1970 in spaceflight
Orbital launches
First11 February
Last12 December
Successes124
Failures10
Catalogued114
National firsts
Satellite Japan
 China
Orbital launch Japan
 China

Japan and China each launched their first satellites in 1970, bringing the total number of nations with independent launch capability to five.

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.

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

February

11 February Japan Lambda-4S Japan Kagoshima Japan Japan
Japan Ohsumi Tokyo University Low Earth Technology2 August 2003Successful
First satellite launched by Japan

March

3 March
21:15		 United Kingdom Black Arrow United Kingdom Woomera United Kingdom RAE
RAE Low Earth Test LVIn orbitSuccessful

April

11 April
19:13		 United States Saturn V (C-5) United States Kennedy LC-39A United States NASA
United States Apollo 13 CSM Odyssey NASA Intended: Lunar orbit
Actual: Lunar free return		 Crewed lunar orbit.15 April 1970Failure
United States Apollo 13 LM Aquarius NASA Intended: Lunar landing
Actual: Lunar free return		 Crewed lunar landing15 April 1970Failure
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.
24 April China Long March 1 Rocket China Jiuquan China PRC
China Dong Fang Hong I PRC Low Earth Test satelliteIn orbitSuccessful
First satellite launched by China

June

1 June
19:00		 Soviet Union Soyuz (R-7/A-2) Soviet Union Baikonur Site 1 Soviet Union RVSN
Soviet Union Soyuz 9 RVSN Low Earth Crewed Orbital Spaceflight19 June 1970
11:58		Successful
Longest Crewed flight involving only one spacecraft. (As of 09/06/06)
1 June
19:00		 United Kingdom Black Arrow United Kingdom Woomera United Kingdom RAE
United Kingdom Orba RAE Low Earth Micrometeoroid detection satelliteIn orbitFailure
First British attempt to launch a satellite. Failed to reach orbit after premature 2nd stage cutout.

September

12 September
13:25		 Soviet Union Proton-K/D Soviet Union Baikonur 81/23 Soviet Union
Luna 16 Selenocentric Lunar lander24 SeptemberSuccessful
First uncrewed lunar sample return, first Soviet lunar sample return

October

20 October
19:55		 Soviet Union Proton-K/D Soviet Union Baikonur 81/23 Soviet Union
Zond 8 Highly elliptical Spacecraft testIn orbitSuccessful
Final circumlunar flight of the Zond program.

December

12 December
10:54		 United States Scout B Italy San Marco mobile range, Kenya Italy CNR
United States Uhuru NASA Low Earth X-ray astronomy5 April 1979Successful
First satellite dedicated to X-ray astronomy.

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		 Soviet Union Luna 16 Ascent stage Mare Fecunditatis (Luna)
Soviet Union Luna 16 Return capsule Soviet Union Highly elliptical Sample return24 September 1970Successful
First uncrewed lunar sample return mission

Deep Space Rendezvous

Date (GMT) Spacecraft Event Remarks
11 April 1970Apollo 13 S-IVB stageImpacted the Moon
15 AprilApollo 13Lunar flyby at 254 kilometres (158 mi)Intended lunar landing, forced to abort and return to Earth using lunar free return trajectory
20 SeptemberLuna 16100gm from Mare FecunditatisFirst sample return mission
24 OctoberZond 8Circumlunar flight of the Moon 1,110 kilometres (690 mi)
17 NovemberLuna 17Delivered Lunokhod 1 at Mare ImbriumFirst robotic Lunar rover
15 DecemberVenera 7Atmospheric probe worked for 23 min on the Venerian surfaceFirst 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. "Jonathan's Space Report".
  • 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).
Generic references:
 Spaceflight portal

Footnotes


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