Soyuz 5 mission started with the launch on January 15, 1969, 07:04:57 UTC, carrying Commander Boris Volynov, Flight Engineer Vladislav Volkov and Research Engineer Pyotr Kolodin into orbit. Two days later mission achieved the first ever docking of two crewed spacecrafts, having Soyuz 5 docked with Soyuz 4 spacecraft. Since no connecting tunel had been developed yet, the two cosmonauts had to spacewalk from one vehicle to another. The mission concluded with a hard landing back on Earth on January 18, 1969, 07:59:12 UTC.
Low Earth OrbitSoyuz 4 mission started with the launch on January 14, 1969, 07:30:00 UTC, carrying Commander Vladimir Shatalov, Flight Engineer Aleksei Yeliseyev and Research Engineer Yevgeny Khrunov into orbit. Two days later mission achieved the first ever docking of two crewed spacecrafts, having Soyuz 4 docked with Soyuz 5 spacecraft. Since no connecting tunel had been developed yet, the two cosmonauts had to spacewalk from one vehicle to another. The mission concluded with a safe landing back on Earth on January 17, 1969, 06:50:47 UTC.
Low Earth OrbitApollo 8 was the first flight of the mighty Saturn V launch vehicle key to human exploration of the moon. The three-astronaut crew — Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders. This Mission was the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon.
Low Earth Orbit