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1968 in spaceflight 
Summary
 | This page is currently being edited to bring it in line with the new format for timeline of spaceflight articles. Whilst this is taking place, both the old and new formats may appear on this page. |
| This timeline of spaceflight may require cleanup to ensure consistency with other timeline of spaceflight articles. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Spaceflight/Timeline of spaceflight working group for guidelines on how to improve the article. Details Concerns have been raised that:
|  |
 The crew of Apollo 8 were the first humans to witness Earthrise, photographed by William Anders on 24 December 1968 | |
| Orbital launches | |
|---|---|
| Total | 6 |
The United States National Space Science Data Center catalogued 157 spacecraft placed into orbit by launches which occurred in 1968.[1] The first crewed Apollo missions occurred in 1968. It was also the year in which Earth lifeforms first left low Earth orbit, during the successful Zond 5 mission, and the year that humans first left low Earth orbit, during the successful Apollo 8 mission.
Launches
| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) |
Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | ||
| Remarks | |||||||
January | |||||||
| 22 January 23:45 |
 Saturn IB (C-1B)
|
LC-37B, Cape Canaveral
|
NASA
| ||||
| Apollo 5 | NASA | LEO | Test Lunar Module | 12 February 1968 09:59 |
successful | ||
| Minor malfunction of LM descent stage engine, otherwise successful | |||||||
April | |||||||
| 4 April 12:00:02 |
Saturn V (C-5)
|
LC-39A, Kennedy
|
NASA
| ||||
| Apollo 6 | NASA | LEO | Test CSM heat shield at Lunar return speeds. Test S-IVB re-ignition in LEO. | 4 April 1968 21:57:26 |
Partial failure | ||
| Experienced Pogo oscillation during S-IC first stage ascent. S-IVB failed restart test. | |||||||
October | |||||||
| 11 October 1968 15:02 |
Saturn IB (C-1B)
|
LC-34, Cape Canaveral
|
NASA
| ||||
| Apollo 7 | NASA | LEO | Crewed orbital flight | 22 October 1968 11:11:48 |
Successful | ||
| First crewed Apollo flight | |||||||
| 25 October 1968 09:00 |
 Soyuz (R-7/A-2)
|
LC-1/5, Baikonur
|
RVSN
| ||||
| Soyuz 2 | RVSN | LEO | Docking target for Soyuz 3 | 28 October 1968 07:21 |
Successful | ||
| Soyuz 3 failed to dock | |||||||
| 26 October 08:34 |
Soyuz (R-7/A-2)
|
LC-31/6 Baikonur
|
RVSN
| ||||
| Soyuz 3 | RVSN | LEO | Crewed orbital flight | 30 October 1968 07:25:03 |
Partial Failure | ||
| Failed to dock with Soyuz 2 | |||||||
December | |||||||
| 21 December 12:51 |
Saturn V (C-5)
|
LC-39A, Kennedy
|
NASA
| ||||
| Apollo 8 | NASA | Selenocentric | Crewed lunar orbiter | 27 December 1968 15:51:42 |
Successful | ||
| First crewed mission to the Moon | |||||||
Deep space rendezvous
| Date (UTC) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 January | Surveyor 7 | Lunar landing | in the debris from Tycho crater |
| 31 January | Lunar Orbiter 5 | Lunar impact | |
| 10 April | Luna 14 | Selenocentric orbit insertion | |
| 18 September | Zond 5 | Flyby of the Moon; first return to Earth after flight to Moon; first Earth life forms to travel around the Moon | Closest approach: 1,950 kilometres (1,210 mi) |
| 14 November | Zond 6 | Flyby of the Moon | Closest approach: 2,420 kilometres (1,500 mi) |
| 24 December | Apollo 8 | Selenocentric orbit insertion; first humans to travel around the Moon | |
| 25 December | Apollo 8 | Leaves selenocentric orbit | Completed 10 orbits |
Orbital Launch Summary
See also
References
Generic references:
Spaceflight portal
Spaceflight portal- Bergin, Chris. "NASASpaceFlight.com".
- Clark, Stephen. "Spaceflight Now".
- Kelso, T.S. "Satellite Catalog (SATCAT)". CelesTrak.
- Krebs, Gunter. "Chronology of Space Launches".
- Kyle, Ed. "Space Launch Report".
- McDowell, Jonathan. "Jonathan's Space Report".
- Pietrobon, Steven. "Steven Pietrobon's Space Archive".
- Wade, Mark. "Encyclopedia Astronautica".
- Webb, Brian. "Southwest Space Archive".
- Zak, Anatoly. "Russian Space Web".
- "ISS Calendar". Spaceflight 101.
- "NSSDCA Master Catalog". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
- "Space Calendar". NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
- "Space Information Center". JAXA.
- "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).
Footnotes
- ^ "Spacecraft Query Results". Master Catalog Search. NASA NSSDC. Retrieved 30 May 2010.