1963 in spaceflight
![]() A North American X-15 made two suborbital flights in July and August, becoming the first reusable spacecraft | |
Orbital launches | |
---|---|
First | 4 January |
Last | 21 December |
Total | 70 |
Successes | 50 |
Failures | 17 |
Partial failures | 3 |
Catalogued | 55 |
Rockets | |
Maiden flights | Atlas LV-3A Agena-D Atlas LV-3C Centaur-B Polyot 11A59 Scout X-2B Thor DSV-2A Ablestar TAT SLV-2A Agena-B TAT SLV-2A Agena-D Voskhod 11A57 |
Retirements | Atlas LV-3B Atlas LV-3C Centaur-B Scout X-2B Scout X-2M |
Crewed flights | |
Orbital | 3 |
Suborbital | 2 |
Total travellers | 4 |
Deep space rendezvous[]
Date (GMT) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|
5 April | Luna 4 | Flyby of the Moon | Failed lander, closest approach: 8,336 kilometres (5,180 mi) |
19 June | Mars 1 | First flyby of Mars | Closest approach: 193,000 kilometres (120,000 mi), communications system failed before flyby |
Notable creations of orbital debris[]
Date/Time (UTC) | Source object | Event type | Pieces tracked | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|
9 May[1] | Westford-2 | Communications experiment | 46[1] | As part of an experiment to facilitate international telecommunications, the US Military deployed an artificial space ring consisting of hundreds of millions of tiny copper needles[2] which would act as antennas reflecting radio signals at the target wavelength of 8 GHz. A large proportion of the needles were not dispersed properly and remained stuck in clumps that were discovered and tracked by the SSN between 1966 and 1991. As of October 2013, 46 of the 144 detected debris clumps remain in orbit.[1] The needles that were properly dispersed are believed to have decayed.[1]
This event prompted international protests[3][4][5][6] and influenced the drafting of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.[3] |
Orbital launch summary[]
By country[]
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| |||||
Orbital launch attempts by country in 1963 |
Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures |
Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
24 | 15 | 9 | 0 | |
![]() |
46 | 35 | 8 | 3 |
By rocket[]
By orbit[]
Orbital regime | Launches | Achieved | Not Achieved | Accidentally Achieved |
Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low Earth | 57 | 44 | 13 | 2 | |
Medium Earth | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
High Earth | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | Including Highly elliptical orbits |
Geosynchronous/transfer | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
Heliocentric | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
References[]
Generic references:
Spaceflight portal
![RocketSunIcon.svg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/RocketSunIcon.svg/28px-RocketSunIcon.svg.png)
- 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".
- 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).
Footnotes[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d "West Ford Needles: Where are They Now?" (PDF). Orbital Debris Quarterly News. NASA. 17 (4). October 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
- ^ Shapiro, I. I.; Jones, H. M.; Perkins, C.W. (May 1964), "Orbital properties of the West Ford dipole belt", Proceedings of the IEEE, 52 (5): 469–518, doi:10.1109/proc.1964.2992
- ^ Jump up to: a b Terrill Jr., Delbert R. (May 1999), "The Air Force Role in Developing International Outer Space Law" (PDF), Air Force History and Museums Program, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press: 63
- ^ Butrica, Andrew J. (ed.), "Beyond the Ionosphere: The Development of Satellite Communications", history.nasa.gov, The NASA History Series, NASA
- ^ Bondi, H. (June 1962), "West Ford Project, Introductory Note by the Secretary", Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 3: 99, Bibcode:1962QJRAS...3...99.
- ^ "Protests Continue Abroad", The New York Times, London: Reuters (published 23 October 1961), p. 12, 22 October 1961, ISSN 0362-4331
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