1970 in spaceflight

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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.

Orbital 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

January

9 January Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 31/6, Baikonur
Soviet UnionKosmos 318 (Zenit-2M #7, Gektor #7) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
14 January United States Titan IIIB Agena-D United StatesVandenberg SLC-4W
United StatesOPS 6531 KH-8 4325 USAF Low Earth Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
15 January United States Delta M United StatesCape Canaveral LC-17A
United NationsIntelsat III F6 Intelsat Geosynchronous Communications In orbit Successful
15 January Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet UnionPlesetsk Site 133/1
Soviet UnionKosmos 319 (DS-P1-Yu #29) Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
16 January Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet UnionKapustin Yar
Soviet UnionKosmos 320 (DS-MO #2, Opticheski #2) Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
20 January Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet UnionPlesetsk Site 133/1
Soviet UnionKosmos 321 (DS-U2-MG #1) Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
21 January Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 41/1, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 322 (Zenit-4 #68) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
23 January United States Delta N6 United StatesVandenberg SLC-2W
United StatesTIROS M (ITOS 1) NOAA Low Earth Meteorology In orbit Successful
Australia Australis University of Melbourne Low Earth Communications In orbit Successful
30 January Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet UnionPlesetsk Site 133/1
Soviet UnionDS-P1-I #7 Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Failure

February

4 February United States Thorad-SLV2G Agena-D United StatesVandenberg SLC-2E
United StatesSERT 2 NASA Lewis research center Low Earth Technology Demonstration In orbit Successful
6 February Soviet UnionProton K / D Soviet UnionPad 81/23, Baikonur MOM
Soviet UnionYe-8-5 No.405 MOM Selenocentric Lunar lander In orbit Failure
10 February Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 41/1, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 323 (Zenit-4 #69) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
11 February Japan Lambda-4S Japan Kagoshima Japan Japan
Japan Ohsumi Tokyo University Low Earth Technology 2 August 2003 Successful
First satellite launched by Japan
11 February United States Thor LV-2F Burner 2 United StatesVandenberg SLC-10W
United StatesOPS 0054 DMSP-5A F1 SSO Meteorology In orbit Successful
19 February Soviet UnionMolniya-M/ML Soviet UnionSite 43/4, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionMolniya-1 13 Molniya Communications In orbit Successful
27 February Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet UnionPlesetsk Site 133/1
Soviet UnionKosmos 324 (DS-P1-Yu #30) Low Earth Orbit Calibration In orbit Successful

March

3 March
21:15 		United Kingdom Black Arrow United Kingdom Woomera United Kingdom RAE
RAE Low Earth Test LV In orbit Successful
4 March Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 43/4, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 325 (Zenit-2 #79) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
4 March United States Thorad-SLV2H Agena-D United StatesVandenberg SLC-3W
United StatesOPS 0440 KH-4B 1109 Low Earth Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
United States OPS 3402 Tivoli 3 USAF Low Earth ELINT In orbit Successful
10 March France Diamant B FranceKourou ELD
Germany Dial-WIKA DFVLR Technology Demonstration In orbit Successful
Germany Dial-MIKA DFVLR Technology Demonstration In orbit Successful
13 March Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 43/4, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 326 (Zenit-2 #80) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
17 March Soviet UnionVostok-2M Soviet UnionSite 41/1, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionMeteor-1 3 Low Earth Orbit Meteorology In orbit Successful
18 March Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet UnionSite 133/1, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 327 (DS-P1-I #8) Yuzhnoye Low Earth Orbit Radar calibration In orbit Successful
20 March United States Delta M United StatesCape Canaveral LC-17B
United States NATO 2A NATO Geosynchronous Military Communication In orbit Successful
27 March Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 41/1, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 328 (Zenit-2MK #2, Germes #2) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful

April

3 April Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 43/4, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 329 (Zenit-2M #8, Gektor #8) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
7 April Soviet UnionKosmos 3M Soviet UnionPlesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 330 (Tselina O #6) Low Earth Orbit SIGNIT In orbit Successful
8 April United States Thorad-SLV2G Agena-D United StatesVandenberg SLC-2E
United StatesNimbus 4 NOAA / NASA Medium Earth Meteorology In orbit Successful
United States Topo 1 US Army Medium Earth Geodesy In orbit Successful
8 April Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 31/6, Baikonur
Soviet UnionKosmos 331 (Zenit-4 #70) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
8 April United States Titan IIIC United StatesCape Canaveral LC-40
United States OPS 7033 Vela 11 USAF Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
United States OPS 7044 Vela 12 USAF Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
11 April Soviet UnionKosmos 3M Soviet UnionPlesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 332 (Zaliv #5) Medium Earth Navigation In orbit Successful
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 1970 Failure
United States Apollo 13 LM Aquarius NASA Intended: Lunar landing
Actual: Lunar free return 		Crewed lunar landing 15 April 1970 Failure
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.
15 April Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 41/1, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 333 (Zenit-4M #4, Rotor #4) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
15 April United States Titan IIIB Agena-D United StatesVandenberg SLC-4W
United StatesOPS 2863 KH-8 4326 USAF Low Earth Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
23 April United States Delta M United StatesCape Canaveral LC-17A
United NationsIntelsat III F7 Intelsat Geosynchronous Communication In orbit Successful
23 April Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet Union Plesetsk Site 133/1
Soviet UnionKosmos 334 (DS-P1-Yu #31) Yuzhnoye Low Earth Orbit Radar calibration In orbit Successful
24 April
13:35 		China Long March 1 Y1 China Jiuquan LA-2A China CASC
China Dong Fang Hong I CAST Medium Earth Technology demonstration In orbit Successful
First satellite launched by China.
24 April Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet Union Kapustin Yar
Soviet UnionKosmos 335 (DS-U1-R #1) Yuzhnoye Low Earth Orbit Research In orbit Successful
25 April Soviet UnionKosmos 3M Soviet UnionPlesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 336 (Strela-1M #1) Low Earth Orbit Military Communication In orbit Successful
Soviet UnionKosmos 337 (Strela-1M #2) Low Earth Orbit Military Communication In orbit Successful
Soviet UnionKosmos 338 (Strela-1M #3) Low Earth Orbit Military Communication In orbit Successful
Soviet UnionKosmos 339 (Strela-1M #4) Low Earth Orbit Military Communication In orbit Successful
Soviet UnionKosmos 340 (Strela-1M #5) Low Earth Orbit Military Communication In orbit Successful
Soviet UnionKosmos 341 (Strela-1M #6) Low Earth Orbit Military Communication In orbit Successful
Soviet UnionKosmos 342 (Strela-1M #7) Low Earth Orbit Military Communication In orbit Successful
Soviet UnionKosmos 336 (Strela-1M #8) Low Earth Orbit Military Communication In orbit Successful
28 April Soviet UnionVostok-2M Soviet UnionSite 41/1, Plesetsk
Soviet Union Meteor-1 4 Medium Earth Meteorology In orbit Successful

May

12 May Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 41/1, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 344 (Zenit-2 #81) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
20 May Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 31/6, Baikonur
Soviet UnionKosmos 345 (Zenit-4 #71) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
20 May United States Thorad-SLV2H Agena-D United StatesVandenberg SLC-3W
United States OPS 4720 KH-4B 1110 CIA Low Earth Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
United States OPS 8520 Tripos 4 / Sousea 3 USAF Low Earth Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
22 May Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet Union Plesetsk Site 133/1
Soviet Union DS-P1-Yu #32 Yuzhnoye Low Earth Orbit Radar calibration In orbit Failure

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 Spaceflight 19 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 satellite In orbit Failure
First British attempt to launch a satellite. Failed to reach orbit after premature 2nd stage cutout.
10 June Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 31/6, Baikonur
Soviet UnionKosmos 346 (Zenit-4 #72) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
12 June European Union Europa 1 F9 Australia Woomera LC-6A European Union ELDO
European Union STV 3 ELDO Low Earth Vehicle Evaluation In orbit Failure
Fairing failed to separate
12 June Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet Union Kapustin Yar
Soviet UnionKosmos 347 (DS-P1-Yu #33) Yuzhnoye Low Earth Orbit Radar calibration In orbit Successful
13 June Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet Union Plesetsk Site 133/1
Soviet UnionKosmos 348 (DS-U2-GK #2) Yuzhnoye Low Earth Orbit Research In orbit Successful
17 June Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 43/4, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 349 (Zenit-4 #73) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
19 June United States Atlas-SLV3A Agena-D United StatesCape Canaveral LC-13
United States OPS 5346 Aquacade (Rhyolite 1) NRO / CIA Geosynchronous Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
23 June Soviet UnionVostok-2M Soviet UnionSite 41/1, Plesetsk
Soviet Union Meteor-1 5 Medium Earth Meteorology In orbit Successful
25 April United States Titan IIIB Agena-D United StatesVandenberg SLC-4W
United StatesOPS 6820 KH-8 4327 USAF Low Earth Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
26 June Soviet UnionMolniya-M / ML Soviet UnionSite 43/4, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionMolniya-1 14 (Molniya-1 21L) Molniya Communication In orbit Successful
26 June Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 31/6, Baikonur
Soviet UnionKosmos 350 (Zenit-2M #9, Gektor #4) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
27 June Soviet UnionKosmos 3M Soviet Union Plesetsk Site 132/1
Soviet UnionKosmos 351 (DS-P1-Yu #34) Yuzhnoye Low Earth Orbit Radar calibration In orbit Successful
27 June Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet Union Plesetsk Site 133/1
Soviet Union Strela-2M #1 Low Earth Orbit Military Communication In orbit Failure

July

7 July Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 31/6, Baikonur
Soviet UnionKosmos 352 (Zenit-4 #72) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
9 July Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 41/1, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 353 (Zenit-2M #4, Gektor #10) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
21 July Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 43/4, Plesetsk
Soviet Union Zenit-4 #75 GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Failure
23 July United States Thorad-SLV2H Agena-D United StatesVandenberg SLC-3W
United StatesOPS 4324 KH-4B 1111 Low Earth Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
23 July United States Delta M United StatesCape Canaveral LC-17A
United NationsIntelsat III F8 Intelsat Geosynchronous Communication In orbit Successful
28 July Soviet UnionR-36-0 Soviet UnionSite 191/66, Baikonur
Soviet UnionKosmos 354 (OGCh #22) Low Earth Orbit Weapon System Test In orbit Successful

August

7 August Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet Union Kapustin Yar
United Nations Interkosmos 3 (DS-U2-IK #1) Interkosmos Low Earth Orbit Science In orbit Successful
7 August Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 43/4, Plesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 355 (Zenit-4 #76) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
10 August Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet Union Plesetsk Site 133/1
Soviet UnionKosmos 356 (DS-U2-MG #2) Yuzhnoye Low Earth Orbit Research In orbit Successful
17 August Soviet UnionMolniya-M / MVL Soviet UnionSite 31/6, Baikonur
Soviet Union Venera 7 Heliocentric to Venus orbit Venus lander In orbit Successful
18 August United States Titan IIIB Agena-D United StatesVandenberg SLC-4W
United StatesOPS 7874 KH-8 4328 USAF Low Earth Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
19 August United States Delta M United StatesCape Canaveral LC-17A
United KingdomSkynet 1B Ministry of Defence Geosynchronous Military Communication In orbit Successful
19 August Soviet UnionKosmos 2 Soviet Union Plesetsk Site 133/1
Soviet Union Kosmos 357 (DS-P1-Yu #35) Yuzhnoye Low Earth Orbit Radar calibration In orbit Successful
20 August Soviet UnionKosmos 3M Soviet UnionPlesetsk
Soviet UnionKosmos 358 (DS-P1-M #1) Low Earth Orbit Weapon System Test In orbit Successful
22 August Soviet UnionMolniya-M / MVL Soviet UnionSite 31/6, Baikonur
Soviet Union Kosmos 359 (Venera 8a) Heliocentric to Venus orbit Venus lander In orbit Failure
26 August United States Thorad-SLV2G Agena-D United StatesVandenberg SLC-1W
United StatesOPS 8329 Strawman 3 USAF Low Earth Reconnaissance In orbit Successful
27 August United StatesScout A United StatesVandenberg
United States Transit 19 US Navy Navigation In orbit Successful
29 August Soviet UnionVoskhod Soviet UnionSite 31/6, Baikonur
Soviet UnionKosmos 360 (Zenit-4M #5, Rotor #5) GRU Low Earth Orbit Reconnaissance In orbit Successful

September

12 September
13:25 		Soviet Union Proton-K/D Soviet Union Baikonur 81/23 Soviet Union
Luna 16 Selenocentric Lunar lander 24 September Successful
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 test In orbit Successful
Final circumlunar flight of the Zond program.

November

December

12 December
10:54 		United States Scout B Italy San Marco mobile range, Kenya Italy CNR
United States Explorer 42 (Uhuru) NASA Low Earth X-ray astronomy 5 April 1979 Successful
First satellite dedicated to X-ray astronomy.

Suborbital Launches

This is a list of spaceflights launched in 1970.

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 return 24 September 1970 Successful
First uncrewed lunar sample return mission

Deep Space Rendezvous

Date (GMT) Spacecraft Event Remarks
11 April 1970 Apollo 13 S-IVB stage Impacted the Moon
15 April Apollo 13 Lunar flyby at 254 kilometres (158 mi) Intended lunar landing, forced to abort and return to Earth using lunar free return trajectory
20 September Luna 16 100gm from Mare Fecunditatis First sample return mission
24 October Zond 8 Circumlunar flight of the Moon 1,110 kilometres (690 mi)
17 November Luna 17 Delivered Lunokhod 1 at Mare Imbrium First robotic Lunar rover
15 December Venera 7 Atmospheric probe worked for 23 min on the Venerian surface First soft landing on another planet

References

  • Bergin, Chris. "NASASpaceFlight.com".
  • Clark, Stephen. "Spaceflight Now".
  • Kelso, T.S. "Satellite Catalog (SATCAT)". CelesTrak.[dead link]
  • 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. "GCAT Orbital Launch Log".
  • 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.[dead link]
  • "Space Information Center". JAXA.[dead link]
  • "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).
Generic references:

 Spaceflight portal

Footnotes


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