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Saturn V | Apollo 8

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Dec. 21, 1968, 12:51 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Apollo 8 was the first flight of the mighty Saturn V launch vehicle key to human exploration of the moon. The three-astronaut crew — Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders. This Mission was the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon.

Low Earth Orbit
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Kosmos 11K63 | DS-U2-GK 1

Strategic Rocket Forces | Russia
Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation
Dec. 19, 1968, 11:55 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

The DS-U2-GK satellites were Soviet geophysical research satellites launched as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik program.

Low Earth Orbit
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Thor Delta M | INTELSAT III F-2

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
Dec. 19, 1968, 12:32 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

The Intelsat 3 spacecraft were used to relay commercial global telecommunications including live TV. Three of the 8 satellites in the series (F1, F5, F8) were unusable due to launch vehicle failures, and most of the remainder did not achieve their desired lifetimes.

Geostationary Orbit
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Molniya-M | Molniya-1Yu 15L

Russian Space Forces | Russia
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
Dec. 16, 1968, 9:15 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

The Molniya-1Yu satellites were modified Molniya-1 satellites to test and calibrate the deep space tracking systems of the Soviet lunar program.

Elliptical Orbit
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Thor Delta N | ESSA 8

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Dec. 15, 1968, 5:21 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

The ESSA series was the second generation of US meterological satellites after the TIROS (Television & Infra-Red Observation Satellite) series. They were also called OT (Operational TIROS), TOS (TIROS Operational Satellite).

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Kosmos 11K63 | DS-U2-I 3

Strategic Rocket Forces | Russia
Kapustin Yar, Russian Federation
Dec. 14, 1968, 5:09 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

The DS-U2-I satellites were Soviet ionospheric research satellites launched as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik program.

Low Earth Orbit
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Thorad SLV-2G Agena D | KH-4A 49

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Dec. 12, 1968, 10:22 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

The KH-4A (Keyhole-4A) was the fifth optical reconnaissance satellite version in the Corona-program.

Low Earth Orbit
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Voskhod | Zenit-2 69

Soviet Space Program | Russia
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
Dec. 10, 1968, 8:25 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Zenit-2 film-return and ELINT reconnaissance satellite.

Low Earth Orbit
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Atlas SLV-3C Centaur | OAO 2

Convair | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
Dec. 7, 1968, 8:40 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

OAO 2 (Orbiting Astronomical Observatory), also known as Stargazer, was one of a series of automated astronomical observatories that was ground controllable in orientation and was placed in a low-earth orbit.

Low Earth Orbit
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Thor Delta E1 | HEOS 1

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
Dec. 5, 1968, 6:55 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

HEOS 1 (Highly Eccentric Orbit Satellite) was an earth-orbiting, spin-stabilized satellite that was launched by ESA. The spacecraft objectives were to study interplanetary magnetic fields, cosmic rays, the solar wind, and the magnetosheath.

Elliptical Orbit
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