Rocket Launches in 1961
Spaceflight in 1961: Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person in space on 12 April, completing one orbit aboard Vostok 1. Alan Shepard follows on a suborbital flight in May, and weeks later President Kennedy commits the United States to landing on the Moon before the decade is out. In August Gherman Titov spends a full day in orbit on Vostok 2.
50 launches in 1961 · 15 failures · 5 partial
Launch list for 1961
| Date (UTC) | Rocket | Mission | Provider | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961-01-31 | Atlas LV-3 Agena B | Samos 2 | Convair | Success |
| 1961-02-04 | Molniya 8K78 | Venera-1VA 1 | RKK Energia | Partial Failure |
| 1961-02-12 | Molniya 8K78 | Venera-1VA 2 | RKK Energia | Success |
| 1961-02-16 | Scout X-1 | Explorer 9 | Vought | Success |
| 1961-02-17 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | KH-5 1 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-02-18 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 21 (MIDAS RM-2) | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-02-22 | Thor DM-21 Ablestar | Transit 3B & LOFTI-1 | McDonnell Douglas | Partial Failure |
| 1961-02-25 | Juno II | S-45 | Chrysler | Failure |
| 1961-03-09 | Vostok-K | Sputnik 9 | RKK Energia | Success |
| 1961-03-25 | Vostok-K | Sputnik 10 | RKK Energia | Success |
| 1961-03-25 | Thor Delta | Explorer 10 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-03-30 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 22 | McDonnell Douglas | Failure |
| 1961-04-08 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | KH-5 2 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-04-12 | Vostok-K | Vostok 1 | RKK Energia | Success |
| 1961-04-25 | Atlas LV-3B | Mercury-Atlas 3 | Convair | Failure |
| 1961-04-27 | Juno II | Explorer 11 | Chrysler | Success |
| 1961-05-24 | Juno II | S-45A | Chrysler | Failure |
| 1961-06-08 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | KH-5 3 | McDonnell Douglas | Failure |
| 1961-06-16 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 25 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-06-29 | Thor DM-21 Ablestar | Transit 4A & Injun-1 & Solrad 3 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-06-30 | Scout X-1 | S-55 | Vought | Failure |
| 1961-07-07 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 26 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-07-12 | Thor Delta | Tiros-3 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-07-12 | Atlas LV-3 Agena B | MIDAS 3 | Convair | Success |
| 1961-07-21 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | KH-5 4 | McDonnell Douglas | Failure |
| 1961-08-04 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 28 | McDonnell Douglas | Failure |
| 1961-08-06 | Vostok-K | Vostok 2 | RKK Energia | Success |
| 1961-08-16 | Thor Delta | Explorer 12 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-08-23 | Atlas LV-3 Agena B | Ranger 1 | Convair | Partial Failure |
| 1961-08-25 | Scout X-1 | Explorer 13 | Vought | Partial Failure |
| 1961-08-30 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 29 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-09-09 | Atlas LV-3 Agena B | Samos 3 | Convair | Failure |
| 1961-09-12 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 30 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-09-13 | Atlas LV-3B | Mercury-Atlas 4 | Convair | Success |
| 1961-09-17 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 31 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-10-13 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 32 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-10-21 | Atlas LV-3 Agena B | MIDAS 4 & Westford-1 | Convair | Success |
| 1961-10-23 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 33 | McDonnell Douglas | Failure |
| 1961-10-27 | Kosmos-2I | Kosmos-2I | DS-1-1 | Yuzhmash | Failure |
| 1961-11-01 | Blue Scout II | Mercury-Scout 1 | Vought | Failure |
| 1961-11-05 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 34 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-11-15 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 35 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-11-15 | Thor DM-21 Ablestar | Transit 4B & TRAAC | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-11-18 | Atlas LV-3 Agena B | Ranger 2 | Convair | Partial Failure |
| 1961-11-22 | Atlas LV-3 Agena B | Samos 4 | Convair | Failure |
| 1961-11-29 | Atlas LV-3B | Mercury-Atlas 5 | Convair | Success |
| 1961-12-11 | Vostok-K | Zenit-2 1 | RKK Energia | Failure |
| 1961-12-12 | Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 36 & OSCAR 1 | McDonnell Douglas | Success |
| 1961-12-21 | Kosmos-2I | DS-1 2 | Yuzhmash | Failure |
| 1961-12-22 | Atlas LV-3 Agena B | Samos 5 | Convair | Success |