Home 1950s in Review 1961 in Review
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The First Decade of the Space Age
These four graphs chronicle the evolution of space activities during the first decade, from 3 satellites launched in 1957 to 172 in 1967. There were 1,005 spacecrafts launched during this period. The first graph shows the number of rockets (white) and spacecrafts (green) launched each year. The second graph shows that 60% of all spacecrafts were launched by the United States (blue), and 40% by the Soviet Union (red). The third graph shows that two-thirds of all spacecrafts had military mission (gray), compared to civilian missions (white). And the fourth graph shows that the number of failures (black) stay about the same while the number of successes (whlte) “skyrocketed”.
Overview of 1960: the beginning of new ereas 
          In 1960, 44 spacecrafts were launched, nearly twice as much as of previous years. The United States launched 80% of them, the Soviet Union 20% (no other countries had the capability to launch a satellite). Unfortunately 55% of all rockets launched during 1960 failed, as well as 60% of all spacecrafts! Half of them were for civilian purpose, half for military as the U.S. continued to develop their ‘spy’ satellites (the Soviet Union hadn’t launched any military satellite yet). 
          The year witnesses the launch of the first piloted spaceships, although without a man onboard, as the Soviet Union and the United States tested their Vostok and Mercury capsules. 1960 also saw the orbiting of the first communications, meteorological and navigation satellites, marking the beginning of the useful application of space technologies that will revolutionized our world. The Soviet Union launched the first two planetary probes destined to explore Mars (but both failed).
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Note that the word spacecrafts includes satellites (place in Earth orbit), piloted spaceships and planetary probes.
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Overview
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Spacecraft Launched

How many spacecrafts 
were launched?

In 1960, 44 spacecrafts were launched, 20 more than the previous year, and 26 more than the last three years average.
 
. 1960 Pre-
vious
Last
Three
Total 44 +20 +26
. . . .
Civilian 22 +8 +9
Military 22 +12 +16


This graph shows that the number of spacecrafts launched in 1960 nearly doubled those of previous years.
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Spacecraft's Nationality

For whom these space-
crafts were launched?

. 1960 Pre-
vious
Last 
Three
Russian 9 +5 +5
American 35 +15 +20
....
This graph shows that 80% of all spacecrafts launched in 1960 were American's, and 20% were Soviet's.
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Failures

How many failure had
occured during the year?

22 launches failed 
27 satellites were lost

In 1960, 55% of all rockets launched failed, as well as 60% of all spacecrafts. Of those failures, 19 were American’s (in 35 missions) and 8 were Soviet’s (in 9 missions).

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Missions
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Civilian Spacecrafts

For what purpose 22 civilian spacecrafts were launched?

. Number Percent
Exploration: . .
Piloted Flight 8 18.2%
Sciences 3 6.8%
Biology 0 0
Planetary 7 15.5%
Astronomy 0 0
Applications: . .
Communications 2 4.6%
Meteorology 2 4.6%
R & D: . .
Amateur 0 0
Technology 0 0
. . .
Total 22 50%
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Military Satellites

For what purpose 22 military satellites were launched?

. Number Percent
Applications: . .
Surveillance 9 20.5%
Early Warning 2 4.6%
Electronic Int. 2 4.6%
Nuclear Mon. 0 0
Ocean Survey 0 0
Services: . .
Communications 2 4.6%
Navigation 3 %
Radar Calib. 0 0
Meteorology 0 0
R & D: . .
Antisatellite 0 0
Sci. & Tech. 4 9.1%
. . .
Total 22 50%
Note: all military satellites were launched by the United States (none by the Soviet Union).
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Spacecraft Categories

To which categories are 
related these spacecrafts?

. 1960 Pre-
vious
Laet
Three
Civilian: . . .
Exploration 18 +4 +6
Applications 4 +4 +4
R & D 0 = -1
. . . .
Military: . . .
Applications 13 +8 +11
Services 5 +4 +5
R & D 4 = =
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This graph shows that half of the spacecrafts launched in 1960 were of civilian nature, and the other half for military purpose.
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Launch
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Rockets Launched

How many rockets
were launched?

. Number Percent
Russian 9 22%
American 32 78%
. . .
Total 41 100%


This graph shows that the number of rockets launched in 1960 nearly double those of previous years.
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1957-1960 Summary

USSR USA
Sucessful launches 9 35
Failed launches  11 41
Total launches  20 76
Per cent of success  45% 46%
Mass orbited 14 tons 17 tons
This table shows that, after four years of space activities, the Soviet Union and the United States had the same success rate in launching their payloads (45%) and had launched about the same tonnage (14/17 tons). But the USA had launched nearly four times as much spacecraft than the USSR. (See Launcher and Payload Scoreboard below.)
 
Launch Evolution
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How many rockets were launched compared to previous years?
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. 1960 Pre-
vious
Last 
Three
Russian 9 +5 +5
American 32 +12 +17
. . . .
Total 41 +17 +23
Explanation: “In 1960, the United States launched 32 rockets, 12 more than the previous year, and 17 more than the last three years average.”
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Satellite launched by

Which countries laun-
ched these spacecrafts?

. Number Percent
Russia 9 20.5%
U.S.A. 35 79.5%
. . .
Total 44 100%
Explanation: “In 1960, the United States launched 35 of the 44 spacecrafts, or 80%, launched that year."
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This graph shows that 80% of all spacecrafts launched in 1960 were made by American rockets.
© Claude Lafleur, Spacecraft Encyclopedia, 2010-2011
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Launcher Ranking (1957-1960)

 
Rank Launcher
(in use)
Success Failure Total % Success Payload
Carried
Per Cent 
Pld Car.
First-Last
Launch
1 Delta 2 1 3 66.7% 3 3.0% 1960
2 Thor 21 11 32 65.6% 35 35.4% 1958-1960
3 Jupiter 7 8 15 46.7% 15 15.2% 1958-1960
4 A / Semiorka 9 11 20 45.0% 20 20.2% 1957-1960
5 Atlas 2 6 8 25.0% 8 8.1% 1958-1960
6 Scout 0 1 1 0.0% 1 1.0% 1960
-- Former* 3 14 17 17.7% 17 17.2% 1957-1959
Total 44 52 96 45.8% 99 100%
* Former = launchers no more in use (Vanguard and NOTS).

Not until the 1980s did the Soviets acknowledged their rocket failures. In the early years of the Space Age, we knew of no Soviet launch failures (although we were suspecting some). We were also witnessing many U.S. launch failures since the Americans conduct their space program in public view. So, in the early days, we had the impression that Soviet launchers were much more reliable than American’s. But, since we’ve got complete data on Soviet launchers, we now know that their launchers were less reliable. In particular, this table shows that the Soviet’s ‘A’ launcher – which put the first satellites into orbit -, occupied the fourth place behing three American launchers.

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1960 Launcher and Payload Scoreboard
Soviet Launches American Launches
Launcher S/F Spacecraft Mass orbited
9 A / 'Vostok' F Luna (unknown)
F Luna (unknown)
S Korabl Sputnik 1 1,477 kg
F Korabl Sputnik (unknown)
S Korabl Sputnik 2 4,600 kg
F Mars (480 kg)
F Mars (480 kg)
S Korabl Sputnik 3 4,563 kg
F Korabl Sputnik (unknown)
Keys: F = launch failure
S = launch success
brakets () = mass not counted
Launcher S/F Spacecraft Mass orbited
18 Thor F Discoverer 9 (765 kg)
F Discoverer 10 (765 kg)
S Pioneer 5 43 kg
S Tiros 1 122.5 kg
S Transit 1B
GRAB
600 kg
18 kg
S Discoverer 11 790 kg
S Transit 2A
Solrad 1 / GRAB 1
101 kg
19 kg
F Discoverer 12 (790 kg)
S Discoverer 13 850 kg
S Discoverer 14 850 kg
F Courier 1A (225 kg)
S Discoverer 15 863 kg
S Courier 1B 230 kg
F Discoverer 16 (1,091 kg)
S Discoverer 17. 1,091 kg
F Transit 3A
Solrad 2 / GRAB 2
(91 kg)
(91 kg)
S Discoverer 18 1,240 kig
S Discoverer 19 1,060 kg
6 Atlas F Midas 1 (2,045 kg)
S Midas 2 2,300 kg
F Mercury-Atlas 1 (1,154 kg)
F Pioneer P-30 (175.5 kg)
F Samos 1 (1,845 kg)
F Pioneer P-31 (176 kg)
4 Jupiter F Explorer S-46 (16 kg)
S Explorer 8 41 kg
F Mercury-Redstone 1 (1,230 kg)
S Mercury-Redstone 1A 1,230 kg
3 Delta F Echo A-10 (56 kg)
S Echo 1 180 kg
S Tiros 2 127 kg
1 Scout F Explorer S-56 (6 kg)
1960 Summary:
3 launch successes in 9 tries (33% success)
10.6 tons orbited
17 launch successes in 32 tries (53% success)
11.8 ton orbited
1957-1960 Summary:
9 launch successes in 20 tries (45%)
13.6 tons orbited
35 launch successes in 76 tries (46%)
17 tons orbited
© Claude Lafleur, Spacecraft Encyclopedia, 2010-2011
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© Claude Lafleur, 2004-12 Mes sites web: claudelafleur.qc.ca