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Splashdown is the method of landing a spacecraft by parachute
Parachute

A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating Drag .Parachutes are made out of cloth, most commonly nylon....
 in a body of water. It was used by American manned spacecraft prior to the Space Shuttle program
Space Shuttle program

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System , is the United States government's current Human spaceflight launch vehicle....
.






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Splashdown
Splashdown 2
Splashdown is the method of landing a spacecraft by parachute
Parachute

A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating Drag .Parachutes are made out of cloth, most commonly nylon....
 in a body of water. It was used by American manned spacecraft prior to the Space Shuttle program
Space Shuttle program

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System , is the United States government's current Human spaceflight launch vehicle....
. It is also possible for the Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
n Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz spacecraft

Soyuz ; English: Union) is a series of spacecraft designed for the Soviet space program by the S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia....
 and Chinese
People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the List of countries by population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately a fifth of the world's population....
 Shenzhou spacecraft
Shenzhou spacecraft

Shenzhou is a spacecraft developed by the People's Republic of China to support its manned spaceflight program. Its design is based on the Russia Soyuz spacecraft, but is larger....
 to land in water, though this is only a contingency. The only example of an (unintentional) splashdown in Soviet history is the Soyuz 23
Soyuz 23

Soyuz 23 was slated to carry cosmonauts Vyacheslav Zudov and Valeri Rozhdestvenski to the Salyut 5 space station, presumably for an Almaz military objective....
 landing.

As the name suggests, the capsule parachute
Parachute

A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating Drag .Parachutes are made out of cloth, most commonly nylon....
s into an ocean
Ocean

An ocean is a major body of Seawater, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a World Ocean that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas....
 or other large body of water. The properties of water cushion the spacecraft enough that there is no need for a braking rocket to slow the final descent as was the case with Russian and Chinese manned space capsules, which returned to Earth over land. The American practice came in part because American launch sites are on the coastline and launch primarily over water. Russian and Chinese launch sites are far inland and most early launch aborts are likely to descend on land.

The splashdown method of landing was utilized for Mercury
Mercury program

Mercury Program might refer to:*the first successful American manned spaceflight program, Project Mercury*an American post-rock band, The Mercury Program...
, Gemini and Apollo (including Skylab
Skylab

Skylab was the first space station the United States launched into orbit, and the second space station ever visited by a human crew. The 100 ton space station was in Earth's orbit from 1973 to 1979, and it was visited by crews three times in 1973 and 1974....
, which used Apollo capsules). On one occasion a Soviet spacecraft, Soyuz 23
Soyuz 23

Soyuz 23 was slated to carry cosmonauts Vyacheslav Zudov and Valeri Rozhdestvenski to the Salyut 5 space station, presumably for an Almaz military objective....
, punched through the ice of a frozen lake (nearly killing the cosmonauts), and this was unintentional.

On early Mercury flights, a helicopter attached a cable to the capsule, lifted it from the water and delivered it to a nearby ship. This was changed after the sinking of Liberty Bell 7. All later Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules had a flotation collar (similar to a rubber life raft) attached to the spacecraft to increase their buoyancy. The spacecraft would then be brought alongside a ship and lifted onto deck by crane.

After the flotation collar is attached, a hatch on the spacecraft is usually opened. At that time, some astronauts decide to be hoisted aboard a helicopter for a ride to the recovery ship and some decided to stay with the spacecraft and be lifted aboard ship via crane. (Because of his overshoot aboard Aurora 7, and mindful of the fate of Liberty Bell 7, Scott Carpenter
Scott Carpenter

Malcolm Scott Carpenter is a former test pilot, astronaut, and aquanaut. He is best known as one of the Mercury Seven astronauts selected for Project Mercury in April 1959....
 alone egressed through the nose of his capsule instead of through the hatch, waiting for recovery forces in his life raft.) All Gemini and Apollo flights (Apollos 7 to 17) used the former, while Mercury missions from Mercury 6 to Mercury 9, as well as all Skylab missions and Apollo-Soyuz used the latter, especially the Skylab flights as to preserve all medical data. During the Gemini and Apollo programs, NASA used MV Retriever
MV Retriever

Motor Vessel Retriever was was an Landing Craft Tank transferred to NASA from the U.S. Navy. It was used to train United States astronauts for post-Splashdown ocean recovery operations and water egress from their command modules during the Project Gemini and Project Apollo programs from 1964 into the early 1970s....
 for the astronauts to practice water egress.

The new Crew Exploration Vehicle
Crew Exploration Vehicle

The Crew Exploration Vehicle was the conceptual component of the Vision for Space Exploration that later became known as the Orion spacecraft....
, which will replace the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System , is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions....
 (which lands on a modified aircraft-style runway), will be designed to be recovered on land using a combination of parachutes and airbags, although it is also designed to make a contingency splashdown (only for an in-flight abort) if needed. Although not new, NASA and the Air Force originally wanted to place a paraglider recovery system to allow for a controlled, precise landing on land on ski-like skids (a landing system used on X-15 rocket plane), most likely on the dry lakebeds at Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base

Edwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located on the border of Kern County, California and Los Angeles County, California in the Antelope Valley....
 in California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
. This idea was first proposed for the Gemini spacecraft, but was dropped in favor of the traditional parachute system.

Disadvantages

While the water the spacecraft landed on would cushion it to a degree, the impact could still be quite violent for the astronaut
Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a List of human spaceflight programs to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
s.

There are several disadvantages for splashdowns, foremost among them being the danger of the spacecraft flooding and sinking. This happened to Gus Grissom
Gus Grissom

Virgil Ivan Grissom, more widely known as Gus Grissom, was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and a United States Air Force Aviator....
 when the hatch of his Mercury-Redstone 4
Mercury-Redstone 4

Mercury-Redstone 4 was a Project Mercury manned space mission launched on July 21, 1961 using a Redstone .Its capsule was named Liberty Bell 7 and performed a Sub-orbital spaceflight flight piloted by astronaut Virgil Grissom....
 capsule malfunctioned and blew prematurely. The capsule was lost and Grissom nearly drowned.

Another problem associated with splashdown is that if the capsule comes down far from any recovery forces the crew are exposed to greater danger. As an example, Scott Carpenter in Mercury 7
Mercury-Atlas 7

Mercury-Atlas 7 was a Mercury program American manned space mission launched May 24, 1962.The Mercury capsule was named Aurora 7 and made three earth orbits, piloted by astronaut Scott Carpenter....
 overshot the assigned landing zone by 400km. This was caused by a retroattitude misalignment caused by Carpenter's failure to turn the automatic system off during manual maneuvering (while trying to determine the cause of Glenn's "fireflies") causing excessive propellant use, misalignment of the spacecraft at the beginning of re-entry causing a shallow trajectory (thus landing long) and a three-second delay before firing the retro-rockets due to inattention. It took three hours for a recovery helicopter to reach his location. These recovery operation mishaps can be mitigated by placing several vessels on standby in several different locations, but this is quite an expensive option.

Locations of splashdowns


Manned spacecraft

Spacecraft Landing Date Coordinates Recovery Ship Miss Distance
Freedom 7
Mercury-Redstone 3

Mercury-Redstone 3 was a United States Mercury program manned space mission launched on May 5, 1961 using a Redstone , from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida....
 May 5, 1961 USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39)
USS Lake Champlain (CV-39)

USS Lake Champlain was one of 24 s completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. She was one of the "long-hulled" ships, considered by some authorities to be a separate class, the ....
 5.6 km
Liberty Bell 7
Mercury-Redstone 4

Mercury-Redstone 4 was a Project Mercury manned space mission launched on July 21, 1961 using a Redstone .Its capsule was named Liberty Bell 7 and performed a Sub-orbital spaceflight flight piloted by astronaut Virgil Grissom....
 July 21, 1961 USS Randolph (CVS-15)
USS Randolph (CV-15)

USS Randolph was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for Peyton Randolph, president of the First Continental Congress....
 9.3 km
Friendship 7
Mercury-Atlas 6

The Mercury-Atlas 6 mission was the first attempt by the United States and Project Mercury to place an astronaut in orbit. The MA-6 mission was launched on February 20, 1962, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida....
 February 20, 1962USS Randolph (CVS-15)**
USS Randolph (CV-15)

USS Randolph was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for Peyton Randolph, president of the First Continental Congress....
)		 74 km
Aurora 7
Mercury-Atlas 7

Mercury-Atlas 7 was a Mercury program American manned space mission launched May 24, 1962.The Mercury capsule was named Aurora 7 and made three earth orbits, piloted by astronaut Scott Carpenter....
 May 24, 1962USS Intrepid (CVS-11)**
USS Intrepid (CV-11)

USS Intrepid is one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in August 1943, Intrepid participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, most notably the Battle of Leyte Gulf....
)		 400 km
Sigma 7
Mercury-Atlas 8

Mercury-Atlas 8 was a Mercury program manned space mission launched on October 3, 1962. The spacecraft was named Sigma 7 and completed six earth orbits piloted by astronaut Wally Schirra....
 October 3, 1962 USS Kearsarge (CVS-33)
USS Kearsarge (CV-33)

USS Kearsarge was one of 24 s completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the third US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for a American Civil War-era steam sloop....
 7.4 km
Faith 7
Mercury-Atlas 9

Mercury-Atlas 9 was the last United States Mercury program manned space mission, launched on May 15, 1963 from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida....
 May 16, 1963 USS Kearsarge (CVS-33)
USS Kearsarge (CV-33)

USS Kearsarge was one of 24 s completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the third US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for a American Civil War-era steam sloop....
 8.1 km
Gemini 3
Gemini 3

Gemini 3 was a 1965 manned space flight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the first manned Project Gemini flight, the seventh manned American flight and the 17th manned spaceflight from Earth of all time ....
 March 23, 1965 USS Intrepid (CVS-11)
USS Intrepid (CV-11)

USS Intrepid is one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in August 1943, Intrepid participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, most notably the Battle of Leyte Gulf....
 111 km
Gemini 4
Gemini 4

Gemini 4 was a June 1965 manned space flight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 2nd manned Project Gemini flight, the 10th manned American flight and the 18th spaceflight of all time ....
 June 7, 1965 USS Wasp (CVS-18)
USS Wasp (CV-18)

USS Wasp was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the ninth US Navy ship to bear the name, was originally named Oriskany, but was renamed while under construction in honor of the previous , which was sunk 15 September 1942....
 81 km
Gemini 5
Gemini 5

Gemini 5 was a 1965 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 3rd manned Project Gemini flight, the 11th manned American flight and the 19th spaceflight of all time ....
 August 29, 1965 USS Lake Champlain (CVS 39)
USS Lake Champlain (CV-39)

USS Lake Champlain was one of 24 s completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. She was one of the "long-hulled" ships, considered by some authorities to be a separate class, the ....
 270 km
Gemini 7
Gemini 7

Gemini 7 was a 1965 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 4th manned Project Gemini flight, the 12th manned American flight and the 20th spaceflight of all time ....
 December 18, 1965 USS Wasp (CVS-18)
USS Wasp (CV-18)

USS Wasp was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the ninth US Navy ship to bear the name, was originally named Oriskany, but was renamed while under construction in honor of the previous , which was sunk 15 September 1942....
 12 km
Gemini 6A
Gemini 6A

Gemini 6A was a 1965 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 5th manned Project Gemini flight, the 13th manned American flight and the 21st spaceflight of all time ....
 December 16, 1965 USS Wasp (CVS-18)
USS Wasp (CV-18)

USS Wasp was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the ninth US Navy ship to bear the name, was originally named Oriskany, but was renamed while under construction in honor of the previous , which was sunk 15 September 1942....
 13 km
Gemini 8
Gemini 8

Gemini 8 was a 1966 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 6th manned Project Gemini flight, the 12th manned American flight and the 22nd spaceflight of all time ....
 March 17, 1966USS Boxer (LPH-4)**
USS Boxer (CV-21)

USS Boxer was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. She was the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for a Capture of HMS Boxer during the War of 1812....
)		 2 km
Gemini 9A
Gemini 9A

Gemini 9A was a 1966 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 7th manned Project Gemini flight, the 13th manned American flight and the 23rd spaceflight of all time ....
 June 6, 1966 USS Wasp (CVS-18)
USS Wasp (CV-18)

USS Wasp was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the ninth US Navy ship to bear the name, was originally named Oriskany, but was renamed while under construction in honor of the previous , which was sunk 15 September 1942....
 0.7 km
Gemini 10
Gemini 10

Gemini 10 was a 1966 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 8th manned Project Gemini flight, the 16th manned American flight and the 24th spaceflight of all time ....
 July 21, 1966 6 km
Gemini 11
Gemini 11

Gemini 11 was a 1966 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 9th manned Gemini flight, the 17th manned American flight and the 25th spaceflight of all time ....
 September 15, 1966 5 km
Gemini 12
Gemini 12

Gemini 12 was a 1966 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 10th manned Project Gemini flight, the 18th manned American flight and the 26th spaceflight of all time ....
 November 15, 1966 USS Wasp (CVS-18)
USS Wasp (CV-18)

USS Wasp was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the ninth US Navy ship to bear the name, was originally named Oriskany, but was renamed while under construction in honor of the previous , which was sunk 15 September 1942....
 5 km
Apollo 1
Apollo 1

Apollo 1 is the official name that was later given to the never-flown Apollo/Saturn 204 mission. Its command module was destroyed by fire during a test and training exercise on January 27 1967 at Pad 34 atop a Saturn IB rocket....
 March 7, 1967 Planned N of Puerto Rico USS Essex (CVS-9)**
USS Essex (CV-9)

USS Essex was an aircraft carrier, the lead ship of the 24-ship s built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name....
 Planned
Apollo 7
Apollo 7

Apollo 7 was the first manned mission in the Apollo program to be launched. It was an eleven-day Earth-orbital mission, the first manned launch of the Saturn IB launch vehicle, and the first three-man American space mission....
 October 22, 1968 USS Essex (CVS-9)
USS Essex (CV-9)

USS Essex was an aircraft carrier, the lead ship of the 24-ship s built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name....
 3 km
Apollo 8
Apollo 8

Apollo 8 was the first manned space voyage to achieve a velocity sufficient to allow escape from the gravitational field of planet Earth; the first to escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first manned voyage to return to planet Earth from another celestial body....
 December 27, 1968 USS Yorktown (CVS-10)
USS Yorktown (CV-10)

USS Yorktown is one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is named after the Battle of Yorktown of the American Revolutionary War, and is the the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name....
 2 km
Apollo 9
Apollo 9

Apollo 9 was the first manned flight of the Apollo Command/Service Module along with the Apollo Lunar Module . Its three-person crew of Mission Commander Jim McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott, and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart tested several aspects critical to landing on the moon including the LM engines, backpack life suppo...
 March 13, 1969 5 km
Apollo 10
Apollo 10

Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the Apollo program. The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon and an all-up test of the Apollo Lunar Module in lunar orbit....
 May 26, 1969 USS Princeton (CVS-37)
USS Princeton (CV-37)

USS Princeton was one of 24 s built during and shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the Revolutionary War Battle of Princeton....
 2.4 km
Apollo 11
Apollo 11

The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. It was the fifth human spaceflight of Apollo program and the third human voyage to the Moon....
 July 24, 1969 USS Hornet (CVS-12)
USS Hornet (CV-12)

USS Hornet is a United States Navy aircraft carrier of the Essex class aircraft carrier. Construction started in August 1942; she was originally named , but was renamed in honor of the , which was lost in October 1942, becoming the eighth ship to bear the name....
 3.1 km
Apollo 12
Apollo 12

Apollo 12 was the sixth manned mission in the Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon....
 November 24, 1969 USS Hornet (CVS-12)
USS Hornet (CV-12)

USS Hornet is a United States Navy aircraft carrier of the Essex class aircraft carrier. Construction started in August 1942; she was originally named , but was renamed in honor of the , which was lost in October 1942, becoming the eighth ship to bear the name....
 3.7 km
Apollo 13
Apollo 13

Apollo 13 was the third manned lunar-landing mission, part of Project Apollo under NASA in the United States. The crew members were Commander Jim Lovell, Command Module pilot Jack Swigert, and Lunar Module pilot Fred W....
 April 17, 1970 1.9 km
Apollo 14
Apollo 14

Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the Apollo program and the third mission to land on the Moon. The 9 day mission was launched on January 31 1971, with lunar touch down on February 5....
 February 9, 1971 1.1 km
Apollo 15
Apollo 15

Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the Apollo program and the fourth mission to land on the Moon. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous missions....
 August 7, 1971 1.9 km
Apollo 16
Apollo 16

Apollo 16 was the tenth manned mission in the Apollo program, the fifth mission to land on the Moon and the first to land in the highlands area....
 April 27, 1972 USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14)
USS Ticonderoga (CV-14)

USS Ticonderoga was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for historic Fort Ticonderoga, which played a role in the American Revolutionary War....
 5.6 km
Apollo 17
Apollo 17

Apollo 17 was the eleventh Human spaceflight in the NASA Apollo program. It was the first night launch of a United States human spaceflight and the sixth and final lunar landing mission of the Apollo program....
 December 19, 1972 USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14)
USS Ticonderoga (CV-14)

USS Ticonderoga was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for historic Fort Ticonderoga, which played a role in the American Revolutionary War....
 1.9 km
Skylab 2
Skylab 2

Skylab 2 was the first human spaceflight mission to Skylab, the first United States orbital space station. The mission was launched on a Saturn IB rocket and carried a three-person crew to the station....
 June 22, 1973 USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14)
USS Ticonderoga (CV-14)

USS Ticonderoga was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for historic Fort Ticonderoga, which played a role in the American Revolutionary War....
 9.6 km
Skylab 3
Skylab 3

Skylab 3 was the second human spaceflight mission to Skylab. The Skylab 3 mission started July 28, 1973, with the launch of three astronauts on the Saturn IB rocket, and lasted 59 days, 11 hours and 9 minutes....
 September 25, 1973 8 km?
Skylab 4
Skylab 4

Skylab 4 was the fourth Skylab mission and placed the third human spaceflight on board. It started November 16, 1973, with the launch of three astronauts on a Saturn IB rocket, and lasted 84 days, 1 hour and 16 minutes....
 February 8, 1974 8 km?
ASTP Apollo July 24, 1975 7.3 km
Soyuz 23
Soyuz 23

Soyuz 23 was slated to carry cosmonauts Vyacheslav Zudov and Valeri Rozhdestvenski to the Salyut 5 space station, presumably for an Almaz military objective....
 October 16, 1976 Lake Tengiz
Lake Tengiz

Lake Tengiz is a salt lake in north-central part of Kazakhstan. It is located at around . It has an area of 1,382 km?, average depth of 2.5 m and maximum depth of 6.7 m....
 Helicopter Mi-8
MI-8

MI-8 may refer to:* MI8, the WWII British signals intelligence agency* Mil Mi-8, the Soviet-designed helicopter* Mitten im 8en, an Austrian TV soap/comedy series...
 Not intended to land in water



Planned recovery ship **

Unmanned spacecraft

Spacecraft Landing Date Coordinates Recovery Ship Miss Distance
Jupiter AM-18 May 28, 1959 2,735 km SE Cape Canaveral USS ? km
Mercury-Big Joe
Big Joe 1

Big Joe 1 launched an unmanned Boilerplate Mercury program capsule from Cape Canaveral, FL. on September 9, 1959. The objective of "Big Joe" was to test the Mercury program spacecraft ablating Heat shield....
 September 9, 1959 2,407 km SE Cape Canaveral 925 km
Mercury-Little Joe 2
Little Joe 2

The Little Joe 2 was a test of the Mercury program capsule. It was the first American animal flight, carrying the Animals in space close to the edge of space....
 December 4, 1959 319 km SE Wallops Is, VA ? km
Mercury-Redstone 1A
Mercury-Redstone 1A

Mercury program-Redstone rocket 1A was launched on December 19, 1960 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida....
 December 19, 1960 378.2 km SE Cape Canaveral 33 km
Mercury-Redstone 2
Mercury-Redstone 2

Mercury program-Redstone rocket 2 was a rocket mission, launched at 16:55 UTC on January 31, 1961 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida....
 January 31, 1961 679 km SE Cape CanaveralDisplayLink("http://www.homestead.com/USSDONNERLSD20/index.html", "(*)") 111 km
Mercury-Atlas 2
Mercury-Atlas 2

Mercury program-Atlas rocket was launched unmanned on February 21, 1961 at 14:10 UTC, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida....
 February 21, 1961 2,305 km SE Cape CanaveralDisplayLink("http://www.homestead.com/USSDONNERLSD20/index.html", "(*)") 30? km
Mercury-Atlas 4
Mercury-Atlas 4

Mercury-Atlas 4 was an unmanned spaceflight of the Mercury program. It was launched on September 13, 1961 at 14:09 UTC from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida....
 September 13, 1961 320 km E of Bermuda 63 km
Mercury-Atlas 5
Mercury-Atlas 5

Mercury-Atlas 5 was an United States unmanned spaceflight of the Mercury program. It was launched on November 29, 1961 with Enos the Chimp, a chimpanzee, aboard....
 November 29, 1961 472 km SE of Bermuda 48 km
Gemini 2
Gemini 2

Gemini 2 was the second spaceflight of the American human spaceflight program Project Gemini. Gemini 2, like Gemini 1, was an unmanned mission intended as a Flight test of the Gemini spacecraft's Atmospheric reentry....
 January 19, 1965 USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39)
USS Lake Champlain (CV-39)

USS Lake Champlain was one of 24 s completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. She was one of the "long-hulled" ships, considered by some authorities to be a separate class, the ....
 38 km
Apollo 201
AS-201

AS-201 was the first flight of the Saturn IB launch vehicle....
 February 26, 1966 USS Boxer (LPH-4)
USS Boxer (CV-21)

USS Boxer was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. She was the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for a Capture of HMS Boxer during the War of 1812....
 72 km
Apollo 202
AS-202

AS-202 was a sub-orbital test flight of the Saturn IB and Apollo Command/Service Module. It is sometimes informally called Apollo 3....
 August 25, 1966 USS Hornet (CVS-12)
USS Hornet (CV-12)

USS Hornet is a United States Navy aircraft carrier of the Essex class aircraft carrier. Construction started in August 1942; she was originally named , but was renamed in honor of the , which was lost in October 1942, becoming the eighth ship to bear the name....
 370 km
Gemini 2-MOL
Manned Orbiting Laboratory

The Manned Orbital Laboratory was part of the United States Air Force's manned spaceflight program, a successor to the cancelled X-20 Dyna-Soar project....
 November 3, 1966 SE KSC near Ascension Is. 13 km
Apollo 4
Apollo 4

Apollo 4 was the first Unmanned space mission of the Saturn V launch vehicle. It was also the first flight of the S-IC and S-II stages of the rocket....
 November 9, 1967 USS Bennington (CVS-20)
USS Bennington (CV-20)

USS Bennington was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the American Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington....
 16 km
Apollo 6
Apollo 6

Apollo 6, launched on April 4, 1968, was the Apollo program's second and last unmanned test flight of its Saturn V launch vehicle....
 April 4, 1968 80 km
Zond 5
Zond 5

Zond 5, a member of the Soviet Union's Zond program, was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik in Earth parking orbit to make scientific studies during a lunar flyby and to return to Earth....
 September 21, 1968 Vasiliy Golovin
Zond 8
Zond 8

Zond 8, a member of the Soviet Union's Zond program, was launched from an Earth orbiting platform, Tyazheliy Sputnik , towards the Moon. The announced objectives were investigations of the moon and circumlunar space and testing of onboard systems and units....
 October 27, 1970 Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....



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