Early Bird, also known as Intelsat I, the world's first commercial communications satellite, was built for the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) by the Space and Communications Group of Hughes Aircraft Company, later Hughes Space and Communications Company.
Geosynchronous OrbitGemini 3 was the first crewed mission of the Gemini program. Mission Command Pilot Gus Grissom and PilotJohn Young flew 3 orbits in a flight that was the last one to be operated from the Cape Kennedy Air Force Station. The mission was considered a success and was the first flight to perform an orbital maneuver. Gemini 3 fired its engines for 1 minute and 14 seconds changing its orbit. The mission lasted 4 hours and 52 minutes.
Low Earth OrbitVoskhod 2 carrying Voskhod 3KD spacecraft carried two cosmonauts, Pavel Belyayev & Alexey Leonov, to orbit. The craft was equipped with an inflatable airlock in order to conduct the first ever spacewalk. Alexey Leonov became the first person to do so by performing a 12 minute spacewalk. The mission lasted 1 day, 2 hours, 2 minutes & 17 seconds completing a total of 17 orbits around Earth. The mission had many issues, for example during his spacewalk his spacesuit ballooned up to a point where his suit became stiff. In order to move his limbs again and re-enter the airlock he had to bleed off some of the suit's pressure. After re-entering the capsule,the crew had trouble sealing the hatch, during re-entry the orbital module did not properly disconnect from the landing module causing the spacecraft to spin wildly until turbulence caused them to separate at around 100 km and the automatic landing system failed and the crew had to rely on the manual backup. Earlier troubles meant that spacecraft landed 386 km away from their targeted landing zome in the forests of Upper Kama Upland.
Low Earth Orbit