The United States
National Space Science Data Center The NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA) serves as the permanent archive for NASA space science mission data. "Space science" includes astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenome ...
catalogued 157 spacecraft placed into orbit by launches, which occurred in 1968.
The first crewed Apollo missions occurred in 1968. It was also the year in which Earth lifeforms first left low Earth orbit, during the successful
Zond 5
Zond 5 () was a spacecraft of the Soviet Zond program. In September 1968 it became the first spaceship to travel to and circle the Moon in a circumlunar trajectory, the first Moon mission to include animals, and the first to return safely to Ea ...
mission to the Moon and the
Zond 6
Zond 6 was a formal member of the Soviet Zond program, and an unpiloted version of the Soyuz 7K-L1 crewed Moon-flyby spacecraft. It was launched on a lunar flyby mission on November 10, 1968, from a parent satellite (68-101B) in Earth parking o ...
lunar mission which crashed upon return, and the year that humans first left low Earth orbit, during the successful
Apollo 8
Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968) was the first crewed spacecraft to leave Sphere of influence (astrodynamics), Earth's gravitational sphere of influence, and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times ...
mission to the Moon.
Deep space lunar missions
Orbital launches
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January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Suborbital Launches
January-December
Orbital launch summary
References
Footnotes
{{Orbital launches in 1968
1968 in science
1960s in transport
1968
Events January–February
* January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously.
* January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...