1960 in Review

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1961 in Review

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.

Overview

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.
..

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.
..

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).

Missions

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%

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).
.

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	=	=

This graph shows that half of the spacecrafts launched in 1960 were of civilian nature, and the other half for military purpose.

Launch

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.
.
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

. How many rockets were launched compared to previous years? .

.	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.” .

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." .

This graph shows that 80% of all spacecrafts launched in 1960 were made by American rockets.

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.

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

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