page_title: Soviet space program
section_title: Notable firsts
hierarchical_section_title: Soviet space program / List of projects and accomplishments / Notable firsts
caption_attribution_description: English: Historic photo - the first full view of significant quality (croped frame number 29)&#91;1&#93;, of the first series of photos of the far side of the Moon, taken by Luna 3, October 7, 1959. The dark patches at left include Mare Crisium (on the near side), Mare Smythii, and Mare Marginis (on the border of the near and far sides). At bottom is Mare Ausatrale. The dark patch above right of center is Mare Moscoviense, and below right of center is Tsiolkovskiy crater. Below and to the right of Tsiolkovskiy is Jules Verne crater.
context_page_description: The Space program of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly known as the Soviet space program, was the national space program of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, active from the 1930s until the state's collapse in 1991.
  The Soviet Union's space program was mainly based on the cosmonautic exploration of space and the development of the expendable launch vehicles, which had been split between many design bureaus competing against each other. Over its 60-years of history, the Soviet program was responsible for a number of pioneering feats and accomplishments in human spaceflight, including the first intercontinental ballistic missile, first satellite, first animal in Earth orbit, first human in space and Earth orbit, first woman in space and Earth orbit, first spacewalk, first Moon impact, first image of the far side of the Moon and uncrewed lunar soft landing, first space rover, first sample of lunar soil automatically extracted and brought to Earth, and first space station.
context_section_description: Two days after the United States announced its intention to launch an artificial satellite, on July 31, 1956, the Soviet Union announced its intention to do the same. Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957, beating the United States and stunning people all over the world.
  The Soviet space program pioneered many aspects of space exploration:
  1957: First intercontinental ballistic missile and orbital launch vehicle, the R-7 Semyorka.
  1957: First satellite, Sputnik 1.
  1957: First animal in Earth orbit, the dog Laika on Sputnik 2.
  1959: First rocket ignition in Earth orbit, first man-made object to escape Earth's gravity, Luna 1.
  1959: First data communications, or telemetry, to and from outer space, Luna 1.
  1959: First man-made object to pass near the Moon, first man-made object in Heliocentric orbit, Luna 1.
  1959: First probe to impact the Moon, Luna 2.
  1959: First images of the moon's far side, Luna 3.
  1960: First animals to safely return from Earth orbit, the dogs Belka and Strelka on Sputnik 5.
  1961: First probe launched to Venus, Venera 1.
  1961: First person in space (International definition) and in Earth orbit, Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1, Vostok program.
  1961: First person to spend over 24 hours in space Gherman Titov, Vostok 2 (also first person to sleep in space).
  1962: First dual crewed spaceflight, Vostok 3 and Vostok 4.
  1962: First probe launched to Mars, Mars 1.
  1963: First woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, Vostok 6.
  1964: First multi-person crew (3), Voskhod 1.
  1965: First extra-vehicular activity (EVA), by Alexsei Leonov, Voskhod 2.
  1965: First radio telescope in space, Zond 3.
  1965: First probe to hit another planet of the Solar System (Venus), Venera 3.
  1966: First probe to make a soft landing on and transmit from the surface of the Moon, Luna 9.
  1966: First probe in lunar orbit, Luna 10.
  1967: First uncrewed rendezvous and docking, Cosmos 186/Cosmos 188.
  1968: First living beings to reach the Moon (circumlunar flights) and return unharmed to Earth, Russian tortoises and other lifeforms on Zond 5.
  1969: First docking between two crewed craft in Earth orbit and exchange of crews, Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5.
  1970: First soil samples automatically extracted and returned to Earth from another celestial body, Luna 16.
  1970: First robotic space rover, Lunokhod 1 on the Moon.
  1970: First full interplanetary travel with a soft landing and useful data transmission. Data received from the surface of another planet of the Solar System (Venus), Venera 7
  1971: First space station, Salyut 1.
  1971: First probe to impact the surface of Mars, Mars 2.
  1971: First probe to land on Mars, Mars 3.
  1975: First probe to orbit Venus, to make a soft landing on Venus, first photos from the surface of Venus, Venera 9.
  1980: First Hispanic and Black person in space, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez on Soyuz 38.
  1984: First woman to walk in space, Svetlana Savitskaya (Salyut 7 space station).
  1986: First crew to visit two separate space stations (Mir and Salyut 7).
  1986: First probes to deploy robotic balloons into Venus atmosphere and to return pictures of a comet during close flyby Vega 1, Vega 2.
  1986: First permanently crewed space station, Mir, 1986–2001, with a permanent presence on board (1989–1999).
  1987: First crew to spend over one year in space, Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov on board of Soyuz TM-4 - Mir.
  1988: First fully automated flight of a space shuttle (Buran).
caption: The first image of the far side of the Moon returned by Luna 3.
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