On this day in space! Oct. 12, 1964: The Soviet Union launches Voskhod 1, the 1st multi-person cosmonaut crew, into space
On Oct. 12, 1964, the Soviet Union launched Voskhod 1, a 24-hour crewed mission that achieved several "firsts" for human spaceflight. Here's why it mattered.
On October 12, 1964, the Soviet Union successfully launched Voskhod 1, marking the first multi-person mission in space history. This historic flight carried three cosmonauts - Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov, and Boris Yegorov - into orbit for a 24-hour journey. The mission initially had only room for two crew members, but political pressure from Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev forced the Russian space program to accommodate an additional cosmonaut.
This pioneering flight set several firsts in human spaceflight, including being the first mission without spacesuits, as the crew members did not wear traditional launch and landing suits. The lack of spacesuits added significant risk during launch and re-entry. During their time in space, the Soviet cosmonauts conducted experiments on the behavior of liquids and gases in microgravity, as well as photographed the Earth.
While NASA was developing their own two-person Gemini spacecraft, Voskhod 1's groundbreaking mission signaled a shift in the space race, with NASA launching their multi-crew Gemini 3 mission about six months later on March 23, 1965.
Written by urgent.news from Space.com's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
