Splashdown (spacecraft landing) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Splashdown is the method of landing

Landing

thumb|A [[Mute Swan]] alighting. Note the ruffled feathers on top of the wings indicate that the swan is flying at the [[Stall |stall]]ing speed...

a spacecraft by parachute

Parachute

A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...

in a body of water. It was used by American manned spacecraft prior to the Space Shuttle program

Space Shuttle program

NASA's Space Shuttle program, officially called Space Transportation System , was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011...

. It is also possible for the Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n Soyuz spacecraft

Soyuz spacecraft

Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...

and Chinese

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

Shenzhou spacecraft

Shenzhou is a spacecraft developed and operated by the People's Republic of China to support its manned spaceflight program. The name is variously translated as "Divine Craft," "Divine Vessel of God," "Magic Boat" or similar and is also homophonous with an ancient name for China...

to land in water, though this is only a contingency. The only example of an (unintentional) splashdown in Soviet history is the Soyuz 23

Soyuz 23

Soyuz 23 was a 1976 Soviet manned space flight, the second to the Salyut 5 space station. Cosmonauts Vyacheslav Zudov and Valery Rozhdestvensky arrived at the station, but an equipment malfunction did not allow docking and the mission had to be aborted....

landing.

As the name suggests, the capsule parachute

Parachute

s into an ocean

Ocean

An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...

or other large body of water. The properties of water cushion the spacecraft enough that there is no need for a braking rocket to slow the final descent as was the case with Russian and Chinese manned space capsules, which returned to Earth over land. The American practice came in part because American launch sites are on the coastline and launch primarily over water. Russian and Chinese launch sites are far inland and most early launch aborts were likely to descend on land.

The splashdown method of landing was utilized for Mercury

Mercury program

Mercury Program might refer to:*the first successful American manned spaceflight program, Project Mercury*an American post-rock band, The Mercury Program...

, Gemini and Apollo (including Skylab

Skylab

Skylab was a space station launched and operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States. Skylab orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems. It was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, with a mass of...

, which used Apollo capsules). On one occasion a Soviet spacecraft, Soyuz 23

Soyuz 23

, punched through the ice of a frozen lake (nearly killing the cosmonauts), and this was unintentional.

On early Mercury flights, a helicopter attached a cable to the capsule, lifted it from the water and delivered it to a nearby ship. This was changed after the sinking of Liberty Bell 7. All later Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules had a flotation collar (similar to a rubber life raft) attached to the spacecraft to increase their buoyancy. The spacecraft would then be brought alongside a ship and lifted onto deck by crane.

After the flotation collar is attached, a hatch on the spacecraft is usually opened. At that time, some astronauts decide to be hoisted aboard a helicopter for a ride to the recovery ship and some decided to stay with the spacecraft and be lifted aboard ship via crane. (Because of his overshoot aboard Aurora 7, and mindful of the fate of Liberty Bell 7, Scott Carpenter

Scott Carpenter

Malcolm Scott Carpenter is an American engineer, former test pilot, astronaut, and aquanaut. He is best known as one of the original seven astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury in April 1959....

alone egressed through the nose of his capsule instead of through the hatch, waiting for recovery forces in his life raft.) All Gemini and Apollo flights (Apollos 7 to 17) used the former, while Mercury missions from Mercury 6 to Mercury 9, as well as all Skylab missions and Apollo-Soyuz used the latter, especially the Skylab flights as to preserve all medical data. During the Gemini and Apollo programs, NASA used MV Retriever
MV Retriever
Motor Vessel Retriever was a World War II-era tank landing craft transferred to NASA from the U.S. Navy. It was used to train United States astronauts for post-splashdown ocean recovery operations and water egress from their command modules during the Gemini and Apollo programs from 1963 into the...

for the astronauts to practice water egress.

The early design concept for the new U.S. Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle

Crew Exploration Vehicle

The Crew Exploration Vehicle was the conceptual component of the U.S. NASA Vision for Space Exploration that later became known as the Orion spacecraft...

featured recovery on land using a combination of parachutes and airbags, although it was also designed to make a contingency splashdown (only for an in-flight abort) if needed. Due to weight considerations, the airbag design concept was dropped. The present design concept features landings via splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

Disadvantages

While the water the spacecraft landed on would cushion it to a degree, the impact could still be quite violent for the astronaut

Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

s.

There are several disadvantages for splashdowns, foremost among them being the danger of the spacecraft flooding and sinking. This happened to Gus Grissom

Gus Grissom

Virgil Ivan Grissom , , better known as Gus Grissom, was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and a United States Air Force pilot...

when the hatch of his Mercury-Redstone 4

Mercury-Redstone 4

Mercury-Redstone 4 was the second United States manned space mission, launched on July 21, 1961. The Mercury program suborbital flight used a Redstone rocket. The spacecraft was named Liberty Bell 7 piloted by astronaut Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom. It reached an altitude of more than 118.26 mi ...

capsule malfunctioned and blew prematurely. The capsule sank and Grissom nearly drowned.

Another problem associated with splashdown is that if the capsule comes down far from any recovery forces the crew are exposed to greater danger. As an example, Scott Carpenter in Mercury 7

Mercury-Atlas 7

-Backup crew:-Crew notes:The original prime crew for Mercury Atlas-7 was to have been Deke Slayton, with Schirra as his back-up. However Slayton was removed from all flight crew availability after the discovery of cardiac arrhythmia during a training run in the g-loading centrifuge...

overshot the assigned landing zone by 400 km. These recovery operation mishaps can be mitigated by placing several vessels on standby in several different locations, but this is quite an expensive option.

Manned spacecraft

Spacecraft	Landing Date	Coordinates	Recovery Ship	Miss Distance (kilometres)
Freedom 7 Mercury-Redstone 3 Mercury-Redstone 3 was the first manned space mission of the United States. Astronaut Alan Shepard piloted a 15-minute Project Mercury suborbital flight in the Freedom 7 spacecraft on May 5, 1961 to become the first American in space, three weeks after the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had carried...	May 5, 1961	27°13.7′N 75°53′W	USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39) USS Lake Champlain (CV-39) USS Lake Champlain was one of 24 s completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. She was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812....	5.6
Liberty Bell 7 Mercury-Redstone 4 Mercury-Redstone 4 was the second United States manned space mission, launched on July 21, 1961. The Mercury program suborbital flight used a Redstone rocket. The spacecraft was named Liberty Bell 7 piloted by astronaut Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom. It reached an altitude of more than 118.26 mi ...	July 21, 1961	27°32′N 75°44′W	USS Randolph (CVS-15) USS Randolph (CV-15) USS Randolph was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The second US Navy ship to bear the name, she was named for Peyton Randolph, president of the First Continental Congress. Randolph was commissioned in October 1944, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific...	9.3
Friendship 7 Mercury-Atlas 6 Mercury-Atlas 6 was a human spaceflight mission conducted by NASA, the space agency of the United States. As part of Project Mercury, MA-6 was the successful first attempt by NASA to place an astronaut into orbit. The MA-6 mission was launched February 20, 1962. It made three orbits of the Earth,...	February 20, 1962	21°26′N 68°41′W	(USS Randolph (CVS-15)** USS Randolph (CV-15) USS Randolph was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The second US Navy ship to bear the name, she was named for Peyton Randolph, president of the First Continental Congress. Randolph was commissioned in October 1944, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific... )	74
Aurora 7 Mercury-Atlas 7 -Backup crew:-Crew notes:The original prime crew for Mercury Atlas-7 was to have been Deke Slayton, with Schirra as his back-up. However Slayton was removed from all flight crew availability after the discovery of cardiac arrhythmia during a training run in the g-loading centrifuge...	May 24, 1962	19°27′N 63°59′W	(USS Intrepid (CVS-11)** USS Intrepid (CV-11) USS Intrepid , also known as The Fighting "I", is one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in August 1943, Intrepid participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, most notably the Battle... )	400
Sigma 7 Mercury-Atlas 8 Mercury-Atlas 8 was an early manned space mission, part of NASA's Mercury program. Astronaut Walter M. Schirra, Jr., orbited the Earth six times in the Sigma 7 spacecraft on October 3, 1962, in a nine-hour flight focused mainly on technical evaluation rather than on scientific experimentation...	October 3, 1962	32°06′N 174°28′W	USS Kearsarge (CVS-33) USS Kearsarge (CV-33) USS Kearsarge was one of 24 s completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the third US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for a Civil War-era steam sloop. Kearsarge was commissioned in March 1946...	7.4
Faith 7 Mercury-Atlas 9 Mercury-Atlas 9 was the final manned space mission of the U.S. Mercury program, launched on May 15, 1963 from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft, named Faith 7, completed 22 Earth orbits before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, piloted by astronaut Gordon Cooper, then...	May 16, 1963	27°20′N 176°26′W	USS Kearsarge (CVS-33) USS Kearsarge (CV-33) USS Kearsarge was one of 24 s completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the third US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for a Civil War-era steam sloop. Kearsarge was commissioned in March 1946...	8.1
Gemini 3 Gemini 3 Gemini 3 was the first manned mission in NASA's Gemini program, the second American manned space program. On March 23, 1965, the spacecraft, nicknamed The Molly Brown, performed the seventh manned US spaceflight, and the 17th manned spaceflight overall...	March 23, 1965	22°26′N 70°51′W	USS Intrepid (CVS-11) USS Intrepid (CV-11) USS Intrepid , also known as The Fighting "I", is one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in August 1943, Intrepid participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, most notably the Battle...	111
Gemini 4 Gemini 4 Gemini 4 was the second manned space flight in NASA's Project Gemini, occurring in June 1965. It was the tenth manned American spaceflight . Astronauts James McDivitt and Edward H. White, II circled the Earth 66 times in four days, making it the first US flight to approach the five-day flight of...	June 7, 1965	27°44′N 74°11′W	USS Wasp (CVS-18) USS Wasp (CV-18) USS Wasp was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the ninth US Navy ship to bear the name, was originally named Oriskany, but was renamed while under construction in honor of the previous , which was sunk 15 September 1942...	81
Gemini 5 Gemini 5 Gemini 5 was a 1965 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the third manned Gemini flight, the 11th manned American flight and the 19th spaceflight of all time...	August 29, 1965	29°44′N 69°45′W	USS Lake Champlain (CVS 39) USS Lake Champlain (CV-39) USS Lake Champlain was one of 24 s completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. She was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812....	270
Gemini 7 Gemini 7 Gemini 7 was a 1965 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 4th manned Gemini flight, the 12th manned American flight and the 20th spaceflight of all time . The crew of Frank F. Borman, II and James A...	December 18, 1965	25°25′N 70°07′W	USS Wasp (CVS-18) USS Wasp (CV-18) USS Wasp was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the ninth US Navy ship to bear the name, was originally named Oriskany, but was renamed while under construction in honor of the previous , which was sunk 15 September 1942...	12
Gemini 6A Gemini 6A -Backup crew:-Mission parameters:* Mass: * Perigee: * Apogee: * Inclination: 28.97°* Period: 88.7 min-Stationkeeping with GT-7:* Start: December 15, 1965 19:33 UTC* End: December 16, 1965 00:52 UTC-Objectives:...	December 16, 1965	23°35′N 67°50′W	USS Wasp (CVS-18) USS Wasp (CV-18) USS Wasp was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the ninth US Navy ship to bear the name, was originally named Oriskany, but was renamed while under construction in honor of the previous , which was sunk 15 September 1942...	13
Gemini 8 Gemini 8 -Backup crew:-Mission parameters:* Mass: * Perigee: * Apogee: * Inclination: 28.91°* Period: 88.83 min-Objectives:Gemini VIII had two major objectives, of which it achieved one...	March 17, 1966	25°14′N 136°0′E	(USS Boxer (LPH-4)** USS Boxer (CV-21) USS Boxer was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. She was the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for a British ship captured by the Americans during the War of 1812... )	2
Gemini 9A Gemini 9A - Backup crew :- Original primary crew :- Mission parameters :* Mass: * Perigee: * Apogee: * Inclination: 28.91°* Period: 88.78 min- 1st rendezvous :* June 3, 1966 - 17:45 - 18:00 UTC- Spacewalk :* Cernan...	June 6, 1966	27°52′N 75°0′W	USS Wasp (CVS-18) USS Wasp (CV-18) USS Wasp was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the ninth US Navy ship to bear the name, was originally named Oriskany, but was renamed while under construction in honor of the previous , which was sunk 15 September 1942...	0.7
Gemini 10 Gemini 10 -Backup crew:-Mission parameters:Mass: Perigee: Apogee: Inclination: 28.87°Period: 88.79 min-Docking:Docked: July 19, 1966 - 04:15:00 UTC*Undocked: July 20, 1966 - 19:00:00 UTC-Space walk:...	July 21, 1966	26°45′N 71°57′W		6
Gemini 11 Gemini 11 Gemini 11 was the ninth manned spaceflight mission of NASA's Project Gemini, which flew from September 12 to 15, 1966. It was the 17th manned American flight and the 25th spaceflight to that time . Astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. and Richard F. Gordon, Jr...	September 15, 1966	24°15′N 70°0′W		5
Gemini 12 Gemini 12 -Backup crew:-Mission parameters:Mass: Perigee: Apogee: Inclination: 28.87°Period: 88.87 min-Docking:Docked: November 12, 1966 - 01:06:00 UTC*Undocked: November 13, 1966 - 20:18:00 UTC-Space walk:...	November 15, 1966	24°35′N 69°57′W	USS Wasp (CVS-18) USS Wasp (CV-18) USS Wasp was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the ninth US Navy ship to bear the name, was originally named Oriskany, but was renamed while under construction in honor of the previous , which was sunk 15 September 1942...	5
Apollo 7 Apollo 7 Apollo 7 was the first manned mission in the American Apollo space program, and the first manned US space flight after a cabin fire killed the crew of what was to have been the first manned mission, AS-204 , during a launch pad test in 1967...	October 22, 1968	27°32′N 64°04′W	USS Essex (CVS-9) USS Essex (CV-9) USS Essex was an aircraft carrier, the lead ship of the 24-ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in December 1942, Essex participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning the...	3
Apollo 8 Apollo 8 Apollo 8, the second manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to Earth from another celestial...	December 27, 1968	8°7.5′N 165°1.2′W	USS Yorktown (CVS-10) USS Yorktown (CV-10) USS Yorktown is one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is named after the Battle of Yorktown of the American Revolutionary War, and is the fourth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name...	2
Apollo 9 Apollo 9 Apollo 9, the third manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first flight of the Command/Service Module with the Lunar Module...	March 13, 1969	23°15′N 67°56′W		5
Apollo 10 Apollo 10 Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the American Apollo space program. It was an F type mission—its purpose was to be a "dry run" for the Apollo 11 mission, testing all of the procedures and components of a Moon landing without actually landing on the Moon itself. The mission included the...	May 26, 1969	15°2′S 164°39′W	USS Princeton (CVS-37) USS Princeton (CV-37) USS Princeton was one of 24 s built during and shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the Revolutionary War Battle of Princeton...	2.4
Apollo 11 Apollo 11 In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...	July 24, 1969	13°19′N 169°9′W	USS Hornet (CVS-12) USS Hornet (CV-12) USS Hornet is a United States Navy aircraft carrier of the Essex class. Construction started in August 1942; she was originally named , but was renamed in honor of the , which was lost in October 1942, becoming the eighth ship to bear the name.Hornet was commissioned in November 1943, and after...	3.13
Apollo 12 Apollo 12 Apollo 12 was the sixth manned flight in the American Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon . It was launched on November 14, 1969 from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, four months after Apollo 11. Mission commander Charles "Pete" Conrad and Lunar Module Pilot Alan L...	November 24, 1969	15°47′S 165°9′W	USS Hornet (CVS-12) USS Hornet (CV-12) USS Hornet is a United States Navy aircraft carrier of the Essex class. Construction started in August 1942; she was originally named , but was renamed in honor of the , which was lost in October 1942, becoming the eighth ship to bear the name.Hornet was commissioned in November 1943, and after...	3.7
Apollo 13 Apollo 13 Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...	April 17, 1970	21°38′S 165°22′W		1.85
Apollo 14 Apollo 14 Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the American Apollo program, and the third to land on the Moon. It was the last of the "H missions", targeted landings with two-day stays on the Moon with two lunar EVAs, or moonwalks....	February 9, 1971	27°1′S 172°39′W		1.1
Apollo 15 Apollo 15 Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the American Apollo space program, the fourth to land on the Moon and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous...	August 7, 1971	26°7′N 158°8′W		1.85
Apollo 16 Apollo 16 Young and Duke served as the backup crew for Apollo 13; Mattingly was slated to be the Apollo 13 command module pilot until being pulled from the mission due to his exposure to rubella through Duke.-Backup crew:...	April 27, 1972	0°43′S 156°13′W	USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14) USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) USS Ticonderoga was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for historic Fort Ticonderoga, which played a role in the American Revolutionary War...	0.55
Apollo 17 Apollo 17 Apollo 17 was the eleventh and final manned mission in the American Apollo space program. Launched at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7, 1972, with a three-member crew consisting of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 remains the...	December 19, 1972	17°53′S 166°7′W	USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14) USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) USS Ticonderoga was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for historic Fort Ticonderoga, which played a role in the American Revolutionary War...	1.85
Skylab 2 Skylab 2 -Backup crew:-Support crew:Robert L. CrippenRichard H. TrulyHenry W. Hartsfield, JrWilliam E. Thornton-Mission parameters:Mass: 19,979 kgMaximum Altitude: 440 km*Distance: 18,536,730.9 km...	June 22, 1973	24°45′N 127°2′W	USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14) USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) USS Ticonderoga was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for historic Fort Ticonderoga, which played a role in the American Revolutionary War...
Skylab 3 Skylab 3 Skylab 3 was the second manned mission to Skylab. The Skylab 3 mission started July 28, 1973, with the launch of three astronauts on the Saturn IB rocket, and lasted 59 days, 11 hours and 9 minutes...	September 25, 1973	30°47′N 120°29′W
Skylab 4 Skylab 4 Skylab 4 was the fourth Skylab mission and placed the third and final crew on board the space station. The mission started November 16, 1973 with the launch of three astronauts on a Saturn IB rocket, and lasted 84 days, 1 hour and 16 minutes...	February 8, 1974	31°18′N 119°48′W
ASTP Apollo	July 24, 1975	22°N 163°W		1.3
Soyuz 23 Soyuz 23 Soyuz 23 was a 1976 Soviet manned space flight, the second to the Salyut 5 space station. Cosmonauts Vyacheslav Zudov and Valery Rozhdestvensky arrived at the station, but an equipment malfunction did not allow docking and the mission had to be aborted....	October 16, 1976	Lake Tengiz Lake Tengiz Tengiz Lake is a saline lake in north-central part of Kazakhstan. Lake Tengiz is an important wetland site for birds. It ia a part of a Ramsar wetland site of international importance, "Tengiz-Korgalzhyn Lake System". 318 species of birds have been recorded at Lake Tengiz, 22 of which are endangered...	Helicopter Mi-8 Mil Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 is a medium twin-turbine transport helicopter that can also act as a gunship. The Mi-8 is the world's most-produced helicopter, and is used by over 50 countries. Russia is the largest operator of the Mi-8/Mi-17 helicopter....		-

Planned recovery ship **

Unmanned spacecraft

Spacecraft	Landing Date	Coordinates	Recovery Ship	Miss Distance
Jupiter AM-18	May 28, 1959	48 to 96 km N Antigua Is	USS Kiowa (ATF-72)	16 km
Mercury-Big Joe Big Joe 1 Big Joe 1 launched an unmanned boilerplate Mercury capsule from Cape Canaveral, Florida on September 9, 1959. The objective of the Big Joe program was to test the Mercury spacecraft ablating heat shield...	September 9, 1959	2,407 km SE Cape Canaveral		925 km
Mercury-Little Joe 2 Little Joe 2 The Little Joe 2 was a test of the Mercury space capsule. It was the first American animal spaceflight, carrying the Rhesus monkey Sam close to the edge of space. He was sent to test the space equipment and the adverse effects of space on humans.The flight was launched December 4, 1959, at 11:15...	December 4, 1959	319 km SE Wallops Is, VA		? km
Mercury-Redstone 1A Mercury-Redstone 1A Mercury-Redstone 1A was launched on December 19, 1960 from LC-5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission objectives of this unmanned suborbital flight were to qualify the spacecraft for space flight and qualify the system for an upcoming primate suborbital flight. The spacecraft tested its...	December 19, 1960	378.2 km SE Cape Canaveral		12.9 km
Mercury-Redstone 2 Mercury-Redstone 2 Mercury-Redstone 2 was an American space mission, launched at 16:55 UTC on January 31, 1961 from LC-5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Mercury spacecraft No...	January 31, 1961	675.9 km SE Cape Canaveral	http://www.homestead.com/USSDONNERLSD20/index.html	209.2 km
Mercury-Atlas 2 Mercury-Atlas 2 Mercury-Atlas 2 was launched unmanned on February 21, 1961 at 14:10 UTC, from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Test objectives for this flight were concerned with the ability of the spacecraft to withstand reentry under the temperature-critical abort conditions and with the capability...	February 21, 1961	2293.3 km SE Cape Canaveral	http://www.homestead.com/USSDONNERLSD20/index.html	20.9 km
Mercury-Atlas 4 Mercury-Atlas 4 Mercury-Atlas 4 was an unmanned spaceflight of the Mercury program. It was launched on September 13, 1961 at 14:09 UTC from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. A Crewman Simulator instrument package was aboard. The craft orbited the Earth once....	September 13, 1961	257.5 km E of Bermuda		64.4 km
Mercury-Atlas 5 Mercury-Atlas 5 Mercury-Atlas 5 was an American unmanned spaceflight of the Mercury program. It was launched on November 29, 1961 with Enos the Chimp, a chimpanzee, aboard...	November 29, 1961	804.7 km SE of Bermuda		? km
Gemini 2 Gemini 2 Gemini 2 was the second spaceflight of the American human spaceflight program Project Gemini. Gemini 2, like Gemini 1, was an unmanned mission intended as a test flight of the Gemini spacecraft. Unlike Gemini 1, which was placed into orbit, Gemini 2 made a suborbital flight, primarily intended to...	January 19, 1965	16°33.9′N 49°46.27′W 3423.1 km downrange from KSC	USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39) USS Lake Champlain (CV-39) USS Lake Champlain was one of 24 s completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. She was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812....	38.6 km
Apollo 201 AS-201 AS-201 , flown February 26, 1966, was the first unmanned test flight of an entire production Block I Apollo Command/Service Module and the Saturn IB launch vehicle. The spacecraft consisted of the second Block I command module and the first Block I service module...	February 26, 1966	8.18°S 11.15°W 8,472 km downrange from KSC	USS Boxer (LPH-4) USS Boxer (CV-21) USS Boxer was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. She was the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for a British ship captured by the Americans during the War of 1812...	? km
Apollo 202 AS-202 AS-202 was the second unmanned, suborbital test flight of a production Block I Apollo Command/Service Module launched with the Saturn IB launch vehicle. It launched August 25, 1966 and was the first flight which included the spacecraft Guidance and Navigation Control system and fuel cells...	August 25, 1966	16.12°N 168.9°E 804.7 km southwest of Wake Island	USS Hornet (CVS-12) USS Hornet (CV-12) USS Hornet is a United States Navy aircraft carrier of the Essex class. Construction started in August 1942; she was originally named , but was renamed in honor of the , which was lost in October 1942, becoming the eighth ship to bear the name.Hornet was commissioned in November 1943, and after...	? km
Gemini 2-MOL Manned Orbiting Laboratory The Manned Orbiting Laboratory , originally referred to as the Manned Orbital Laboratory, was part of the United States Air Force's manned spaceflight program, a successor to the cancelled Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar military reconnaissance space plane project...	November 3, 1966	8,149.7 km SE KSC near Ascension Is.		11.26 km
Apollo 4 Apollo 4 Apollo 4, , was the first unmanned test flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle, which was ultimately used by the Apollo program to send the first men to the Moon...	November 9, 1967	30.1°N 172.53°W	USS Bennington (CVS-20) USS Bennington (CV-20) USS Bennington was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington...	16 km
Apollo 6 Apollo 6 Apollo 6, launched on April 4, 1968, was the Apollo program's second and last A type mission—unmanned test flight of its Saturn V launch vehicle. It was intended to demonstrate full lunar injection capability of the Saturn V, and the capability of the Command Module's heat shield to withstand a...	April 4, 1968	27°40′N 157°59′W		? km
Zond 5 Zond 5 Zond 5, a formal member of the Soviet Zond program and unmanned version of Soyuz 7K-L1 manned moon-flyby spacecraft, was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik in Earth parking orbit to make scientific studies during a lunar flyby and to return to Earth....	September 21, 1968	32.63°S 65.55°E	USSR recovery naval vessel Borovichy & Vasiliy Golovin	105 km
Zond 8	October 27, 1970	730 km SE of the Chagos Islands, Indian Ocean Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...	USSR recovery ship Taman	24 km
COTS Demo Flight 1	December 8, 2010	800 km west of Baja California, Mexico Mexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of... , Pacific Ocean Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...	?	0.8 km

Disadvantages

Manned spacecraft

Unmanned spacecraft

See also