Vostok programme

The Vostok programme (Восто́к, translated as "East") was a Soviet human spaceflight project that succeeded in putting a person into Earth orbit for the first time. The programme developed the Vostok spacecraft from the Zenit spy satellite project and adapted the Vostok rocket from an existing ICBM design. Just before the first release of the name Vostok to the press, it was a classified word.

A series of prototype Vostoks, including at least five with animals and some with a test dummy aboard, were used to qualify the spacecraft for human flight. Dates given are dates of spacecraft launch.

Vostok spacecraft

• Sputnik 4 (Korabl-Sputnik 1) - May 15, 1960.
• Sputnik 5 (Korabl-Sputnik 2) - August 19, 1960.
• Sputnik 6 (Korabl-Sputnik 3) - December 1, 1960.
• Sputnik 9 (Korabl-Sputnik 4) - March 9, 1961.
• Sputnik 10 (Korabl-Sputnik 5) - March 25, 1961.

• Vostok 1 - April 12, 1961. First human spaceflight.
• Vostok 2 - August 6, 1961. First full day in space.
• Vostok 3 - August 11, 1962, and Vostok 4 - August 12, 1962. First dual flight.
• Vostok 5 - June 14, 1963. Longest solo spaceflight of the twentieth century.
• Vostok 6 - June 16, 1963. First woman in space.

Another seven Vostok flights were originally planned, going through to April of 1966, but these were cancelled and the components recycled into the Voskhod programme, which was intended more towards achieving Soviet "firsts" in space.

See also

• Vostok spacecraft
• Vostok rocket
• Voskhod programme
• Sergei Korolev

External links

• Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space: a game that simulates the Space Race