1970 in spaceflight
# 1970 in spaceflight

Japan and China each launched their first satellites in 1970, bringing the total number of nations with independent launch capability to five.

Apollo 13 was launched; after suffering an explosion in deep space it had to circumnavigate the moon and use the LM as a life boat. Apollo 13 was a successful disaster in which the crew survived. The Soviet space program continued its Luna program with Luna 17, which delivered the robotic Lunokhod 1 rover to the lunar surface, and Luna 16, which achieved the first uncrewed lunar sample return. The Soviets also continued the success of the Venera Venus probes with Venera 7, the first man-made spacecraft to successfully land on another planet and to transmit data back to Earth, though it only survived 23 minutes on the surface.

## Launches

This is a list of spaceflights launched in 1970.

* ← Jan
* Feb
* Mar
* Apr
* May
* Jun
* Jul
* Aug
* Sep
* Oct
* Nov
* Dec →

| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | Launch site | LSP | LSP |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Date and time (UTC) | | Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) | Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome |
| Remarks ||||||
| February ||||||||
| 11 February | Lambda-4S | Lambda-4S | | Kagoshima | Kagoshima | Japan | Japan |
| 11 February | | Ohsumi | Tokyo University | Low Earth | Technology | 2 August 2003 | Successful |
| First satellite launched by Japan ||||||
| March ||||||||
| 3 March 21:15 | Black Arrow | Black Arrow | | Woomera | Woomera | RAE | RAE |
| 3 March 21:15 | | | RAE | Low Earth | Test LV | In orbit | Successful |
| April ||||||||
| 11 April 19:13 | Saturn V (C-5) | Saturn V (C-5) | | Kennedy LC-39A | Kennedy LC-39A | NASA | NASA |
| 11 April 19:13 | | Apollo 13 CSM Odyssey | NASA | Intended: Lunar orbit Actual: Lunar free return | Crewed lunar orbit. | 15 April 1970 | Failure |
| 11 April 19:13 | | Apollo 13 LM Aquarius | NASA | Intended: Lunar landing Actual: Lunar free return | Crewed lunar landing | 15 April 1970 | Failure |
| Explosion in Service Module crippled spacecraft, resulting in mission abort. Mission aborted due to CSM malfunction. LM used to help bring crew back to Earth. ||||||
| 24 April | Long March 1 Rocket | Long March 1 Rocket | | Jiuquan | Jiuquan | PRC | PRC |
| 24 April | | Dong Fang Hong I | PRC | Low Earth | Test satellite | In orbit | Successful |
| First satellite launched by China ||||||
| June ||||||||
| 1 June 19:00 | Soyuz (R-7/A-2) | Soyuz (R-7/A-2) | | Baikonur Site 1 | Baikonur Site 1 | RVSN | RVSN |
| 1 June 19:00 | | Soyuz 9 | RVSN | Low Earth | Crewed Orbital Spaceflight | 19 June 1970 11:58 | Successful |
| Longest Crewed flight involving only one spacecraft. (As of 09/06/06) ||||||
| 1 June 19:00 | Black Arrow | Black Arrow | | Woomera | Woomera | RAE | RAE |
| 1 June 19:00 | | Orba | RAE | Low Earth | Micrometeoroid detection satellite | In orbit | Failure |
| First British attempt to launch a satellite. Failed to reach orbit after premature 2nd stage cutout. ||||||
| September ||||||||
| 12 September 13:25 | Proton-K/D | Proton-K/D | | Baikonur 81/23 | Baikonur 81/23 | | |
| 12 September 13:25 | | Luna 16 | | Selenocentric | Lunar lander | 24 September | Successful |
| First uncrewed lunar sample return, first Soviet lunar sample return ||||||
| October ||||||||
| 20 October 19:55 | Proton-K/D | Proton-K/D | | Baikonur 81/23 | Baikonur 81/23 | | |
| 20 October 19:55 | | Zond 8 | | Highly elliptical | Spacecraft test | In orbit | Successful |
| Final circumlunar flight of the Zond program. ||||||
| December ||||||||
| 12 December 10:54 | Scout B | Scout B | | San Marco mobile range, Kenya | San Marco mobile range, Kenya | CNR | CNR |
| 12 December 10:54 | | Uhuru | NASA | Low Earth | X-ray astronomy | 5 April 1979 | Successful |
| First satellite dedicated to X-ray astronomy. ||||||

* ← Jan
* Feb
* Mar
* Apr
* May
* Jun
* Jul
* Aug
* Sep
* Oct
* Nov
* Dec →

## Launches from the Moon

| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | Launch site | LSP | LSP |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Date and time (UTC) | | Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) | Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome |
| Remarks ||||||
| 21 September 7:43 | Luna 16 Ascent stage | Luna 16 Ascent stage | | Mare Fecunditatis (Luna) | Mare Fecunditatis (Luna) | | |
| 21 September 7:43 | | Luna 16 Return capsule | | Highly elliptical | Sample return | 24 September 1970 | Successful |
| First uncrewed lunar sample return mission ||||||

## Deep Space Rendezvous

| Date (GMT) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
| - | - | - | - |
| 11 April 1970 | Apollo 13 S-IVB stage | Impacted the Moon | |
| 15 April | Apollo 13 | Lunar flyby at 254 kilometres (158 mi) | Intended lunar landing, forced to abort and return to Earth using lunar free return trajectory |
| 20 September | Luna 16 | 100gm from Mare Fecunditatis | First sample return mission |
| 24 October | Zond 8 | Circumlunar flight of the Moon 1,110 kilometres (690 mi) | |
| 17 November | Luna 17 | Delivered Lunokhod 1 at Mare Imbrium | First robotic Lunar rover |
| 15 December | Venera 7 | Atmospheric probe worked for 23 min on the Venerian surface | First soft landing on another planet |
