Manned space missions

During the 1950s, there was a "space rate" between the USA and USSR to be the first country to send a human into space. NASA's Mercury missions were originally unmanned, or carried only animals.The USSR launched the first man into orbit in 1961.

Each country's subsequent space missions had different aims . The USA focused on Moon landings with their Apollo programme and later the re-usable space shuttle . The Soviets and later Russia concentrated on  long duration missions , with the Mir space station.The latest manned mission is the International Space Station, which is four times larger than Mir.

Mission                              Country                                Years
Mercury                             USA                                     1959-63
Vostok                               USSR                                   1961-63
Voskhod                            USSR                                   1964-65
Gemini                               USA                                      1965-66
Apollo                               USA                                      1967-72
Soyuz                                USSR                                    1967-76
Salyut                                USSR                                    1971-82
Skylab                               USA                                      1973
Apollo Soyuz                     USA/USSR                           1975
Space shuttle                      USA                                     1981
Mir space station                USSR/Russia                         1986-2001
International space             USA,Canada,Japan,               1998-
station                               European Space Agency,
                                         Russia,Brazil
Shenzhou                          China                                       2003-2012

Manned space missions