# 1963 in spaceflight

* ← Jan
* Feb
* Mar
* Apr
* May
* Jun
* Jul
* Aug
* Sep
* Oct
* Nov
* Dec →

## Deep space rendezvous

| Date (GMT) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
| 5 April | Luna 4 | Flyby of the Moon | Failed lander, closest approach: 8,336 kilometres (5,180 mi) |
| 19 June | Mars 1 | First flyby of Mars | Closest approach: 193,000 kilometres (120,000 mi), communications system failed before flyby |

## Notable creations of orbital debris

| Date/Time (UTC) | Source object | Event type | Pieces tracked | Remarks |
| 9 May | Westford-2 | Communications experiment | 46 | As part of an experiment to facilitate international telecommunications, the US Military deployed an artificial space ring consisting of hundreds of millions of tiny copper needles which would act as antennas reflecting radio signals at the target wavelength of 8 GHz. A large proportion of the needles were not dispersed properly and remained stuck in clumps that were discovered and tracked by the SSN between 1966 and 1991. As of October 2013, 46 of the 144 detected debris clumps remain in orbit. The needles that were properly dispersed are believed to have decayed. This event prompted international protests and influenced the drafting of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. |

## Orbital launch summary
### By country

* Soviet Union
* United States
Orbital launch attempts by country in 1963 :
| Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
| Soviet Union | 24 | 15 | 9 | 0 | |
| United States | 46 | 35 | 8 | 3 | |

### By rocket

| Rocket | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
| Atlas LV-3A Agena-B | United States | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Atlas LV-3A Agena-D | United States | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Atlas LV-3B | United States | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Retired |
| Atlas LV-3C Centaur-B | United States | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Only flight |
| Delta B | United States | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| Delta C | United States | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kosmos-2I 63S1 | Soviet Union | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | |
| Molniya 8K78 | Soviet Union | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Molniya-L 8K78L | Soviet Union | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Polyot 11A59 | Soviet Union | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Scout X-2B | United States | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Only flight |
| Scout X-2M | United States | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Retired |
| Scout X-3 | United States | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Scout X-3M | United States | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Only flight |
| Scout X-4 | United States | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Maiden flight |
| Thor DSV-2A Ablestar | United States | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Thor DM-21 Agena-B | United States | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Thor SLV-2 Agena-D (Thor DM-21 Agena-D) | United States | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | Redesignated midyear |
| Thrust Augmented Thor SLV-2A Agena-B | United States | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Thrust Augmented Thor SLV-2A Agena-D | United States | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Voskhod 11A57 | Soviet Union | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Vostok-K 8K72K | Soviet Union | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Vostok-2 8A92 | Soviet Union | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | |

### By orbit

| Orbital regime | Launches | Achieved | Not Achieved | Accidentally Achieved | Remarks |
| Low Earth | 57 | 44 | 13 | 2 | |
| Medium Earth | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| High Earth | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | Including Highly elliptical orbits |
| Geosynchronous/transfer | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Heliocentric | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |