1958 in spaceflight
 | |
| Orbital launches | |
|---|---|
| First | 1 February |
| Last | 18 December |
| Total | 28 |
| Successes | 6 |
| Failures | 20 |
| Partial failures | 2 |
| Catalogued | 8 |
| National firsts | |
| Spaceflight | .svg/1280px-Flag_of_Canada_(1957%E2%80%931965).svg.png){kind=small} Canada |
| Satellite | .svg/1280px-Flag_of_the_United_States_(1912-1959).svg.png){kind=small} United States |
| Orbital launch | United States |
| Rockets | |
| Maiden flights | Juno I Sputnik Pilot Thor-Able Luna Juno II Atlas B |
| Retirements | Sputnik Pilot Juno I |
Explorer 1 was the first American satellite to reach orbit on 31 January 1958.[1]
Overview
Orbital and Suborbital flights
Orbital launch statistics
By country
| Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Soviet Union | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | |
| United States | 23 | 5[a] | 16 | 2 | |
By rocket
By type and configuration
| Rocket | Country | Type | Family | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlas B | United States | SM-65 Atlas | Atlas | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight, only orbital launch |
| Juno I | United States | Jupiter-C | Redstone | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Juno II | United States | Juno | Jupiter | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Maiden flight |
| Luna | Soviet Union | Vostok | R-7 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Pilot II | United States | Pilot | NOTS-EV | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | Only flights |
| Sputnik 8A91 | Soviet Union | Sputnik | R-7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Only flights |
| Thor DM-18 Able-I | United States | Thor-Able | Thor | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | Maiden flight |
| Vanguard | United States | Vanguard | Viking | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
By family
| Family | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlas | United States | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | First orbital launch |
| Redstone | United States | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | First orbital launch |
| Jupiter | United States | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Maiden flight |
| NOTS-EV | United States | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | Only orbital launches |
| R-7 | Soviet Union | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | |
| Thor | United States | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | Maiden flight |
| Viking | United States | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
By launch site
| Site | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baikonur | Soviet Union | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | |
| Cape Canaveral | United States | 17 | 5 | 10 | 2 | |
| Point Mugu | United States | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
By orbit
| Orbital regime | Launches | Successes | Failures | Accidentally achieved | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catalogued suborbital | N/A | N/A | N/A | 2 | Pioneer 1 and Pioneer 3 went more than 100000 km on their way to the Moon but were ultimately suborbital due to insufficient velocity. |
| Low Earth | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| Medium Earth | 17 | 4 | 13 | 0 | |
| Heliocentric | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
See also
References
- ^ First successful orbital launch
- Bergin, Chris. "NASASpaceFlight.com".
- Clark, Stephen. "Spaceflight Now".
- Kelso, T.S. "Satellite Catalog (SATCAT)". CelesTrak.
- Krebs, Gunter. "Chronology of Space Launches".
- Kyle, Ed. "Space Launch Report". Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
- McDowell, Jonathan. "GCAT Orbital Launch Log".
- Pietrobon, Steven. "Steven Pietrobon's Space Archive".
- Wade, Mark. "Encyclopedia Astronautica".
- Webb, Brian. "Southwest Space Archive".
- Zak, Anatoly. "Russian Space Web".
- "ISS Calendar". Spaceflight 101.
- "NSSDCA Master Catalog". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
- "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).
- "Rocket Launch Manifest". Next Spaceflight.
- "Space Launch Plans". Novosti Kosmonavtiki.
- "Space Satellite Tracking". N2YO.
Footnotes
- ^ "Orbital Launches of 1958". space.skyrocket.de. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
