1961 in spaceflight

For launches in the first half of the year, see 1961 in spaceflight (January–June), for launches in the second half, see 1961 in spaceflight (July–December)
1961 in spaceflight

The Vostok 1 spacecraft, aboard which Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth on 12 April 1961
Orbital launches
First 31 January
Last 22 December
Total 50
Successes 28
Failures 20
Partial failures 2
Catalogued 36
National firsts
Spaceflight  Italy
Space traveller  Soviet Union
 United States
Rockets
Maiden flights Atlas LV-3A Agena-B
Kosmos-2I 63S1
Saturn I (suborbital test)
Retirements Atlas LV-3A Agena-A
Juno II
Manned flights
Orbital 2
Suborbital 2
Total travellers 4

Deep Space Rendezvous

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

Notable creations of orbital debris

Date/Time (UTC) Source object Event type Pieces tracked Remarks
29 June[1] Thor-Able upper stage of Transit 4A navigation satellite Rocket explosion 294[1] First explosion of a rocket stage in orbit creating hundreds of debris pieces

Orbital launch summary

By country

  Soviet Union
  United States
Orbital launch attempts by country in 1961
Country Launches Successes Failures Partial
failures		 Remarks
 Soviet Union 9 5 4 0
 United States 41 23 16 2

By rocket

Rocket Country Launches Successes Failures Partial failures Remarks
Atlas LV-3A Agena-A  United States 1 1 0 0 Retired
Atlas LV-3A Agena-B  United States 7 2 4 1 Maiden flight
Atlas LV-3B  United States 3 2 1 0 First orbital launch
RM-90 Blue Scout II  United States 1 0 1 0 First orbital launch
Juno II  United States 3 1 2 0 Retired
Kosmos-2I 63S1  Soviet Union 2 0 2 0 Maiden flight
Molniya 8K78  Soviet Union 2 1 1 0
Scout X-1  United States 3 1 2 0
Thor DM-21 Ablestar  United States 3 2 0 1
Thor DM-21 Agena-B  United States 17 11 6 0
Thor DM-19 Delta  United States 3 3 0 0
Vostok-K 8K72K  Soviet Union 5 4 1 0

By orbit

Orbital regime Launches Achieved Not Achieved Accidentally Achieved Remarks
Low Earth 41 28 13 3
Medium Earth 1 1 0 0
High Earth 6 2 4 0 Including Highly elliptical orbits
Heliocentric 2 1 1 0

References
Generic references:

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 Orbital Debris: A Chronology (PDF). NASA JSC. January 1999. p. 18. Retrieved 13 February 2016. Two hours after separating from the U.S. Transit 4-A satellite, its Able Star upper stage becomes the first known artificial object to break up unintentionally in space. The cause of the explosion is unknown. The event produces at least 294 trackable pieces, more than tripling the number of known satellites of Earth.


Timeline of spaceflight
1940s 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
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