Brief History of manned space flight

As of the launched of Shenzhou 14 on 15 June 2022, there have been 363 space-flight launches.

Countries with Manned Mission : Russia, USA, China.

Number of Humans Travelled to Space so far : 553 reached Earth orbit. 556 reached altitude of space (FAI definition) or 562 as per American definition. 24 humans have travelled beyond Earth orbit and either circled, orbited or walked on the moon.

First Human in Space : 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin, Soviet Cosmonaut, onboard Vostok 1. Spent 108 minutes in space and orbits once around the Earth.

  1. First American in Space : 5 May 1961, Alan B Shepherd, Project Mercury astronaut aboard Freedom 7. Spent 15 minutes in sub-orbital flight.
  2. First Indian in Space : 2 April 1984, Sqd Ldr Rakesh Sharma IAF Pilot. Orbits Earth aboard a Soviet spacecraft. First Indian citizen to reach Earth’s orbit.
  3. First Chinese Manned Mission : 15 October 2003, Yang Liwei aboard Shenzhou 5.
  4. First Indian Manned Mission announced by Prime Minister of India on 15 August 2018.

First Woman in Space : 16 June 1963, Valentine Vladimirovna Teshkova, Soviet cosmonaut abroard Vostok 6.

First Man to Walk in Space : 18 March 1965, Alexei Leonov, Soviet Union, walked for the first time in space.

First Astronauts to Land on the Moon : 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin Jr, Apollo II.

First Reuseable Space Shuttle : 12 April 1981, Columbia STS-1, first to orbit and land back. It achieved 135 missions. Decommissioned in 2011.

First Space Tourist : 28 April 2001, Dennis Tito. He paid $20m to ride in a Russian rocket to ISS.

Oldest Human in Space : Wally Funk, 82, US, aboard Blue Origin on 20 July 2021. Earlier, John Glenn, 77, aboard Discovery space Shuttle on 29 October 1998.

Youngest Human in Space : 20 July 2021, Oliver Daemen, 18, Dutch teenager, on a $28m aboard a private launch vehicle, Blue Origin.

Longest time in space : Valeri Polyakov performed the longest single spaceflight, from 8 January 1994 to 22 March 1995 (437 days, 17 hours, 58 minutes, and 16 seconds). Gennady Padalka has spent the most total time in space on multiple missions, 879 days.

Longest-duration crewed space station : The International Space Station has the longest period of continuous human presence in space, 2 November 2000 to present (22 years and 307 days). This record was previously held by Mir, from Soyuz TM-8 on 5 September 1989 to the Soyuz TM-29 on 28 August 1999, a span of 3,644 days (almost 10 years).

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