1971 Rocket Launch Recap

Our roundup of all the launches that happened in 1971, along with key stats, trends and info. You can learn more about our data, and how we present it here.

Include notable suborbital launches

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134

Total Launches

118

Successful Launches

Failed Launches

88.06%

Success Rate

Humans launched to space

Notable 1971 Achievements

🛰️ First crewed space station

🚙 First vehicle driven on the Moon

🪐 First spacecraft to orbit another planet (Mars)

🪐 First spacecraft to impact Mars

🪐 First soft landing on Mars

🪐 First signals received from the Martian surface

How 1971 Compares to Previous Years

There were 118 successful launch attempts in 1971 and 16 failed launch attempts. These figures include test/development launches, which are more prone to failure.

Rocket Launches by Year

By RocketLaunch.org

Launches by Nation in 1971

In 1971, companies and agencies from 5 Nations attempted launches, including Russia (91 launches), the United States (33 launches) and Europe (6 launches).

Total Rocket Launches by Nation in 1971

By RocketLaunch.org

Launches by Launch Service Providers in 1971

10 Launch Service Providers completed launches in 1971, including Soviet Space Program (91 launches), United States Air Force (28 launches) and NASA (5 launches).

Top 10 Space Launch Service Providers in 1971 by total launch count

By RocketLaunch.org

Launches by Launch Vehicle in 1971

37 different Launch Vehicles launched off in 1971. The top 3 were the Voskhod (31 launches), Kosmos-3M (11K65M) (20 launches) and Kosmos 11K63 (14 launches) launch vehicles.

Top 10 Launch Vehicles in 1971 by total launch count

By RocketLaunch.org

Launches by Launch Sites in 1971

Rockets launched from 12 Launch Sites in 1971. The most active launch sites were Plesetsk Cosmodrome (58 launches), Baikonur Cosmodrome (31 launches) and Vandenberg SFB (19 launches).

Top 10 Launch Sites in 1971

By RocketLaunch.org

Astronauts Launched by Nationality in 1971

In 1971, 12 humans from 2 nations were launched into space. These nations were Russia (6 astronauts) and the United States (6 astronauts).

Astronauts Launched by Nationality in 1971

By RocketLaunch.org

Where we launched to in 1971

We launched off to 5 different locations beyond earth in 1971 (including flybys). Most launches were to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) (117 launches), Geostationary Orbit (GEO) (6 launches) and Mars (5 launches).