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List of spaceflight records
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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. As of 2024, 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 2026, 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[edit | edit source]
Human spaceflight firsts[edit | edit source]
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2015) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yuri Gagarin | Vostok 1[7] | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 12 April 1961 | |
|
Alan Shepard | Freedom 7 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 5 May 1961 |
|
Gherman Titov | Vostok 2 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 6 August 1961 – 7 August 1961 |
| Person to land in a spacecraft after orbital flight | John Glenn | Friendship 7 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 20 February 1962 |
|
File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 12 August 1962 – 15 August 1962 | ||
|
Valentina Tereshkova |
Vostok 6[14] | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 16 June 1963 – 19 June 1963 |
|
Joe Walker | X-15 Flight 90 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 19 July 1963 |
| Person to enter space twice (suborbital flights above 100 kilometres (62 mi)) | Joe Walker | X-15 Flights 90 and 91 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 22 August 1963 |
|
Voskhod 1[7] | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 12 October 1964 – 13 October 1964 | |
| Spacewalk | Alexei Leonov | Voskhod 2[7] | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 18 March 1965 |
| Orbital maneuvers (change orbit) | Gus Grissom, John W. Young | Gemini 3[7] | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 23 March 1965 |
| Person to fly two orbital spaceflights | Gordon Cooper | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA |
| |
| Persons to spend one week in space | Gemini 5 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 21 August 1965 – 29 August 1965 | |
|
File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 15 December 1965 – 16 December 1965 | ||
| Civilian in orbit (at the time of flight) | Neil Armstrong | Gemini 8 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 16 March 1966 – 17 March 1966 |
| Space docking |
Gemini 8 and Agena[7] | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 16 March 1966 | |
| Multiple (dual) rendezvous (with Agena 10, then Agena 8)[16] | Gemini 10 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA |
| |
| Persons to exceed 1,000 km above Earth |
Gemini 11 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 12 September 1966 –
15 September 1966 | |
| Spaceflight death (during landing) | Vladimir Komarov | Soyuz 1 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 23 April 1967 – 24 April 1967 |
|
Wally Schirra | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 22 October 1968 | |
|
Apollo 8 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 24 December 1968 – 25 December 1968 | |
|
File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 16 January 1969 | ||
| Solo flight around the Moon | John Young | Apollo 10 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 22 May 1969 |
|
Apollo 11 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 20 July 1969 | |
| Five people in space at the same time | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 12 October 1969 – 13 October 1969 | ||
|
File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 13 October 1969 – 16 October 1969 | ||
| Person to complete four spaceflights | James A. Lovell | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 17 April 1970 | |
|
James A. Lovell | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 11 April 1970 – 17 April 1970 | |
|
File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 11 April 1970 – 17 April 1970 | ||
|
Soyuz 9 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 1 June 1970 – 19 June 1970 | |
| People to EVA out of sight of their spacecraft | Apollo 14 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 6 February 1971 | |
|
File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 22 April 1971 – 24 April 1971 | ||
|
File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 7 June 1971 – 29 June 1971 | ||
| Person to use a telescope in space | Viktor Patsayev | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 7 June 1971 – 29 June 1971 | |
| People to travel in a wheeled vehicle on a planetary body other than Earth Scott on the Rover – GPN-2000-001306 |
Apollo 15 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 31 July 1971– 2 August 1971 | |
| Deep space EVA (trans-Earth trajectory) | Alfred Worden | Apollo 15 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 5 August 1971 |
| Person to be in lunar orbit twice (during separate lunar expeditions) | John W. Young | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 16 April 1972 – 27 April 1972 | |
| People in orbit for four weeks | Skylab 2 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 25 May 1973 – 22 June 1973 | |
| Spacewalk at a space station | Paul Weitz | Skylab 2 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 26 May 1973 |
| People in orbit for eight weeks | Skylab 3 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 28 July 1973 – 25 September 1973 | |
| People in orbit for 12 weeks | Skylab 4 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 16 November 1973 – 8 February 1974 | |
|
Vasily Lazarev, Oleg Makarov | Soyuz 7K-T No.39 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 5 April 1975 |
| International docking | Thomas P. Stafford, Vance D. Brand, Donald K. Slayton – USA
Alexei Leonov, Valeri Kubasov – USSR |
Apollo–Soyuz | File:Flag of the United States.svgUSA | 17 July 1975 |
| Crew to visit occupied space station | Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Oleg Makarov | Soyuz 27 visits Salyut 6 EO-1 crew | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg 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 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg 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 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 9 April 1980 – 11 October 1980 |
|
STS-1 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 12 April 1981 | |
| Person to fly four different types of spacecraft | John W. Young |
|
File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 12 April 1981 |
| Person to complete five spaceflights | John W. Young | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 14 April 1981 | |
| Re-use of previously flown spacecraft (orbital) |
STS-2 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 12 November 1981 | |
| Woman to visit a space station | Svetlana Savitskaya | Salyut 7, Soyuz T-7 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 20 August 1982 |
| Four-person spaceflight in a single spacecraft |
STS-5 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 11 November 1982 – 16 November 1982 | |
| Five-person spaceflight in a single spacecraft |
STS-7 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 18 June 1983 – 24 June 1983 | |
| Use of a launch escape system in an emergency | Vladimir Titov, Gennady Strekalov | Soyuz 7K-ST No.16L | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 26 September 1983 |
| Six-person spaceflight in a single spacecraft |
STS-9 |
|
28 November 1983 – 8 December 1983 | |
| Person to complete six spaceflights | John W. Young | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 8 December 1983 | |
| Untethered spacewalk |
Bruce McCandless II | STS-41-B[18] | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 7 February 1984 |
| Eight people in space at the same time (no docking) | Salyut 7 EO-3, Soyuz T-10, STS-41-B | 8 February 1984 – 11 February 1984 | ||
| 11 people in space at the same time (no docking) | STS-41-C, Salyut 7 EO-3, Soyuz T-10-Soyuz T-11 | 6 April 1984 – 11 April 1984 | ||
| People to complete four spacewalks during the same mission | Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovyov | Salyut 7 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 26 April – 18 May 1984 |
| Woman to enter space twice | Svetlana Savitskaya | Soyuz T-7, Soyuz T-12 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 17 July 1984 |
| Spacewalk by a woman |
Svetlana Savitskaya | Soyuz T-12 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 25 July 1984 |
| Welding in space | Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Svetlana Savitskaya | Salyut 7, Soyuz T-12 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg 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 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 8 February 1984 – 2 October 1984 |
| Seven-person spaceflight in a single spacecraft |
STS-41-G | 5 October 1984 – 13 October 1984 | ||
| Two women in space at the same time | Kathryn D. Sullivan, Sally K. Ride | STS-41-G | File:Flag of the United States.svg 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 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 17 September 1985 – 26 September 1985 |
| Eight-person spaceflight in a single spacecraft |
|
STS-61-A |
|
30 October 1985 – 6 November 1985 |
| Deaths during launch | STS-51-L | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 28 January 1986 | |
|
Soyuz T-15 from Mir to Salyut 7 back to Mir[19] | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 15 March 1986 – 16 July 1986 | |
| Person to accumulate 1 year in space | Leonid Kizim | Soyuz T-3
Soyuz T-15 visiting Mir and Salyut 7 |
File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 28 June 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 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg 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 | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 21 December 1987 – 21 December 1988 |
| 12 people in space at the same time (no docking) |
|
STS-35, Mir EO-7, Soyuz TM-10Soyuz TM-11 | 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 | File:Flag of Japan.svg 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 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 5 June 1991 – 14 June 1991 |
| Three-person spacewalk |
STS-49 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 13 May 1992 | |
| Married couple in space | Mark C. Lee, Jan Davis | STS-47 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 12 September 1992 – 20 September 1992 |
| 13 people in space at the same time (no docking) |
|
STS-67, Mir, Soyuz TM-20, Soyuz TM-21 |
|
14 March 1995 – 18 March 1995 |
| Ten people in a single spacecraft (docking) |
STS-71, Mir, Soyuz TM-21 |
|
29 June 1995 – 4 July 1995 | |
| Person to accumulate 2 years in space | Sergey Avdeev | Soyuz TM-15 (Mir EO-12)
Soyuz TM-22 (Mir EO-20) Soyuz TM-28/Soyuz TM-29 Mir EO 27 |
 Russia
|
10 July 1999 |
| Space tourist | Dennis Tito | Soyuz TM-32/31, ISS EP-1 |
|
April 28, 2001 – May 6, 2001 |
| Person to complete seven trips to space |
Jerry L. Ross | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 19 April 2002 | |
| Deaths during re-entry |
STS-107 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 1 February 2003 | |
| Privately funded human space flight (suborbital) |
Mike Melvill | SpaceShipOne flight 15P | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 21 June 2004 |
| 13 people in a single spacecraft (docking)[20] |
|
ISS, Soyuz TMA-14, Soyuz TMA-15, STS-127 |
|
17 July 2009 |
| Four women in space at the same time (docking) |
|
5 April 2010 – 20 April 2010 | ||
| Thirty-nineth launch. orbital flight, and landing of a reusable crewed spacecraft | 24 February 2011 – 9 March 2011 | |||
| Six spacecraft docked to a space station |
|
|
9 July 2018 | |
|
|
18 October 2019 | ||
|
30 May 2020 – 31 May 2020 | |||
| 16 people in space (50 miles) at the same time (no docking) |
|
11 July 2021 | ||
| 14 people in space (100 km) at the same time (no docking) |
|
|
20 July 2021 | |
|
Inspiration4 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 16 September 2021 – 18 September 2021 | |
|
Inspiration4 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 16 September 2021 – 18 September 2021 | |
|
Inspiration4 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 16 September 2021 – 18 September 2021 | |
| 14 people in orbit at the same time (no docking) |
|
16 September 2021 – 17 September 2021 | ||
| 19 people in space (100 km) at the same time (no docking) |
|
11 December 2021 | ||
|
Axiom Mission 1 To ISS |
|
8 April 2022 – 18 April 2022 | |
|
5 June 2022 – | |||
| 5 women in space at the same time (no docking) |
|
|
5 October 2022 – 14 October 2022 | |
| 20 people in space (50 miles) at the same time (no docking) |
|
25 May 2023 | ||
| 17 people in orbit at the same time (no docking) |
|
30 May 2023 – 31 May 2023 | ||
| Seven spacecraft docked to a space station[23] |
|
25 March 2024 | ||
| Person to accumulate 1000 days in space | Oleg Kononenko | Expedition 71 | Russia
|
5 June 2024 |
| Woman to fly on the maiden crewed flight of an orbital spacecraft | Sunita Williams | Boeing CFT | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 5 June 2024 |
| Person to accumulate 3 years in space | Oleg Kononenko | Soyuz TMA-12 (Expedition 17)
Soyuz TMA-03M (Expedition 30/31) Soyuz TMA-17M (Expedition 44/45) Soyuz MS-11 (Expedition 57/58/59) Soyuz MS-24/MS-25 (Expedition 69/70/71) Expedition 71 |
Russia
|
9 September 2024 |
| 19 people in orbit at the same time (no docking) |
|
11 September 2024 – 15 September 2024 | ||
|
Jared Isaacman Scott Poteet Sarah Gillis Anna Menon |
Polaris Dawn | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 12 September 2024 |
| First humans to polar retrograde orbit,[24] i.e., to fly over Earth's North and South poles | Chun Wang Jannicke Mikkelsen Rabea Rogge Eric Philips |
Fram2 |  AustraliaFile:Flag of Germany.svg GER File:Flag of Norway.svg Norway / File:Flag of the United Kingdom (3-5).svg UK[a] File:Flag of Malta.svg Malta / File:Flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis.svg Saint Kitts and Nevis[b] |
1 April 2025 |
| 9 women in space at the same time (no docking) |
|
File:Flag of the United States.svgUSA File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svgChina File:Flag of the Bahamas.svg Bahamas |
14 April 2025 | |
| 20 people in space (100 km) at the same time (no docking) |
|
|
29 June 2025 | |
| Eight spacecraft docked to a space station[27] |
|
1 December 2025 | ||
| First wheelchair user in space[28] | Michaela Benthaus | Blue Origin NS-37 | File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany | 20 December 2025 |
|
Artemis II | 1 April 2026 – 10 April 2026 |
Most spaceflights[edit | edit source]
Most launches from Earth[edit | edit source]
- 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 definition used for FAI space recordkeeping.
Most orbital launches from Earth[edit | edit source]
- 7 launches
- Jerry L. Ross (USA[20]), Space Shuttle (1985–2002)
- Franklin Chang Díaz (Costa Rica/USA[20]), Space Shuttle (1986–2002)
Most orbital launches overall[edit | edit source]
- 7 launches
- John W. Young (USA[29]) 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[20]), Space Shuttle (1985–2002)
- Franklin Chang Díaz (Costa Rica/USA*[20]), Space Shuttle (1986–2002)
Largest number of different spacecraft at launch (from Earth only)[edit | edit source]
- 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)
- Michael Barratt (USA) – launched aboard a Soyuz, Space Shuttle, and SpaceX Crew Dragon (2009–2024)
- Barry Wilmore (USA) – launched aboard a Space Shuttle, Soyuz, and Boeing Starliner (2009–2024)
- Sunita Williams (USA) – launched aboard a Space Shuttle, Soyuz, and Boeing Starliner (2006–2024)
Largest number of different launch vehicles (overall)[edit | edit source]
- 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[edit | edit source]
- 3 sites
- Sunita Williams (USA) - Kennedy Space Center (aboard a Space Shuttle in 2006), Baikonur Cosmodrome (aboard a Soyuz capsule in 2012), Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (aboard a Starliner capsule in 2024).
- Barry E. Wilmore (USA) - Kennedy Space Center (aboard a Space Shuttle in 2009), Baikonur Cosmodrome (aboard a Soyuz capsule in 2014), Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (aboard a Starliner capsule in 2024).
- 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[edit | edit source]
Total human spaceflight time by country[edit | edit source]
File:Treemap of astronauts by country 17Aug2024.png
Orbital space travelers (as of August 17th, 2024)
Most time in space[edit | edit source]
The record for most time in space is held by Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, who has spent 1,111 days in space over five missions. He broke the record of Gennady Padalka on 4 February 2024 at 07:30:08 UTC during his fifth spaceflight aboard Soyuz MS-24/25 for a one year long-duration mission on the ISS.[32] He later became the first person to stay 900, 1,000, and 1,100 days in space on 25 February 2024, 4 June 2024, and 12 September 2024 respectively.[33][34] Gennady Padalka is currently second, having spent 878 days in space. He himself had broken the all-time duration record on 28 June 2015 when he 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.[35][36][37]
As of 29 April 2026[update],[38] the 50 space travelers with the most total time in space are:
Color key:
- Currently in space
- Active
- Retired
- Deceased
Ten longest human spaceflights[edit | edit source]
Longest single flight by a woman[edit | edit source]
NASA astronaut Christina Koch holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman (328 days), returning on February 6, 2020.[44] During Expedition 61, she surpassed NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson's 289 days from 2016-17. In third place is American astronaut Anne McClain with 204 days.[47]
Longest continuous occupation of space[edit | edit source]
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.[20][48] Since then space has been continuously occupied for 25 years, 180 days.[20]
Longest continuous occupation of a spacecraft[edit | edit source]
The International Space Station has been continuously occupied by a Russian and US crew member since 2 November 2000 (25 years, 178 days).[20][48] It broke the record of 9 years and 358 days of the Soviet/Russian Space Station Mir on 23 October 2010.[48]
Longest solo flight[edit | edit source]
Valery Bykovsky flew solo for 4 days, 23 hours in Vostok 5 from 14 to 19 June 1963.[49] 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[edit | edit source]
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.[50] 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.[50]
Longest time in lunar orbit[edit | edit source]
Ronald Evans of Apollo 17 mission stayed in lunar orbit for 6 days and 4 hours (148 hours)[51] 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[edit | edit source]
Farthest humans from Earth[edit | edit source]
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.[52] This record-breaking distance was reached at 00:21 UTC on 15 April 1970.[52]
Highest altitude for crewed non-lunar mission[edit | edit source]
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).[53]
Fastest[edit | edit source]
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).[20] The record was set 26 May 1969.[20]
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[edit | edit source]
File:Wally Funk 2012.jpg
Wally Funk flew in July 2021
File:Joseph Albert Walker.jpg
Joe Walker in 1961
Earliest-born to reach space[edit | edit source]
Suborbital flight[edit | edit source]
- 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[edit | edit source]
- 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 (48 orbits, about 3 days.)
Youngest[edit | edit source]
Suborbital flight[edit | edit source]
- 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[edit | edit source]
- Man – Gherman Titov (aged 25 years), on Vostok 2 on 6 August 1961 (17.5 orbits, about 1 day.)[20]
- Woman – Valentina Tereshkova (aged 26 years), on Vostok 6 on 16–19 June 1963 (48 orbits, about 3 days.)
Oldest[edit | edit source]
Suborbital flight[edit | edit source]
- Man: Ed Dwight (aged 90 years, 8 months, and 10 days), on Blue Origin NS-25, on 19 May 2024 (about 10 minutes).
- Woman: Wally Funk (aged 82 years, 5 months, and 19 days), on Blue Origin NS-16, on 20 July 2021 (about 10 minutes).
Orbital spaceflight[edit | edit source]
- Man: John Glenn (aged 77 years and 103 days), on STS-95 on 29 October 1998 (about 9 days, 20 hours).[54]
- Woman: Peggy Whitson (aged 63 years and 101 days), on Axiom Mission 2 on 21 May 2023 (9 days, 5 hours and 27 minutes).[55]
Spacewalk[edit | edit source]
Youngest[edit | edit source]
- Man – Alexei Leonov (aged 30), during Voskhod 2.
- Woman – Sarah Gillis, (aged 30), during Polaris Dawn.
Oldest[edit | edit source]
- Man – Michael Barratt (aged 65), during ISS Expedition 71.
- Woman – Peggy Whitson (aged 56), during ISS Expedition 50.[56]
Spacewalk records[edit | edit source]
Most spacewalks (number and duration)[edit | edit source]
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.[57]
- Woman – Peggy Whitson, 10 spacewalks for a total time of 60 hours, 21 minutes.[58][59][60]
Most spacewalks during a single mission[edit | edit source]
- 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 spacewalks[edit | edit source]
- Man – Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong, 9 hours 6 minutes, on the Tiangong space station during the Shenzhou 19 mission on 17 December 2024.[61]
- Woman – Susan Helms, 8 hours 56 minutes, along with James Voss on an ISS assembly mission during Shuttle mission STS-102 on 11 March 2001. The spacewalkers were delayed early in their excursion when a device to help hold an astronaut's feet to the shuttle's robot arm became untethered,[62] 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[edit | edit source]
- All-time (and while on a planetary body[63]): 7.6 kilometers[64]: 1144 (4.7 miles, 25,029 feet[65]), 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.[66]
Animal records[edit | edit source]
First animals in space[edit | edit source]
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).[67] They were also the first animals to safely return from space.[67] 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.[68]: 21
First animal in orbit[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
On 31 January 1961, through NASA's Mercury-Redstone 2 mission the chimpanzee Ham became the first great ape or Hominidae in space.[69]
Longest canine single flight[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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.[67] It had been launched by a Proton-K rocket on 14 September.[67]
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.[67]
Notable uncrewed or non-human spaceflights[edit | edit source]
| In reference to: | Spacecraft | Event | Origin | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earth | MW 18014 (A-4(V-2)) | First rocket to reach space (suborbital flight). | File:Flag of Germany (1935–1945).svg Germany | 20 June 1944 |
| Earth | V-2 No. 20 | First living organisms (fruit flies) in space (suborbital flight). Successfully recovered. | File:Flag of the United States.svg 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. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 14 June 1949 |
| Earth | R-1V[70] | First dogs in space (suborbital flight). Successfully recovered. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 22 July 1951 |
| Earth | Sputnik 1 | First satellite in orbit.[7] | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 4 October 1957 |
| Earth | Sputnik 2 | First animal in orbit, Laika, a dog. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg 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. | File:Flag of the United States.svg 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. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 11 October 1958 |
| Earth | Luna 1 | First spacecraft to achieve Earth's escape velocity. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 4 January 1959 |
| Moon | Luna 1 | First flyby. Distance of 5,995 kilometres (3,725 mi). | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 4 January 1959 |
| Sun | Luna 1 | First spacecraft in heliocentric orbit. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 4 January 1959 |
| Moon | Luna 2 | First impact on another celestial body.[7] | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 14 September 1959 |
| Moon | Luna 3 | First image of lunar far-side.[7] | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 7 October 1959 |
| Earth | Discoverer 13 | First satellite recovered from orbit.[7] | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 11 August 1960 |
| Earth | Korabl-Sputnik 2 | First living beings recovered from orbit.[71] | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 19 August 1960 |
| Earth | Mercury-Redstone 2 | First great ape or Hominidae in space, Ham, a chimpanzee (suborbital flight).[69] | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 31 January 1961 |
| Venus | Venera 1 | First flyby. Distance of 100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi) (lost communication contact before).[7] | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 19 May 1961 |
| Moon | Ranger 4 | First spacecraft to impact the far side of the Moon.[72] | File:Flag of the United States.svg 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).[73] | File:Canadian Red Ensign (1957–1965).svg Canada | 29 September 1962 |
| Venus | Mariner 2 | First planetary flyby with communication contact. Distance of 34,762 kilometres (21,600 mi). | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 14 December 1962 |
| Earth | Lincoln Calibration Sphere 1 | Oldest spacecraft still in use (59 years as of 2024[update]). | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 6 May 1965 |
| Mars | Mariner 4 | First flyby and first planetary imaging. Distance of 9,846 kilometres (6,118 mi). | File:Flag of the United States.svg 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). | File:Flag of France.svg France | 26 November 1965 |
| Moon | Luna 9 | First soft landing and first pictures from the lunar surface.[7] | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 3 February 1966 |
| Earth | Kosmos 110 | First seeds to germinate in space. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 22 February 1966 |
| Venus | Venera 3 | First impact.[7] | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 1 March 1966 |
| Moon | Luna 10 | First orbiter.[7] | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 3 April 1966 |
| Docking | Cosmos 186, Cosmos 188 | First automated docking of uncrewed spacecraft. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 30 October 1967 |
| Moon | Surveyor 6 | First planned, controlled, powered flight from the surface of another body. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 17 November 1967 |
| Moon | Zond 5 |
|
File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 15 September 1968 |
| Moon | Luna 16 | First automated sample return. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 24 September 1970 |
| Moon | Luna 17 | First robotic roving vehicle, Lunokhod 1. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 17 November 1970 |
| Venus | Venera 7 | First soft landing on another planet. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 15 December 1970 |
| Earth | Salyut 1 | First space station. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 19 April 1971 |
| Mars | Mariner 9 | First orbiter. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 14 November 1971 |
| Mars | Mars 2 | First impact. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 27 November 1971 |
| Mars | Mars 3 | First soft landing. Maintained telemetry signal for 20 seconds before transmissions ceased. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 2 December 1971 |
| Sun | Pioneer 10 | First spacecraft to achieve the Sun's escape velocity. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 3 March 1972 |
| Jupiter | Pioneer 10 | First flyby. Distance of 132,000 kilometres (82,000 mi). | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 4 December 1973 |
| Mercury | Mariner 10 | First flyby. Distance of 703 kilometres (437 mi). | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 29 March 1974 |
| Venus | Venera 9 |
|
File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 22 October 1975 |
| Mars | Viking 1 | First surface-level imaging of Mars. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 20 July 1976 |
| Saturn | Pioneer 11 | First flyby. Distance of 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi). | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 1 September 1979 |
| Venus | Venera 13 | First sound recording made on another planet. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 1 March 1982 |
| Orbital Space Station | Soyuz T-5, Salyut 7 | First species of plant to flower in space.[74] Arabidopsis thaliana Valentin Lebedev. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 1 July 1982 |
| Trans-Neptunian region | Pioneer 10 | First to travel past the orbit of Neptune, the furthest major planet from the Sun. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 13 June 1983 |
| Venus | Vega 1 | First helium balloon atmospheric probe. First flight (as opposed to atmospheric entry) in another planet's atmosphere. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg 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). | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 11 September 1985 |
| Uranus | Voyager 2 | First flyby. Distance of 81,500 kilometres (50,600 mi). | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 24 January 1986 |
| Comet Halley | Vega 1 | First comet flyby (with pictures returned). Distance of 8,890 kilometres (5,520 mi). | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 6 March 1986 |
| Earth | Mir Core Module, Kvant-1 | First modular space station. | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 9 April 1987 |
| Orbital Spaceplane | Buran | First fully automated orbital flight of a spaceplane (with airstrip landing). | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 15 November 1988 |
| Phobos | Phobos 2 | First flyby. Distance of 860 kilometres (530 mi). | File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR | 21 February 1989 |
| Neptune | Voyager 2 | First flyby. Distance of 40,000 kilometres (25,000 mi). | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 25 August 1989 |
| Moon | Hiten | First lunar probe launched by a country other than the USA or USSR. | File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan | 18 March 1990 |
| 951 Gaspra | Galileo | First asteroid flyby. Distance of 1,600 kilometres (990 mi). | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 29 October 1991 |
| Jupiter | Galileo probe | First impact. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 7 December 1995 |
| Jupiter | Galileo | First orbiter. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 8 December 1995 |
| Mars | Mars Pathfinder | First automated roving vehicle, Sojourner. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 4 July 1997 |
| 433 Eros | NEAR Shoemaker | First asteroid orbiter. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 14 February 2000 |
| 433 Eros | NEAR Shoemaker | First asteroid soft landing. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 12 February 2001 |
| Saturn | Cassini orbiter | First orbiter. | 1 July 2004 | |
| Solar wind | Genesis | First sample return from farther than the Moon. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 8 September 2004 |
| Titan | Huygens probe | First soft landing. | 14 January 2005 | |
| Comet Tempel 1 | Deep Impact | First comet impact. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 4 July 2005 |
| 25143 Itokawa | Hayabusa |
|
File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan | 19 November 2005 |
| 81P/Wild | Stardust | First sample return from comet. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 15 January 2006 |
| Earth | Voyager 1 |
|
File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | As of July 2023[update][75] |
| Longest time in operation | Voyager 2 | Longest continually operating space probe (since August 1977). | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | As of 2015[update] |
| Moon | Moon Impact Probe | First impact on Lunar south pole and discovery of water on Moon.[76] |  India
|
14 November 2008 |
| Earth to Venus trajectory | IKAROS | First interplanetary solar sail. | File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan | Set sail on 10 June 2010 |
| 25143 Itokawa | Hayabusa | First sample return from an asteroid. | File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan | 13 June 2010 |
| Mercury | MESSENGER | First orbiter. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 17 March 2011 |
| Earth–Sun L2 Lagrange point | Chang'e 2 | First spacecraft to reach the L2 Lagrangian point directly from lunar orbit.[77] | File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China | 25 August 2011 |
| International Space Station | SpaceX Dragon 1 | First commercial spacecraft to berth with the International Space Station. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 25 May 2012 |
| Interstellar medium | Voyager 1 | First spacecraft to cross the heliopause, thereby exiting the heliosphere and entering interstellar space. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 25 August 2012 |
| 4179 Toutatis | Chang'e 2 |
|
File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China | 13 December 2012 |
| 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko | Rosetta | First comet orbiter.[79] | File:ESA logo simple.svg ESA | 6 August 2014 |
| Mars | MOM | First Asian nation to achieve Mars orbit and first in the world to do so in first attempt.[80] | India
|
24 September 2014 |
| 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko | Philae | First comet soft landing.[81] | File:ESA logo simple.svg ESA | 12 November 2014 |
| Ceres | Dawn | First dwarf planet orbiter.[82] | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 6 March 2015 |
| Mars | Opportunity | Longest distance traveled on surface of another world (26.219 miles (42.195 km), marathon-length).[83] | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 23 March 2015 |
| Mercury | MESSENGER | First impact.[84] | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 30 April 2015 |
| Pluto | New Horizons | File:Flag of the United States.svg 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. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 14 July 2015 |
| Earth | Falcon 9 (B1021) | First re-flight of an orbital class rocket stage after a vertical propulsive landing.[85] | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 30 March 2017 |
| Earth | Shortest period between orbital launches (launched 72[86][87][88][89][90] seconds apart). | 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 | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 6 February 2018 |
| Moon | Chang'e 4 | First soft landing at the far side of the Moon. | File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China | 3 January 2019 |
| Moon | Yutu-2 | First lunar rover traversing the far side of the Moon. | File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China | 3 January 2019 |
| Moon | Beresheet | First commercial/privately funded spacecraft to enter lunar orbit. | File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel | 4 April 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).[91][92] | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 12 June 2019 |
| Moon | Yutu-2 | Longest operational lunar rover after breaking the longevity record of 321 Earth days held by Soviet Union's Lunokhod 1 rover.[93] | File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China | 20 November 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.[94] | File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg 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.[95] | File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China | 5 December 2020 |
| Mars | Ingenuity | First controlled, powered flight by a rotary wing aircraft on another planet.[96] | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 19 April 2021 |
| Earth | Zhuque-2 | First methane-fueled rocket to reach orbit[97] | File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China | 12 July 2023 |
| 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).[needs update]
Closest approach to the Sun: distance of 0.049 AU (7,260,000 kilometres; 4,510,000 mi).[98] 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),[99] by which point it will have become the fastest object in the Solar System apart from comets (overtaking asteroid 2005 HC4). |
27 September 2023 | |
| Moon | IM-1 Odysseus | First successful commercial and first cryogenic propelled lunar landing.[100] First soft landing within the lunar south pole region at 80°08′S 1°26′E / 80.13°S 1.44°E[101] | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 22 February 2024 |
| Moon | Chang'e 6 | First sample collection and return from the far side of the Moon.[102] | File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China | 3 June, 25 June 2024 |
| Earth | Falcon 9 | Most consecutive launch successes of a single type of rocket: 365. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 14 January 2017 – 8 July 2024 |
| Earth | Falcon 9 | Most consecutive landing successes of a single type of rocket stage: 267. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 4 March 2021 – 20 August 2024 |
| Earth | Falcon 9 (B1067) | Most vertical landings of a single orbital rocket stage: 24. | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 3 June 2021 – 4 December 2024 |
| Earth | Falcon 9 (B1080) | Shortest time between two flights of the same orbital rocket stage: 13 days, 12 hours, 34 minutes | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 25 November 2024 |
| Sun | Parker Solar Probe | Highest velocity of a spacecraft relative to the Sun: 191.7 km/s (690,000 km/h; 430,000 mph). Closest approach to the Sun: distance of 0.041 AU (6,000,000 kilometres; 3,800,000 mi).[103][104] This makes the probe the fastest object in the Solar System apart from comets (overtaking asteroid 2005 HC4). |
24 December 2024 | |
| Earth | Falcon 9 (B1088) | Shortest time between two flights of the same orbital rocket stage: 9 days, 3 hours, 49 minutes | File:Flag of the United States.svg USA | 12 March 2025 - 21 March 2025 |
See also[edit | edit source]
- 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
References[edit | edit source]
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longest time in lunar orbit, 147 hours, 48 minutes
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Because Earth moves around the sun faster than Voyager 1 is traveling from Earth, the distance between Earth and the spacecraft actually decreases at certain times of the year.
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India has become the first nation to send a satellite into orbit around Mars on its first attempt, and the first Asian nation to do so.
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