Launch Log

This page provides a reference to the key space launches of the Kolyma’s Shadow timeline. Please note, not all launches are included, only those mentioned directly in the timeline.

Date (dd-mm-yyyy)	Nation	Launcher	Payload	Orbit	Notes
18-06-1958	USA	Vanguard	Vanguard-1	650km x 3800km, 34deg	The world’s first artificial satellite.
18-12-1958	USA	Vanguard	Vanguard-2		First experiment in monitoring weather from space.
19-01-1959	USSR	R-6 “Shesterka”	ISZ-1	185km x 1768km	First Soviet satellite. Discovered the Vernov Radiation Belts.
15-04-1959	USA	Juno	Explorer-1	350km x 1600km, 52deg	Discovered the Van Allen Anomaly in the Vernov Belts.
??-09-1959	USA	Atlas-Agena	Discoverer-1	180km x 990km, polar	Experimental spy satellite, failed on-orbit.
??-11-1959	USA	Atlas-Agena	Discoverer-2		Experimental spy satellite, successful.
23-04-1960	USSR	R-6 “Shesterka”	ISZ-4		Carried Vega the dog, the first animal in space.
??-02-1961	USA	Atlas-Agena	Pioneer	N/A	Attempted Moon probe, failed on launch.
??-04-1961	USSR	R-6A “Luna”	Luna	LEO	Attempted Moon probe, stranded in Earth orbit.
??-05-1961	USA	Atlas-Agena	Pioneer-1	Highly-elliptical Earth orbit	Attempted Moon probe, stranded in Earth orbit.
??-05-1961	USSR	R-6A “Luna”	Luna	N/A	Attempted Moon probe, failed on launch.
??-05-1961	USSR	R-6A “Luna”	Luna-1 (re-named Kosmos)	N/A	Attempted Moon probe, missed the Moon by 100 000 km and failed after 4 days.
??-05-1961	USA	Atlas-Agena	Iris-1	700 km circular, 50 deg	Weather satellite.
??-??-1961	USA	Atlas-Agena	Pioneer-2	Heliocentric orbit	Attempted Moon probe, missed the Moon.
??-09-1961	USA	Atlas-Agena	Iris-2		Weather satellite.
??-10-1961	USA	Atlas-Agena	Pioneer-3	Heliocentric orbit	Moon flyby probe, took the first pictures of the farside 26/10/61.
??-11-1961	USSR	R-6A “Luna”	Luna-1	Heliocentric orbit	Moon flyby probe, made the first measurements of the solar wind from interplanetary space.
??-02-1962	USA	Atlas-Agena	Iris-3		Weather satellite.
??-02-1962	USSR	R-6A “Luna”	Luna-2	Heliocentric orbit	Attempted lunar impactor, missed the Moon.
??-02-1962	USSR	R-6 “Shesterka”	Zarya SA	Suborbital	Carried Baikal the dog, killed on impact when the Zarya SA failed to separate.
??-03-1962	USSR	R-6 “Shesterka”	Zarya SA	Suborbital	Carried Vezuchiy the dog.
??-05-1962	USA	Redstone	Mercury MR-5	Suborbital	Carried Bucky the Rhesus monkey to a maximum altitude of 200 km.
??-07-1962	USA	Atlas-Agena	Pioneer-4	Heliocentric orbit	Attempted lunar impactor, missed the Moon. Returned photo of Earth from lunar distances.
??-08-1962	USA	Atlas-D	Mercury MA-4	Suborbital	Carried Ham the Chimp.
??-08-1962	USSR	R-6A “Luna”	Zarya	LEO	Launched 1 week after Mercury MA-4. Carried Vezuchiy the dog, first successful return of a living creature from orbit.
??-09-1962	USA	Atlas-D	Mercury MA-5	LEO	Carried Mary-Ann the Chimp. First US return of a living creature from orbit.
14-09-1962	USA	Atlas-Agena	Pioneer-5	Moon	First successful lunar impactor.
12-10-1962	USA	Redstone	Mercury-1 “Spirit of Freedom”	Suborbital	Carried James Wood, first man in space.
30-10-1962	USSR	R-6A “Luna”	Zarya-1	180 x 330 km	Carried Yuri Gagarin, first man to orbit the Earth.
??-11-1962	USA	Atlas-D	Mercury MA-6	LEO	Astro-Chimp orbital mission
??-11-1962	USA	Atlas-D	Mercury MA-7	LEO	Astro-Chimp orbital mission
08-12-1962	USA	Atlas-Agena	Mariner-1	Heliocentric orbit	Attempted Mars probe. Contact lost after 4 months.
11-12-1962	USA	Atlas-Agena	Mariner-2	Heliocentric orbit	Attempted Mars probe. Contact lost after passage through the Vernov Belts.
12-12-1962	USA	Atlas-D	Mercury-2 “Columbia”	LEO	Joe Walker became the first American to orbit the Earth
??-02-1963	USSR	R-6A “Luna”	Zarya-2	LEO	Valentin Bondarenko becomes the first person to suffer space sickness.
??-03-1963	USSR	M-1 bis “Signal”	Experimental communications satellite	LEO	First orbital flight of Mishin's all-kerolox M-1.
14-09-1962	USA	Atlas-Agena	Pioneer-6	Lunar orbit	First man-made object to orbit another celestial body.
05-04-1963	USA	Atlas-D	Mercury-3 “Liberty”	LEO	Al Perini is pilot
??-08-1963	USA	Atlas-D	Mercury-4	LEO	Robert “Bob” White is pilot. Mission aborted early due to on-orbit instrument failure.
??-11-1963	USSR	M-1 “Zarya”	Kosmos-27	300km circular	Unmanned test flight of the Zarya-B spacecraft.
??-12-1963	USA	Atlas-D	Mercury-5	LEO	Albert Crews beats the Zarya-2 duration record, staying up for 7 hours.
??-02-1964	USA	Atlas-Agena	Mariner-3	Heliocentric orbit	Venus flyby probe. The first successful planetary flyby.
??-02-1964	USA	Atlas-Agena	Mariner-4	Heliocentric orbit	Venus flyby probe.
10-03-1964	USSR	M-1 “Zarya”	Zarya-3	220km x 330km	First multi-crew spaceflight, piloted by Aleksei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev. Spent over a day on-orbit, taking the spaceflight duration record from Mercury-5.
10-09-1964	USSR	M-1 “Zarya”	Zarya-4	245km x 350km	Piloted by Dimitry Zaikin and Viktor Gorbatko. Gorbatko performed the world's first space walk.
15-09-1964	USA	Atlas-D	Mercury-6 “Orville”	220km x 197km, 31.4 deg	Neil Armstrong piloted the target vehicle for Mercury-7 to intercept.
15-09-1964	USA	Atlas-D	Mercury-7 “Wilbur”	220km x 201km, 31.6 deg	Al Perini piloted the interceptor vehicle, passing within 2.2 km of Mercury-6.
??-10-1964	USSR	R-6A “Luna”	Mars-2	Heliocentric orbit	Mars flyby probe. The first successful Mars flyby.
??-11-1964	USA	Atlas-Agena	Mariner-5	Heliocentric orbit	Mars flyby probe.
??-11-1964	USA	Atlas-Agena	Mariner-6	Heliocentric orbit	Mars flyby probe.
??-03-1965	USSR	M-1 “Zarya”	Zarya-5	200km x 2000km	Piloted by Alexei Leonov and Boris Tokarev
28-07-1965	USSR	UR-500 “Proton”	Mars-3	Mars orbit	Mars orbiter. The first man-made object to orbit another planet.
03-09-1965	USSR	R-200 “Kosmos”	Orel	suborbital	First manned flight of the Orel Raketoplan, piloted by Yury Artyukhin. Landed unpowered at Dzemgi air force base after the jet engine failed to start.
??-01-1966	USSR	M-1 bis “Signal”	Kosmos-44	LEO	Unmanned target vehicle for Zarya-6.
??-01-1966	USSR	M-1 “Zarya”	Zarya-6	LEO	Attempted docking with Kosmos-44, piloted by Viktor Gorbatko.
??-04-1966	USSR	M-1 “Zarya”	Zarya-7	N/A	Piloted by Lev Dyomin, the mission aborted due to a 1st stage failure of the M-1.
07-05-1966	USA	Minerva-10	DS-3 “Aura”	suborbital, 200km apogee	The first manned flight for Minerva and first manned suborbital flight of Dynasoar, piloted by Neil Armstrong.
??-07-1966	USA	Minerva-10	DS-4 “Aura”	suborbital	Transatlantic skip-glide test of Dynasoar, piloted by Dave Merricks.
??-07-1966	USSR	UR-500 “Proton”	Orel	LEO	First manned orbital flight of the Orel Raketoplan, piloted by Vladimir Shatalov.
??-08-1966	USA	Minerva-10	DS-5 “Rhene”	suborbital	First suborbital test flight of glider “Rhene”, piloted by Pete Knight.
10-11-1966	USA	Minerva-22	DS-6 “Aura”	LEO	First orbital flight of Dynasoar, piloted by Neil Armstrong.
??-12-1966	USA	Atlas-Centaur	Pathfinder-1	Mars flyby	JPL probe originally designed for the Air Force.
??-02-1967	USA	Minerva-22	DS-7 “Rhene”	250 x 500km polar	Piloted by Bob White. First manned launch from Vandenberg. First synergistic plane change.
??-05-1967	USSR	UR-500 “Proton”	Orel	LEO	Piloted by Yury Artyukhin.
??-05-1967	USSR	??	Venera-2	Venus flyby
??-05-1967	USSR	??	Venera-3	Venus flyby	Dropped a sub-probe into Venus' atmosphere.
??-05-1967	USA	Atlas	Tempest-1	“Mid-Morning” sun-synchronous	NESSA's first weather satellite.
??-06-1967	USSR	M-1 bis “Signal”	Kosmos-52	LEO	Unmanned target vehicle for Zarya-8.
??-06-1967	USSR	M-1 “Zarya”	Zarya-8	LEO	First successful space docking, with Kosmos-52, piloted by Alexei Leonov.
02-10-1967	USA	Minerva-22	DS-8 “Athena”	LEO polar	Commanded by Pete Knight, with pilots Paul McEnnis and Edward Karski. McEnnis makes the first US space walk.
??-04-1968	USA	Minerva-22	DS-9 “Thebe-DEL”	LEO polar	Commanded by Bob White, with pilots Doug Boone and Larry Hanson. First DEL mission, duration 7 days.
??-07-1968	USA	Minerva-22	DS-10 “Rhene”	LEO	Demonstrated on-orbit docking with a target vehicle.
??-12-1968	USA	??	Lunar Surveyor	Lunar orbit	2-year orbital survey mission.
??-??-1968	USA	??	Skycom-1	GEO	American-built military communications satellite for the British government.
??-??-1969	USA	??	Tempest-2	“Mid-Morning” sun-synchronous
??-??-1969	USA	Minerva-22	DS-12 “Athena-DEL”	LEO polar	Second flight for astronaut Edward Karski.
??-03-1969	USSR	UR-500 “Proton”	Mars-4	Mars flyby	Failed Mars Orbit Insertion. Lander failed shortly after touchdown.
??-03-1969	USSR	UR-500 “Proton”	Mars-5	Mars orbit/surface	First successful soft-landing on a planet.
??-05-1969	USA	Minerva-1	Pathfinder-2	Venus flyby	First attempted spacecraft radar measurements of Venus.
??-05-1969	USA	Minerva-1	Pathfinder-3	Venus flyby
??-05-1970	USA	Minerva-24	Pilgrim-1	Lunar surface	First soft-landing on the Moon at Mare Tranquillitatis. Returned 120g of samples to Earth. Operated for 10 days.
??-06-1970	USA	Minerva-22	DS-16 “Aura”	LEO	Gary Jones becomes the first African-American in space.
08-10-1970	USA	Minerva-24	Starlab-1	452 x 458 km, 28.5 degree	Unmanned launch of the Starlab space station.
20-10-1970	USA	Minerva-22	Starlab-2 “Athena”	452 x 458 km, 28.5 degree	Merricks, McEnnis and Quinn launch on the first space station mission.
??-??-1971	USA	??	Tempest-3	“Mid-Morning” sun-synchronous	Replaces the failed Tempest-1.
??-03-1971	USSR	UR-500 “Proton”	Chasovoy-1	230 km, 51.6 degree	Unmanned launch of the Chasovoy-1 space station.
22-03-1971	USSR	M-1 “Zarya”	Zarya-10	230 km, 51.6 degree	Gagarin and Leonov launch on the first Soviet space station mission.
??-??-1971	USA	Minerva-22	DS-19 “Athena”	LEO	Performed in-space servicing of USA-110
??-??-1973	USSR	UR-500 “Proton”	Chasovoy-2	LEO	Unmanned launch of the Chasovoy-2 space station.
??-02-1973	USA	Minerva-20c	Pathfinder-4	heliocentric	Ion-drive demonstration mission.
??-??-1973	USSR	M-1 “Zarya”	Zarya	LEO	Launch of the first crew to Chasovoy-2
??-??-1973	USSR	M-1 “Zarya”	Zarya	LEO	Launch of the second crew to Chasovoy-2
??-09-1973	USSR	UR-500 “Proton”	Orel	LEO	Piloted by Lidiya Kotova, first woman in space.
??-01-1974	USSR	UR-500 “Proton”	Safir-1/Kosmos-121	Lunar flyby	Unmanned test flight of the Safir circumlunar spacecraft.
??-04-1974	USA	Minerva-20	Columbia-1	LEO	Unmanned Columbia test flight.
??-06-1974	USA	Minerva-20c	Pathfinder-5	heliocentric	Solar sail demonstration mission.
??-08-1974	USA	Minerva-22	DS-23	LEO	Dynasoar return to flight mission.
??-10-1974	USA	Minerva-20	Columbia-2	LEO	Unmanned Columbia test flight, incorporating design changed from the Rhene Inquiry recommendations.
??-01-1975	USSR	UR-500 “Proton”	Zarya-V	Lunar flyby	Unmanned test flight of the Zarya-V circumlunar spacecraft, though without working life support or the final power system.
11-03-1975	USA	Minerva-20	Columbia-3	LEO	First manned Columbia flight. Crew is Dave Merricks and Gary Jones.
??-04-1975	USA	Minerva-22	DS-24/Starlab-3 “Athena”	LEO	Final Starlab mission, aborted after 4 days due to health concerns. Lee Gentry commands.
07-05-1975	USSR	UR-500 “Proton”	Safir	LEO (failed)	Manned test flight of the Safir spacecraft. 1st stage failed. 2-man crew escaped unharmed.
??-06-1975	USA	Minerva-20	Columbia-4	LEO	5-day manned Columbia test flight. Crew is Albert Crews and John Kaminski.
??-09-1975	ESLA	Theseus	“SotonSat” test payload	GTO	First test flight of the Theseus launcher. 3rd stage fails.
??-10-1975	USA	Minerva-B24c	Columbia-5	Circumlunar	Unmanned Columbia test flight. First use of uprated Minerva-B24c.
??-11-1975	USSR	UR-500 “Proton”	Safir-1	LEO	Manned test flight of the Safir spacecraft. Officially designated Safir-1.
23-01-1976	USA	Minerva-B24c	Columbia-6	Circumlunar	First full-up Columbia mission. Crew is Dave Merricks and Gary Jones.
20-03-1976	USSR	UR-500 “Proton”	Safir-2	Circumlunar	First full-up Safir mission. Crew is Viktor Petrov and Juris Mēness.
??-03-1976	ESLA	Theseus	Test payload	GTO	Second test flight of the Theseus launcher, fully successful
27-07-1976	USA	Minerva-B20c	Mayflower-1	heliocentric	First Outer Planet Pilgrim probe.
??-08-1976	USA	Minerva-B24c	Columbia-7	Circumlunar	Second full-up Columbia mission. Crew is Albert Crews and John Kaminski.
??-08-1976	ESLA	Theseus	French military comsat	GTO	Third flight of the Theseus launcher.
??-06-1977	USSR	UR-500 “Proton”	Chasovoy-3	LEO	Unmanned launch of the Chasovoy-3 space station.
08-07-1977	USSR	M-1 “Zarya”	Zarya-13	LEO	Launch of the first crew to Chasovoy-3, Konstantin Izmaylov and Lev Yelagin. Returned Izmaylov and Zarya-14 cosmonaut Eduard Sarafian to Earth in the first Chasovoy crew rotation.
01-08-1977	USSR	M-1 “Zarya”	Zarya-14	LEO	Launch of the second crew to Chasovoy-3, Pyotr Babanin and Eduard Sarafian. Returned Sarafian and Zarya-13 cosmonaut Konstantin Izmaylov to Earth in the first Chasovoy crew rotation.
25-08-1977	USA	Minerva-B20c	Halley Pilgrim	heliocentric	Halley's Comet rendezvous probe.
30-08-1977	USA	Minerva-B20c	Mayflower-2	heliocentric	Second Outer Planet Pilgrim probe.
??-06-1978	USA	Minerva-B24c	Columbia-10	Circumlunar	Last Columbia mission. Crew is Doug Boone and Eugene Lippmann.
12-12-1981	USA	Minerva-B22	DS-34 “Thebe”	LEO	Dynasoar part of the joint Chasovoy-Dynasoar mission. Docked with Chasovoy-3 on 14th December. Crew Albert Crews, Martin Quinn and Frank Delao.
??-09-1982	USA	Minerva-B22	DS-36 “Tara”	LEO	Final Dynasoar mission, servicing an NRO spy satellite.

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