Soviet Union

14 missions

The first artificial satellite, launched October 4, 1957. Orbited Earth every 96 minutes. Its radio ...

Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on April 12, 1961. The flight lasted 108 minutes, one o...

The first human-made object to reach another celestial body. Intentionally crashed into the Moon on ...

First successful soft landing on the Moon, February 3, 1966. The first photos from the lunar surface...

First spacecraft to transmit data from the surface of another planet. Survived 23 minutes in 475 deg...

Returned the first color images from the Venusian surface. Survived 127 minutes, a record for Venus ...

Alexei Leonov performed the first spacewalk on March 18, 1965. His suit ballooned in the vacuum and ...

Carried Laika, the first animal to orbit Earth, launched just one month after Sputnik 1. The dog was...

Returned the first photographs of the far side of the Moon in October 1959. Film was developed on bo...

The first robotic sample return from the Moon. Drilled 35 cm into the surface and brought back 101 g...

The last Soviet lunar mission, returning 170 grams from 2 meters deep in August 1976. Its core drill...

Flew tortoises, flies, and other organisms around the Moon and back, the first living things to make...

The first space station in history, launched in April 1971. The first crew could not board after a d...

Achieved the first soft landing on Mars on December 2, 1971. The lander transmitted what may be the ...