United States
22	Mikhail Tyurin	532.118	3	Retired	Russia
23	Oleg Novitsky	531.290	3	Active	Russia
24	Oleg Kotov	526.211	3	Retired	Russia
25	Mark T. Vande Hei	523.374	2	Active	United States
26	Scott Kelly	520.440	4	Retired	United States
27	Mikhail Kornienko	516.417	2	Retired	Russia
28	Koichi Wakata	504.773	5	Active	Japan
29	Aleksandr Viktorenko	489.066	4	Deceased	Soviet Union / Russia
30	Anatoli Ivanishin	476.195	3	Retired	Russia
31	Nikolai Budarin	444.060	3	Retired	Russia
32	Yuri Romanenko	430.765	3	Retired	Soviet Union
33	Thomas Pesquet	396.482	2	Active	France
34	Aleksandr Volkov	391.495	3	Retired	Soviet Union / Russia
35	Yury Onufriyenko	389.282	2	Retired	Russia
36	Shane Kimbrough	388.728	3	Retired	United States
37	Vladimir Titov	387.036	4	Retired	Soviet Union / Russia
38	Vasily Tsibliyev	381.662	2	Retired	Russia
39	Valery Korzun	381.653	2	Retired	Russia
40	Michael Fincke	381.633	3	Active	United States
41	Christopher Cassidy	377.742	3	Retired	United States
42	Aleksey Ovchinin	374.813	2	Active	Russia
43	Leonid Kizim	374.749	3	Deceased	Soviet Union
44	Michael Foale	373.763	6	Retired	United States / United Kingdom
45	Aleksandr Serebrov	372.954	4	Deceased	Soviet Union / Russia
46	Valery Ryumin	371.725	4	Deceased	Soviet Union / Russia
47	Dmitry Petelin	370.890	1	Active	Russia
	Francisco Rubio	370.890	1	Active	United States
49	Samantha Cristoforetti	370.239	2	Active	Italy
50	Donald Pettit	369.696	3	Active	United States

Ten longest human spaceflights

Further information: Astronomy:Timeline of longest spaceflights

#	Time in space	Crew	Country	Launch date (Launch craft)	Landing date (Landing craft)	Space station or mission type
1	437.7 days	Valeri Polyakov	Russia	1994-01-08 (Soyuz TM-18)	1995-03-22 (Soyuz TM-20)	Mir
2	379.6 days	Sergei Avdeyev	Russia	1998-08-13 (Soyuz TM-28)	1999-08-28 (Soyuz TM-29)	Mir
3	370.9 days	Sergey Prokopyev	Russia	2022-09-21 (Soyuz MS-22)	2023-09-27 (Soyuz MS-23)	International Space Station
		Dmitry Petelin	Russia
		Francisco Rubio	United States
4	365.9 days	Vladimir Titov	Soviet Union	1987-12-21 (Soyuz TM-4)	1988-12-21 (Soyuz TM-6)	Mir
		Musa Manarov	Soviet Union
5	355.2 days	Pyotr Dubrov	Russia	2021-04-09 (Soyuz MS-18)	2022-03-30 (Soyuz MS-19)	International Space Station
		Mark T. Vande Hei	United States
6	340.4 days	Mikhail Kornienko	Russia	2015-03-27 (Soyuz TMA-16M)	2016-03-01 (Soyuz TMA-18M)	International Space Station, ISS year-long mission
		Scott Kelly	United States
7	328.6 days	Christina Koch	United States	2019-03-15 (Soyuz MS-12)	2020-02-06 (Soyuz MS-13)	International Space Station
8	326.5 days	Yuri Romanenko	Soviet Union	1987-02-05 (Soyuz TM-2)	1987-12-29 (Soyuz TM-3)	Mir
9	311.8 days	Sergei Krikalev	Soviet Union/Russia	1991-05-18 (Soyuz TM-12)	1992-03-25 (Soyuz TM-13)	Mir
10	289.2 days	Peggy Whitson	United States	2016-11-17 (Soyuz MS-03)	2017-09-03 (Soyuz MS-04)	International Space Station

Longest single flight by a woman

NASA astronaut Christina Koch holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman (328 days), returning on February 6, 2020. She surpassed NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson's 289 days during Expedition 61 in 2019. In third place is American astronaut Anne McClain with 204 days.

Longest continuous occupation of space

An international partnership consisting of Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan and the member states of the European Space Agency have jointly maintained a continuous human presence in space since 31 October 2000, when Soyuz TM-31 was launched. Two days later it docked with the International Space Station. Since then space has been continuously occupied for 23 years, 128 days.

Longest continuous occupation of a spacecraft

The International Space Station has been continuously occupied by a Russian and US crew member since 2 November 2000 (23 years, 126 days). It broke the record of 9 years and 358 days of the Soviet/Russian Space Station Mir on 23 October 2010.

Longest solo flight

Valery Bykovsky flew solo for 4 days, 23 hours in Vostok 5 from 14 to 19 June 1963. The flight set a space endurance record which was broken in 1965 by the (non-solo) Gemini 5 flight. The Apollo program included long solo spaceflight, and during the Apollo 16 mission, Ken Mattingly orbited solo around the Moon for more than 3 days and 9 hours.

Longest time on the lunar surface

Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt of the Apollo 17 mission stayed for 74 hours 59 minutes and 40 seconds (over 3 days) on the lunar surface after they landed on 11 December 1972. They performed three EVAs (extra-vehicular activity) totaling 22 hours 3 minutes, 57 seconds. As Apollo commanders were the first to leave 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) along with five mice. For the solo portion of a flight around the Moon, Ken Mattingly on Apollo 16 spent 1 hour 38 minutes longer than Evans' solo duration.

Speed and altitude records

Farthest humans from Earth

The Apollo 13 crew (Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack 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 00:21 UTC on 15 April 1970.

Highest altitude for crewed 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 a record apogee altitude of 739.2 nautical miles (1,369.0 km).

Fastest

The Apollo 10 crew (Thomas Stafford, John W. Young and Eugene Cernan) achieved the highest speed relative to Earth ever attained by humans: 39,897 kilometers per hour (11,082 meters per second or 24,791 miles per hour, about 32 times the speed of sound and 0.0037% of the speed of light). The record was set 26 May 1969.

The record for uncrewed spacecraft is held by the Parker Solar Probe at 176 km/s, about 1/1700 (or 0.06%) the speed of light, relative to the Sun. This speed was first reached in September 2023.

Age records

Wally Funk flew in July, 2021

William Shatner flew in October, 2021

Earliest-born to reach space

Suborbital flight

• Man - Joe Walker (born 20 February 1921), on X-15 Flight 90 on 19 July 1963 (about 12 minutes.)
• Woman - Wally Funk (born 1 February 1939), on Blue Origin NS-16, on 20 July 2021 (about 10 minutes.)

Orbital spaceflight

• Man – Georgy Beregovoy (born 15 April 1921), on Soyuz 3 on 26 October 1968 (81 orbits in about 4 days.)
• Woman – Valentina Tereshkova (born 6 March 1937), on Vostok 6 on 16–19 June 1963 (46 orbits, about 3 days.)

Youngest

Suborbital flight

• Man - Oliver Daemen (aged 18 years and 11 months), on Blue Origin NS-16, on 20 July 2021 (about 10 minutes.)
• Woman - Anastatia Mayers (aged 18 years, 10 months, and 14 days), on Galactic 02, on 10 August 2023 (about 5 minutes.)

Orbital spaceflight

• Man – Gherman Titov (aged 25 years), on Vostok 2 on 6 August 1961 (17.5 orbits, about 1 day.)
• Woman – Valentina Tereshkova (aged 26 years), on Vostok 6 on 16–19 June 1963 (48 orbits, about 3 days.)

Oldest

Suborbital flight

• Man: William Shatner (aged 90), on Blue Origin NS-18, on 13 October 2021 (about 10 minutes).
• Woman: Wally Funk (aged 82), on Blue Origin NS-16, on 20 July 2021 (about 10 minutes).

Orbital spaceflight

• Man: John Glenn (aged 77), on STS-95 on 29 October 1998 (about 9 days, 20 hours).
• Woman: Peggy Whitson (aged 63), on Axiom Mission 2 on 21 May 2023 (9 days, 5 hours and 27 minutes).

Spacewalk records

Most spacewalks (number and duration)

Both of these are the record for the largest total number of spacewalks by a male and a female, and the most cumulative time spent on spacewalks by a male and a female.

• Man – Anatoly Solovyev, 16 spacewalks for a total time of 82 hours, 21 minutes.
• Woman – Peggy Whitson, 10 spacewalks for a total time of 60 hours, 21 minutes.

Most spacewalks during a single mission

• 7: Anatoly Solovyev, during Expedition 24 on the Soviet/Russian space station Mir, in 1997–98. (Two were internal "spacewalks" inside a depressurized module.)
• 7: Andrew Morgan, during his first spaceflight on board the ISS for Expedition 60/61/62 in 2019–2020, he spent 45 hours and 48 minutes outside the station.

Longest single spacewalk

• 8 hrs 56 min, by James Voss and Susan Helms, 11 March 2001 on an ISS assembly mission during Shuttle mission STS-102. The space walkers were delayed early in their excursion when a device to help hold an astronaut's feet to the shuttle's robot arm became untethered, and Voss had to retrieve a spare from storage on the exterior of the station's Unity module. After about six hours of work, the pair reentered Space Shuttle Discovery’s airlock.

Greatest distance from a spacecraft during a spacewalk

• All-time (and while on a planetary body): 7.6 kilometers (4.7 miles, 25,029 feet), Apollo 17, Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, EVA-2, December 12, 1972. During their second of three moonwalks, Cernan and Schmitt rode the Lunar Roving Vehicle to geological station 2, Nansen Crater, at the foot of the South Massif. As all spacewalks not occurring on a planetary body (the Moon) have involved short maximum distances from the spacecraft (see below), this remains the furthest distance that humans have traveled away from the safety of a pressurizable spacecraft, during an EVA of any type.
• Orbital flight: about 100 meters (or 330 feet), Bruce McCandless, STS-41-B, February 7, 1984. With the exception of six Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) sorties in 1984 and a test of the Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER) in 1994, all other orbital spacewalks have involved a safety tether, anchoring the spacefarer to the spacecraft at a short distance. Among the former untethered spacewalks, Bruce McCandless' first test of the MMU established an orbital EVA distance record from a spacecraft which remained unbroken by later untethered EVAs.

Animal records

First animals in space

The first animals to enter space were fruit flies launched by the United States in 1947 aboard a V-2 rocket to an altitude of 68 miles (109 km). They were also the first animals to safely return from space. Albert II, a rhesus monkey, became the first mammal in space aboard a U.S. V-2 rocket on June 14, 1949, and died on reentry due to a parachute failure. The first dogs in space were launched 22 July 1951 aboard a Soviet R-1V. "Tsygin" and "Dezik" reached a height of 100 km (62 mi) and safely parachuted back to Earth. This flight preceded the first American canine space mission by two weeks.

First animal in orbit

Laika was a Soviet female canine launched on 3 November 1957 on Sputnik 2. The technology to de-orbit had not yet been developed, so there was no expectation for survival. She died several hours into flight. Belka and Strelka became the first canines to safely return to Earth from orbit on 19 August 1960.

First Hominidae in space

On 31 January 1961, through NASA's Mercury-Redstone 2 mission the chimpanzee Ham became the first great ape or Hominidae in space.

Longest canine single flight

Soviet space dogs Veterok (Ветерок, "Light 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.

First animals beyond low Earth orbit

An assortment of animals including a pair of Russian tortoises, as well as wine flies and mealworms flew around the Moon with a number of other biological specimens including seeds and bacteria on a circumlunar mission aboard the Soviet Zond 5 spacecraft on 18 September 1968. It had been launched by a Proton-K rocket on 14 September.

Zond 5 came within 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) of the Moon and then successfully returned to Earth, the first spacecraft in history to return safely to Earth from the Moon.

Notable uncrewed or non-human spaceflights

Further information: Engineering:List of uncrewed spacecraft by program

In reference to:	Spacecraft	Event	Origin	Date
Earth	MW 18014 (A-4(V-2))	First rocket to reach space (suborbital flight).	Germany	20 June 1944
Earth	V-2 No. 20	First living organisms (fruit flies) in space (suborbital flight). Successfully recovered.	USA	20 February 1947
Earth	V-2 No. 47	First mammal in space, Albert II, a rhesus monkey (suborbital flight). Died in capsule parachute failure.	USA	14 June 1949
Earth	R-1V	First 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, a dog.	USSR	3 November 1957
Earth	Vanguard 1	Oldest satellite still in orbit, in addition to its upper launch stage. Expected to stay in orbit 240 years. Ceased transmission in May 1964.	USA	17 March 1958
Earth	Pioneer 1	Failed to reach the Moon as intended, but reached a record–setting distance of 113,800 kilometres (70,700 mi) from Earth.	USA	11 October 1958
Earth	Luna 1	First spacecraft to achieve Earth's escape velocity.	USSR	4 January 1959
Moon	Luna 1	First flyby. Distance of 5,995 kilometres (3,725 mi).	USSR	4 January 1959
Sun	Luna 1	First spacecraft in heliocentric orbit.	USSR	4 January 1959
Moon	Luna 2	First impact on another celestial body.	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
Earth	Mercury-Redstone 2	First great ape or Hominidae in space, Ham, a chimpanzee.	USA	31 January 1961
Venus	Venera 1	First flyby. Distance of 100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi) (lost communication contact before).	USSR	19 May 1961
Moon	Ranger 4	First spacecraft to impact the far side of the Moon.	USA	26 April 1962
Earth	Alouette 1	First satellite designed and constructed by a country other than the USA or USSR (the British satellite Ariel 1, launched five months earlier, was designed and constructed by the USA).	Canada	29 September 1962
Venus	Mariner 2	First planetary flyby with communication contact. Distance of 34,762 kilometres (21,600 mi).	USA	14 December 1962
Earth	Lincoln Calibration Sphere 1	Oldest spacecraft still in use (59 years (As of 2024)).	USA	6 May 1965
Mars	Mariner 4	First flyby and first planetary imaging. Distance of 9,846 kilometres (6,118 mi).	USA	14 July 1965
Earth	Astérix	First satellite launched independently by a nation other than the USA or USSR (other nations had previously flown satellites launched on American rockets).	France	26 November 1965
Moon	Luna 9	First soft landing and first pictures from the lunar surface.	USSR	3 February 1966
Earth	Kosmos 110	First seeds to germinate in space.	USSR	22 February 1966
Venus	Venera 3	First impact.	USSR	1 March 1966
Moon	Luna 10	First orbiter.	USSR	3 April 1966
Docking	Cosmos 186, Cosmos 188	First automated docking of uncrewed spacecraft.	USSR	30 October 1967
Moon	Surveyor 6	First planned, controlled, powered flight from the surface of another body.	USA	17 November 1967
Moon	Zond 5	First to circle the Moon and return to land on Earth. First animals to circle the Moon.	USSR	15 September 1968
Moon	Luna 16	First automated sample return.	USSR	24 September 1970
Moon	Luna 17	First robotic roving vehicle, Lunokhod 1.	USSR	17 November 1970
Venus	Venera 7	First soft landing on another planet.	USSR	15 December 1970
Earth	Salyut 1	First space station.	USSR	19 April 1971
Mars	Mariner 9	First orbiter.	USA	14 November 1971
Mars	Mars 2	First impact.	USSR	27 November 1971
Mars	Mars 3	First soft landing. Maintained telemetry signal for 20 seconds before transmissions ceased.	USSR	2 December 1971
Sun	Pioneer 10	First spacecraft to achieve the Sun's escape velocity.	USA	3 March 1972
Jupiter	Pioneer 10	First flyby. Distance of 132,000 kilometres (82,000 mi).	USA	4 December 1973
Mercury	Mariner 10	First flyby. Distance of 703 kilometres (437 mi).	USA	29 March 1974
Venus	Venera 9	First orbiter. First surface-level imaging of another planet.	USSR	22 October 1975
Mars	Viking 1	First surface-level imaging of Mars.	USA	20 July 1976
Saturn	Pioneer 11	First flyby. Distance of 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi).	USA	1 September 1979
Venus	Venera 13	First sound recording made on another planet.	USSR	1 March 1982
Orbital Space Station	Soyuz T-5, Salyut 7	First species of plant to flower in space. Arabidopsis thaliana Valentin Lebedev.	USSR	1 July 1982
Trans-Neptunian region	Pioneer 10	First to travel past the orbit of Neptune, the furthest major planet from the Sun.	USA	13 June 1983
Venus	Vega 1	First helium balloon atmospheric probe. First flight (as opposed to atmospheric entry) in another planet's atmosphere.	USSR	11 June 1985
Comet Giacobini-Zinner	International Cometary Explorer (ICE)	First flyby through a comet tail (no pictures). Distance of 7,800 kilometres (4,800 mi).	USA	11 September 1985
Uranus	Voyager 2	First flyby. Distance of 81,500 kilometres (50,600 mi).	USA	24 January 1986
Comet Halley	Vega 1	First comet flyby (with pictures returned). Distance of 8,890 kilometres (5,520 mi).	USSR	6 March 1986
Earth	Mir Core Module, Kvant-1	First modular space station.	USSR	9 April 1987
Orbital Spaceplane	Buran	First fully automated orbital flight of a spaceplane (with airstrip landing).	USSR	15 November 1988
Phobos	Phobos 2	First flyby. Distance of 860 kilometres (530 mi).	USSR	21 February 1989
Neptune	Voyager 2	First flyby. Distance of 40,000 kilometres (25,000 mi).	USA	25 August 1989
951 Gaspra	Galileo	First asteroid flyby. Distance of 1,600 kilometres (990 mi).	USA	29 October 1991
Jupiter	Galileo probe	First impact.	USA	7 December 1995
Jupiter	Galileo	First orbiter.	USA	8 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 Italy	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	Japan	19 November 2005
81P/Wild	Stardust	First sample return from comet.	USA	15 January 2006
Earth	Voyager 1	Farthest distance from Earth (14,841,000,000 miles (2.3884×1010 km; 159.66 AU)). Farthest distance from the Sun (14,912,000,000 miles (2.3999×1010 km; 160.42 AU)).	USA	(As of July 2023)
Longest time in operation	Voyager 2	Longest continually operating space probe (since August 1977).	USA	(As of 2015)
Moon	Moon Impact Probe	First hard landing on Lunar south pole and discovery of water on Moon.	India	14 November 2008
Earth to Venus trajectory	IKAROS	First interplanetary solar sail.	Japan	Set sail on 10 June 2010
25143 Itokawa	Hayabusa	First sample return from an asteroid.	Japan	13 June 2010
Mercury	MESSENGER	First orbiter.	USA	17 March 2011
Earth–Sun L2 Lagrange point	Chang'e 2	First object to reach the L2 Lagrangian point directly from lunar orbit.	China	25 August 2011
International Space Station	SpaceX Dragon 1	First commercial spacecraft to berth with the International Space Station.	USA	25 May 2012
Interstellar medium	Voyager 1	First spacecraft to cross the heliopause, thereby exiting the heliosphere and entering interstellar space.	USA	25 August 2012
4179 Toutatis	Chang'e 2	First object to reach an asteroid directly from a Sun-Earth Langrangian point. First probe to explore both the Moon and an asteroid.	China	13 December 2012
67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko	Rosetta	First comet orbiter.	ESA	6 August 2014
Mars	MOM	First Asian nation to achieve Mars orbit and first in the world to do so in first attempt.	India	24 September 2014
67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko	Philae	First comet soft landing.	ESA	12 November 2014
Ceres	Dawn	First dwarf planet orbiter.	USA	6 March 2015
Mars	Opportunity	Longest distance traveled on surface of another world (26.219 miles (42.195 km), marathon-length).	USA	23 March 2015
Mercury	MESSENGER	First impact.	USA	30 April 2015
Pluto	New Horizons	First flyby of Pluto, Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, and Styx. First up-close images of the Pluto system and of Pluto and Charon's surfaces. First to explore the Kuiper belt.	USA	14 July 2015
All 9 planets in the pre-IAU redefinition version of the Solar System	All United States spacecraft including New Horizons	With the New Horizons flyby of Pluto, the United States is the first nation to have its space probes explore all nine planets in the pre-2006 IAU redefinition version of the Solar System.	USA	14 July 2015
Earth	Falcon 9 (B1021)	First re-flight of an orbital class rocket stage.	USA	30 March 2017
Earth	Falcon 9 H-IIA-202	Shortest period between orbital launches (launched 72 seconds apart).	USA Japan	23 December 2017
1.66 au heliocentric orbit	Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster on Falcon Heavy Test Flight	First successful Deep Space mission launched successfully on a rocket's maiden flight	USA	6 February 2018
Moon	Chang'e 4	First soft landing at the far side of the Moon.	China	3 January 2019
101955 Bennu	OSIRIS-REx	Smallest body to be orbited by spacecraft (492 m (1,600 ft) diameter) and closest ever orbit (680 m (2,230 ft) altitude).	USA	12 June 2019
Moon	Chang'e 5	First robotic rendezvous and docking by two spacecraft (lunar orbiter attached with reentry-capsule and lunar ascent vehicle) in lunar orbit or any orbit other than Earth's.	China	5 December 2020
Moon	Chang'e 5	First robotic transfer of payload (lunar samples from lunar ascent vehicle to reentry capsule) between two docked spacecraft in lunar orbit or any orbit other than Earth's.	China	5 December 2020
Mars	Ingenuity	First controlled, powered flight by a rotary wing aircraft on another planet.	USA	19 April 2021
Moon	Chandrayaan-3	First soft landing at Lunar south polar region.	India	23 August 2023
Sun	Parker Solar Probe	Highest velocity of a spacecraft relative to the Sun: 176 km/s (635,000 km/h; 395,000 mph). Closest approach to the Sun: distance of 0.049 AU (7,260,000 kilometres; 4,510,000 mi). Spacecraft will continue to lower its perihelion with one more Venus gravity assist before its closest approach in 2024, which is expected to bring the probe within 9.86 solar radii (6,900,000 km; 4,300,000 mi) of the Sun's surface at a velocity of 191.7 km/s (690,000 km/h; 430,000 mph), by which point it will have become the fastest object in the Solar System apart from comets (overtaking asteroid 2005 HC4).	USA	27 September 2023
Earth	Falcon 9 (B1058)	Most flights, and landings, of a single orbital rocket stage: 19.	USA	23 December 2023

See also

• First images of Earth from space
• Human presence in space
• List of crewed spacecraft
• List of cumulative spacewalk records
• List of International Space Station spacewalks
• List of Mir spacewalks
• List of spacewalkers
• List of spacewalks 2000–2014
• List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999
• List of spacewalks since 2015
• Manned Maneuvering Unit
• Omega Speedmaster
• Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue
• Space suit
• Suitport
• Timeline of space exploration, list of firsts in space exploration

External links

• Russia's unmanned Moon missions