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![]() The crew of Apollo 8 were the first humans to witness Earthrise, photographed by William Anders on 24 December 1968 | |
Orbital launches | |
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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.
Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | |||
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Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) |
Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | ||
Remarks | |||||||
January | |||||||
22 January 23:45 |
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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 |
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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 |
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Apollo 7 | NASA | LEO | Crewed orbital flight | 22 October 1968 11:11:48 |
Successful | ||
First crewed Apollo flight | |||||||
25 October 1968 09:00 |
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Soyuz 2 | RVSN | LEO | Docking target for Soyuz 3 | 28 October 1968 07:21 |
Successful | ||
Soyuz 3 failed to dock | |||||||
26 October 08:34 |
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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 |
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Apollo 8 | NASA | Selenocentric | Crewed lunar orbiter | 27 December 1968 15:51:42 |
Successful | ||
First crewed mission to the Moon |
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 |