These aren’t every single crewed space mission that set records; however, what these are include are some of the most famous crewed space missions that the public would probably be familiar with. These missions are famous because they were firsts or other reasons that have major implications for spaceflight. Every crew member sent into space deserves to be recognized, regardless of how long they spent in space. For famous unscrewed missions in history, check out this article. This will probably need to be updated if or when humanity returns to the moon and flies to Mars.

Vostok 1

the first spaceflight of the Vostok programme and the first human orbital spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA space capsule was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 12, 1961, with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin aboard, making him the first human to reach orbital velocity around the Earth and to complete a full orbit around the Earth. This showed the world that the Soviets could put people safely into space and return them. A huge triumph for the Soviet Union and spacecraft. In honor of this event, Yuris Night is celebrated.

Vostok 6

The last of the Soviet Vostok missions, which saw multiple records set as firsts, saw the first woman launched into space. The capsule is now on display at the RKK Energia Museum in Korolyov.

Apollo 1, STS-51-L: Space Shuttle Challenger, and other failures

Although these missions are more notable for their failures than successes, they are still famous because of these failures. These failures helped NASA and other organizations fix issues that weren’t considered. It was unfortunate to have these events and the loss of life.

Apollo 8

Occurring in December 21–27, 1968, April 8th was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing, and then departed safely back to Earth. In addition to reading from the book of Genesis on Christmas in orbit around the moon, they took the famous Earthrise photo!

Apollo 11

No list could exclude this historic mission! Its primary objective was to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961: perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth. It did this masterfully, with this being the result of hard work of many brilliant engineers and others!

Apollo 13

Famous for its successful return to Earth and heroism by the astronauts and ground crew, Apollo 13 was the 3rd crewed mission to the moon by NASA. Although unsuccessful in their primary goal of landing on the moon, the successful return to Earth not only renewed the public interest in the project, but also helped NASA improve testing for the remaining Apollo missions to ensure safety.

Apollo 17

This entry is on this list of famous crewed space missions because a photo taken on the mission has become so iconic. The last Apollo mission to the moon saw the only geologist lane on the moon as part of the Apollo program and completed several important scientific missions. However, what most people would remember this mission for is the Blue Marble photo below; which has become one of the most reproduced photos in all of human history! This is because the image prompted an increased awareness of environmental issues.

Commercial Crew Launch By SpaceX

Although the awarding of the commercial crew missions to Boeing and SpaceX are huge milestones on their own, the delivery of such services are an even larger historical achievement! By having private companies be able to fill services and needs of crewed space missions safely and reliably is crucial to the growth of the space industry.

Check out our article on famous comets after reading those one! Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram.