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.

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The first space rendezvous was accomplished by Gemini 6A and Gemini 7 in 1965.

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. 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 2024, 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

More information Country, Mission ...
Country Mission Crew Spacecraft Launch vehicle Date Type
Soviet Union USSR[1] Vostok 1[1] Yuri Gagarin[1] Vostok 3KA[1] Vostok-K[1] 12 April 1961[1] Orbital[1]
United States USA[2] Mercury-Redstone 3 (Freedom 7)[2] Alan Shepard[2] Mercury Spacecraft No.7[2] Mercury-Redstone[2] 5 May 1961[2] Sub-orbital[2]
United States USA[3] Mercury-Atlas 6 (Friendship 7)[3] John Glenn[3] Mercury Spacecraft No.13[3] Atlas LV-3B 20 February 1962[3] Orbital[3]
Soviet Union USSR Soyuz 18A Vasily Lazarev, Oleg Makarov Soyuz 7K-T Soyuz 11A511 5 April 1975 Sub-orbital
Russia Russia Soyuz TM-14 Aleksandr Viktorenko, Aleksandr Kaleri, Klaus-Dietrich Flade Soyuz-TM Soyuz-U2 17 March 1992 Orbital
China China[4] Shenzhou 5[4] Yang Liwei[4] Shenzhou spacecraft[4] Long March 2F[4] 15 October 2003[4] Orbital[4]
Russia Russia Soyuz MS-10 Aleksey Ovchinin, Nick Hague Soyuz-MS Soyuz-FG 11 October 2018 Sub-orbital
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Human spaceflight firsts

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, US agencies define the border of space at 50 mi (80.47 km).

More information First, Person(s) ...
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Most spaceflights

Most launches from Earth

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

Most orbital launches overall

  • 7 launches
    • John W. Young (USA[18]) 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[14]), Space Shuttle (1985–2002)
    • Franklin Chang Díaz (Costa Rica/USA*[14]), Space Shuttle (1986–2002)

Largest number of different spacecraft at launch (from Earth only)

  • 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)

  • 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

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

Total human spaceflight time by country

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Orbital space travelers (as of August 17th, 2024)
More information Nation, Total persons ...
Total Human Spaceflight statistics by nation [19] [20]
Nation Total persons Total person flights Total in orbit (@ update)* Total person days*+  % of Total person days
TOTAL62313801370977.61-
1
 Russia
 Soviet Union
137298332933.23
0.463994682793585
 United States367900427110.32
0.381955928582159
 ESA4271-3958.99
0.055778027520332
 China243863700.66
0.0521383942251919
 Japan1426-2101.91
0.0296137605673812
 Italy815-1158.81
0.0163264616424132
 Germany1217-1032.82
0.0145514104334037
 France1019-828.66
0.0116750044452881
 Canada1119-726.86
0.0102406318846256
 Netherlands23-210.69
0.0029684048775587
 Denmark12-208.94
0.00294374921432393
 Belgium23-207.65
0.0029256390426384
 United Arab Emirates22-193.82
0.00273075167915694
 United Kingdom22-193.81
0.00273055599929
 Sweden23-48.39
0.00068171930444787
 Switzerland14-42.50
0.000598809744824304
 Israel22-33.01
0.000465023419795669
 Saudi Arabia33-25.52
0.000359581323493666
 Turkey11-21.65
0.000305064912563466
 Spain12-18.78
0.000264617884066437
 Ukraine11-15.69
0.000221059545685021
 Belarus11-13.78
0.000194124212000376
 Bulgaria22-11.80
0.000166230046967713
 South Korea11-10.88
0.000153344527729545
 Malaysia11-10.88
0.000153344527729545
 South Africa11-9.89
0.000139372985229845
 Brazil11-9.89
0.000139294713283068
 Kazakhstan11-9.84
0.000138678321702199
 Afghanistan11-8.85
0.000124706779202499
 Syria11-7.96
0.000112163699731481
 Czechoslovakia11-7.93
0.000111694068050819
 Austria11-7.93
0.00011165493207743
 Poland11-7.92
0.000111557092143959
 Slovakia11-7.91
0.000111498388183876
 India11-7.90
0.000111341844290322
 Hungary11-7.86
0.00011080372465623
 Cuba11-7.86
0.000110784156669536
 Vietnam11-7.86
0.000110774372676189
 Mongolia11-7.86
0.000110774372676189
 Romania11-7.86
0.000110764588682841
 Mexico11-6.88
9.69006701099604e-05
Astronauts currently in space:
China HaoZe Wang
China Guangsu Li
China Guangfu Ye
United States Donald Roy Pettit
China Cong Li
Russia Ivan Viktorovich Vagner
China Xuzhe Cai
United States Tyler Nicklaus "Nick" Hague
United States Barry Eugene "Butch" Wilmore *
Russia Aleksei Nikolaevich Ovchinin
Russia Aleksandr Vladimirovich Gorbunov
United States Sunita Lyn "Suni" Williams *
China LingDong Song
Crew Vehicles currently in space:
Shenzhou-19
SpaceX Crew-9
Shenzhou-18
Soyuz MS-26
Table data accurate as of 2024-11-02 04:05 UTC
* includes those in orbit at time table was updated
+TOTAL person days in orbit will not match the sum of the totals for individual nations as some individuals are dual citizens (based solely on those identified as such by spacefacts.de - see table references).
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Most time in space

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.[21] 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.[22][23] 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.[24][25][26]

As of 2 November 2024,[27] the 50 space travelers with the most total time in space are:

Color key:

  •   Currently in space
  •   Active
  •   Retired
  •   Deceased
More information Rank, Person ...
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Ten longest human spaceflights

More information #, Time in space ...
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Longest single flight by a woman

NASA astronaut Christina Koch holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman (328 days), returning on February 6, 2020.[33] 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.[36]

Longest continuous occupation of space

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.[14][37] Since then space has been continuously occupied for 24 years, 2 days.[14]

Longest continuous occupation of a spacecraft

The International Space Station has been continuously occupied by a Russian and US crew member since 2 November 2000 (24 years, 0 days).[14][37] It broke the record of 9 years and 358 days of the Soviet/Russian Space Station Mir on 23 October 2010.[37]

Longest solo flight

Valery Bykovsky flew solo for 4 days, 23 hours in Vostok 5 from 14 to 19 June 1963.[38] 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

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.[39] 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.[39]

Longest time in lunar orbit

Ronald Evans of Apollo 17 mission stayed in lunar orbit for 6 days and 4 hours (148 hours)[40] 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

Farthest humans from Earth

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.[41] This record-breaking distance was reached at 00:21 UTC on 15 April 1970.[41]

Highest altitude for crewed non-lunar mission

Polaris Dawn crew Jared Isaacman, Scott Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon fired their Crew Dragon Resilience's Draco thrusters on 11 September 2024 at 00:27 UTC, at 15 hours and 4 minutes after liftoff and achieved a record apogee altitude of 874.95 miles (1,408.10 km).[42]

Fastest

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).[14] The record was set 26 May 1969.[14]

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

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Wally Funk flew in July 2021
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Joe Walker in 1961

Earliest-born to reach space

Suborbital flight

Orbital spaceflight

Youngest

Suborbital flight

Orbital spaceflight

Oldest

Suborbital flight

Orbital spaceflight

Spacewalk

Youngest

Oldest

Spacewalk records

Most spacewalks (number and duration)

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.

Most spacewalks during a single mission

Longest single spacewalk

  • 8 hours 56 minutes, by James Voss and Susan Helms, 11 March 2001 on an ISS assembly mission during Shuttle mission STS-102. The space walkers were delayed early in their excursion when a device to help hold an astronaut's feet to the shuttle's robot arm became untethered,[50] 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

  • All-time (and while on a planetary body[51]): 7.6 kilometers[52]:1144 (4.7 miles, 25,029 feet[53]), 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.[54]

Animal records

First animals in space

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).[55] They were also the first animals to safely return from space.[55] 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.[56]:21

First animal in orbit

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

On 31 January 1961, through NASA's Mercury-Redstone 2 mission the chimpanzee Ham became the first great ape in space.[57]

Longest canine single flight

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

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.[55] It had been launched by a Proton-K rocket on 14 September.[55]

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.[55]

Notable uncrewed or non-human spaceflights

More information In reference to:, Spacecraft ...
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See also

Notes

  1. crew replenished by direct or indirect handovers
  2. crew replenished by direct handovers
  3. Didn't fly as Azerbaijanian.
  4. Michael Foale holds dual U.S./British citizenship.

References

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