1970 in spaceflight
Japan and China each launched their first satellites in 1970, bringing the total number of nations with independent launch capability to five.
| Orbital launches | |
|---|---|
| First | 11 February |
| Last | 12 December |
| Successes | 124 |
| Failures | 10 |
| Catalogued | 114 |
| National firsts | |
| Satellite | Japan China |
| Orbital launch | Japan China |
Apollo 13 was launched; after suffering an explosion in deep space it had to circumnavigate the moon and use the LM as a life boat. Apollo 13 was a successful disaster in which the crew survived. The Soviet space program continued its Luna program with Luna 17, which delivered the robotic Lunokhod 1 rover to the lunar surface, and Luna 16, which achieved the first uncrewed lunar sample return. The Soviets also continued the success of the Venera Venus probes with Venera 7, the first man-made spacecraft to successfully land on another planet and to transmit data back to Earth, though it only survived 23 minutes on the surface.
Orbital Launches
This is a list of spaceflights launched in 1970.
| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) |
Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | ||||||
| Remarks | |||||||||||
January | |||||||||||
| 9 January | Voskhod | Site 31/6, Baikonur | |||||||||
| Kosmos 318 (Zenit-2M #7, Gektor #7) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 14 January | Titan IIIB Agena-D | Vandenberg SLC-4W | |||||||||
| OPS 6531 KH-8 4325 | USAF | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 15 January | Delta M | Cape Canaveral LC-17A | |||||||||
| Intelsat III F6 | Intelsat | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 15 January | Kosmos 2 | Plesetsk Site 133/1 | |||||||||
| Kosmos 319 (DS-P1-Yu #29) | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 16 January | Kosmos 2 | Kapustin Yar | |||||||||
| Kosmos 320 (DS-MO #2, Opticheski #2) | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 20 January | Kosmos 2 | Plesetsk Site 133/1 | |||||||||
| Kosmos 321 (DS-U2-MG #1) | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 21 January | Voskhod | Site 41/1, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 322 (Zenit-4 #68) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 23 January | Delta N6 | Vandenberg SLC-2W | |||||||||
| TIROS M (ITOS 1) | NOAA | Low Earth | Meteorology | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| Australis | University of Melbourne | Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 30 January | Kosmos 2 | Plesetsk Site 133/1 | |||||||||
| DS-P1-I #7 | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Failure | |||||||
February | |||||||||||
| 4 February | Thorad-SLV2G Agena-D | Vandenberg SLC-2E | |||||||||
| SERT 2 | NASA Lewis research center | Low Earth | Technology Demonstration | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 6 February | Proton K / D | Pad 81/23, Baikonur | MOM | ||||||||
| Ye-8-5 No.405 | MOM | Selenocentric | Lunar lander | In orbit | Failure | ||||||
| 10 February | Voskhod | Site 41/1, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 323 (Zenit-4 #69) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 11 February | Lambda-4S | Kagoshima | Japan | ||||||||
| Ohsumi | Tokyo University | Low Earth | Technology | 2 August 2003 | Successful | ||||||
| First satellite launched by Japan | |||||||||||
| 11 February | Thor LV-2F Burner 2 | Vandenberg SLC-10W | |||||||||
| OPS 0054 DMSP-5A F1 | SSO | Meteorology | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 19 February | Molniya-M/ML | Site 43/4, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Molniya-1 13 | Molniya | Communications | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 27 February | Kosmos 2 | Plesetsk Site 133/1 | |||||||||
| Kosmos 324 (DS-P1-Yu #30) | Low Earth Orbit | Calibration | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
March | |||||||||||
| 3 March 21:15 |
Black Arrow | Woomera | RAE | ||||||||
| RAE | Low Earth | Test LV | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 4 March | Voskhod | Site 43/4, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 325 (Zenit-2 #79) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 4 March | Thorad-SLV2H Agena-D | Vandenberg SLC-3W | |||||||||
| OPS 0440 KH-4B 1109 | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| OPS 3402 Tivoli 3 | USAF | Low Earth | ELINT | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 10 March | Diamant B | Kourou ELD | |||||||||
| Dial-WIKA | DFVLR | Technology Demonstration | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| Dial-MIKA | DFVLR | Technology Demonstration | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 13 March | Voskhod | Site 43/4, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 326 (Zenit-2 #80) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 17 March | Vostok-2M | Site 41/1, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Meteor-1 3 | Low Earth Orbit | Meteorology | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 18 March | Kosmos 2 | Site 133/1, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 327 (DS-P1-I #8) | Yuzhnoye | Low Earth Orbit | Radar calibration | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 20 March | Delta M | Cape Canaveral LC-17B | |||||||||
| NATO 2A | NATO | Geosynchronous | Military Communication | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 27 March | Voskhod | Site 41/1, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 328 (Zenit-2MK #2, Germes #2) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
April | |||||||||||
| 3 April | Voskhod | Site 43/4, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 329 (Zenit-2M #8, Gektor #8) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 7 April | Kosmos 3M | Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 330 (Tselina O #6) | Low Earth Orbit | SIGNIT | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 8 April | Thorad-SLV2G Agena-D | Vandenberg SLC-2E | |||||||||
| Nimbus 4 | NOAA / NASA | Medium Earth | Meteorology | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| Topo 1 | US Army | Medium Earth | Geodesy | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 8 April | Voskhod | Site 31/6, Baikonur | |||||||||
| Kosmos 331 (Zenit-4 #70) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 8 April | Titan IIIC | Cape Canaveral LC-40 | |||||||||
| OPS 7033 Vela 11 | USAF | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| OPS 7044 Vela 12 | USAF | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 11 April | Kosmos 3M | Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 332 (Zaliv #5) | Medium Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 11 April 19:13 |
Saturn V (C-5) | Kennedy LC-39A | NASA | ||||||||
| Apollo 13 CSM Odyssey | NASA | Intended: Lunar orbit Actual: Lunar free return |
Crewed lunar orbit. | 15 April 1970 | Failure | ||||||
| Apollo 13 LM Aquarius | NASA | Intended: Lunar landing Actual: Lunar free return |
Crewed lunar landing | 15 April 1970 | Failure | ||||||
| Explosion in Service Module crippled spacecraft, resulting in mission abort. Mission aborted due to CSM malfunction. LM used to help bring crew back to Earth. | |||||||||||
| 15 April | Voskhod | Site 41/1, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 333 (Zenit-4M #4, Rotor #4) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 15 April | Titan IIIB Agena-D | Vandenberg SLC-4W | |||||||||
| OPS 2863 KH-8 4326 | USAF | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 23 April | Delta M | Cape Canaveral LC-17A | |||||||||
| Intelsat III F7 | Intelsat | Geosynchronous | Communication | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 23 April | Kosmos 2 | Plesetsk Site 133/1 | |||||||||
| Kosmos 334 (DS-P1-Yu #31) | Yuzhnoye | Low Earth Orbit | Radar calibration | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 24 April 13:35 |
Long March 1 | Y1 | Jiuquan LA-2A | CASC | |||||||
| Dong Fang Hong I | CAST | Medium Earth | Technology demonstration | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| First satellite launched by China. | |||||||||||
| 24 April | Kosmos 2 | Kapustin Yar | |||||||||
| Kosmos 335 (DS-U1-R #1) | Yuzhnoye | Low Earth Orbit | Research | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 25 April | Kosmos 3M | Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 336 (Strela-1M #1) | Low Earth Orbit | Military Communication | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| Kosmos 337 (Strela-1M #2) | Low Earth Orbit | Military Communication | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| Kosmos 338 (Strela-1M #3) | Low Earth Orbit | Military Communication | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| Kosmos 339 (Strela-1M #4) | Low Earth Orbit | Military Communication | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| Kosmos 340 (Strela-1M #5) | Low Earth Orbit | Military Communication | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| Kosmos 341 (Strela-1M #6) | Low Earth Orbit | Military Communication | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| Kosmos 342 (Strela-1M #7) | Low Earth Orbit | Military Communication | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| Kosmos 336 (Strela-1M #8) | Low Earth Orbit | Military Communication | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 28 April | Vostok-2M | Site 41/1, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Meteor-1 4 | Medium Earth | Meteorology | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
May | |||||||||||
| 12 May | Voskhod | Site 41/1, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 344 (Zenit-2 #81) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 20 May | Voskhod | Site 31/6, Baikonur | |||||||||
| Kosmos 345 (Zenit-4 #71) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 20 May | Thorad-SLV2H Agena-D | Vandenberg SLC-3W | |||||||||
| OPS 4720 KH-4B 1110 | CIA | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| OPS 8520 Tripos 4 / Sousea 3 | USAF | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 22 May | Kosmos 2 | Plesetsk Site 133/1 | |||||||||
| DS-P1-Yu #32 | Yuzhnoye | Low Earth Orbit | Radar calibration | In orbit | Failure | ||||||
June | |||||||||||
| 1 June 19:00 |
Soyuz (R-7/A-2) | Baikonur Site 1 | RVSN | ||||||||
| Soyuz 9 | RVSN | Low Earth | Crewed Orbital Spaceflight | 19 June 1970 11:58 | Successful | ||||||
| Longest Crewed flight involving only one spacecraft. (As of 09/06/06) | |||||||||||
| 1 June 19:00 |
Black Arrow | Woomera | RAE | ||||||||
| Orba | RAE | Low Earth | Micrometeoroid detection satellite | In orbit | Failure | ||||||
| First British attempt to launch a satellite. Failed to reach orbit after premature 2nd stage cutout. | |||||||||||
| 10 June | Voskhod | Site 31/6, Baikonur | |||||||||
| Kosmos 346 (Zenit-4 #72) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 12 June | Europa 1 | F9 | Woomera LC-6A | ELDO | |||||||
| STV 3 | ELDO | Low Earth | Vehicle Evaluation | In orbit | Failure | ||||||
| Fairing failed to separate | |||||||||||
| 12 June | Kosmos 2 | Kapustin Yar | |||||||||
| Kosmos 347 (DS-P1-Yu #33) | Yuzhnoye | Low Earth Orbit | Radar calibration | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 13 June | Kosmos 2 | Plesetsk Site 133/1 | |||||||||
| Kosmos 348 (DS-U2-GK #2) | Yuzhnoye | Low Earth Orbit | Research | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 17 June | Voskhod | Site 43/4, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 349 (Zenit-4 #73) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 19 June | Atlas-SLV3A Agena-D | Cape Canaveral LC-13 | |||||||||
| OPS 5346 Aquacade (Rhyolite 1) | NRO / CIA | Geosynchronous | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 23 June | Vostok-2M | Site 41/1, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Meteor-1 5 | Medium Earth | Meteorology | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 25 April | Titan IIIB Agena-D | Vandenberg SLC-4W | |||||||||
| OPS 6820 KH-8 4327 | USAF | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 26 June | Molniya-M / ML | Site 43/4, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Molniya-1 14 (Molniya-1 21L) | Molniya | Communication | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 26 June | Voskhod | Site 31/6, Baikonur | |||||||||
| Kosmos 350 (Zenit-2M #9, Gektor #4) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 27 June | Kosmos 3M | Plesetsk Site 132/1 | |||||||||
| Kosmos 351 (DS-P1-Yu #34) | Yuzhnoye | Low Earth Orbit | Radar calibration | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 27 June | Kosmos 2 | Plesetsk Site 133/1 | |||||||||
| Strela-2M #1 | Low Earth Orbit | Military Communication | In orbit | Failure | |||||||
July | |||||||||||
| 7 July | Voskhod | Site 31/6, Baikonur | |||||||||
| Kosmos 352 (Zenit-4 #72) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 9 July | Voskhod | Site 41/1, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 353 (Zenit-2M #4, Gektor #10) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 21 July | Voskhod | Site 43/4, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Zenit-4 #75 | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Failure | ||||||
| 23 July | Thorad-SLV2H Agena-D | Vandenberg SLC-3W | |||||||||
| OPS 4324 KH-4B 1111 | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 23 July | Delta M | Cape Canaveral LC-17A | |||||||||
| Intelsat III F8 | Intelsat | Geosynchronous | Communication | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 28 July | R-36-0 | Site 191/66, Baikonur | |||||||||
| Kosmos 354 (OGCh #22) | Low Earth Orbit | Weapon System Test | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
August | |||||||||||
| 7 August | Kosmos 2 | Kapustin Yar | |||||||||
| Interkosmos 3 (DS-U2-IK #1) | Interkosmos | Low Earth Orbit | Science | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 7 August | Voskhod | Site 43/4, Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 355 (Zenit-4 #76) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 10 August | Kosmos 2 | Plesetsk Site 133/1 | |||||||||
| Kosmos 356 (DS-U2-MG #2) | Yuzhnoye | Low Earth Orbit | Research | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 17 August | Molniya-M / MVL | Site 31/6, Baikonur | |||||||||
| Venera 7 | Heliocentric to Venus orbit | Venus lander | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 18 August | Titan IIIB Agena-D | Vandenberg SLC-4W | |||||||||
| OPS 7874 KH-8 4328 | USAF | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 19 August | Delta M | Cape Canaveral LC-17A | |||||||||
| Skynet 1B | Ministry of Defence | Geosynchronous | Military Communication | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 19 August | Kosmos 2 | Plesetsk Site 133/1 | |||||||||
| Kosmos 357 (DS-P1-Yu #35) | Yuzhnoye | Low Earth Orbit | Radar calibration | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 20 August | Kosmos 3M | Plesetsk | |||||||||
| Kosmos 358 (DS-P1-M #1) | Low Earth Orbit | Weapon System Test | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 22 August | Molniya-M / MVL | Site 31/6, Baikonur | |||||||||
| Kosmos 359 (Venera 8a) | Heliocentric to Venus orbit | Venus lander | In orbit | Failure | |||||||
| 26 August | Thorad-SLV2G Agena-D | Vandenberg SLC-1W | |||||||||
| OPS 8329 Strawman 3 | USAF | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
| 27 August | Scout A | Vandenberg | |||||||||
| Transit 19 | US Navy | Navigation | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| 29 August | Voskhod | Site 31/6, Baikonur | |||||||||
| Kosmos 360 (Zenit-4M #5, Rotor #5) | GRU | Low Earth Orbit | Reconnaissance | In orbit | Successful | ||||||
September | |||||||||||
| 12 September 13:25 |
Proton-K/D | Baikonur 81/23 | |||||||||
| Luna 16 | Selenocentric | Lunar lander | 24 September | Successful | |||||||
| First uncrewed lunar sample return, first Soviet lunar sample return | |||||||||||
October | |||||||||||
| 20 October 19:55 |
Proton-K/D | Baikonur 81/23 | |||||||||
| Zond 8 | Highly elliptical | Spacecraft test | In orbit | Successful | |||||||
| Final circumlunar flight of the Zond program. | |||||||||||
November | |||||||||||
December | |||||||||||
| 12 December 10:54 |
Scout B | San Marco mobile range, Kenya | CNR | ||||||||
| Explorer 42 (Uhuru) | NASA | Low Earth | X-ray astronomy | 5 April 1979 | Successful | ||||||
| First satellite dedicated to X-ray astronomy. | |||||||||||
Suborbital Launches
This is a list of spaceflights launched in 1970.
Launches from the Moon
| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) |
Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | ||
| Remarks | |||||||
| 21 September 7:43 |
Luna 16 Ascent stage | Mare Fecunditatis (Luna) | |||||
| Luna 16 Return capsule | Highly elliptical | Sample return | 24 September 1970 | Successful | |||
| First uncrewed lunar sample return mission | |||||||
Deep Space Rendezvous
| Date (GMT) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 April 1970 | Apollo 13 S-IVB stage | Impacted the Moon | |
| 15 April | Apollo 13 | Lunar flyby at 254 kilometres (158 mi) | Intended lunar landing, forced to abort and return to Earth using lunar free return trajectory |
| 20 September | Luna 16 | 100gm from Mare Fecunditatis | First sample return mission |
| 24 October | Zond 8 | Circumlunar flight of the Moon 1,110 kilometres (690 mi) | |
| 17 November | Luna 17 | Delivered Lunokhod 1 at Mare Imbrium | First robotic Lunar rover |
| 15 December | Venera 7 | Atmospheric probe worked for 23 min on the Venerian surface | First soft landing on another planet |
References
- Bergin, Chris. "NASASpaceFlight.com".
- Clark, Stephen. "Spaceflight Now".
- Kelso, T.S. "Satellite Catalog (SATCAT)". CelesTrak.
- Krebs, Gunter. "Chronology of Space Launches".
- Kyle, Ed. "Space Launch Report". Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
- McDowell, Jonathan. "GCAT Orbital Launch Log".
- Pietrobon, Steven. "Steven Pietrobon's Space Archive".
- Wade, Mark. "Encyclopedia Astronautica".
- Webb, Brian. "Southwest Space Archive".
- Zak, Anatoly. "Russian Space Web".
- "ISS Calendar". Spaceflight 101.
- "NSSDCA Master Catalog". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
- "Space Calendar". NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
- "Space Information Center". JAXA.
- "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).
Footnotes
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