Zond 5 circles the Moon first
1968 · Event
A Soviet probe loops around the Moon and returns to Earth carrying tortoises, the first living creatures to travel to the Moon and back — and a warning shot that Moscow may still send men first. NASA's answer is to gamble Apollo 8 on a crewed lunar orbit three months later.
On these timelines: The Space Race, Russia & the USSR, Master
More from The Space Race
- Apollo 11 moon landing (1969)
- Sputnik launch (1957)
- Yuri Gagarin: first human in space (1961)
- Apollo program announcement (1961)
- Kennedy's 'We choose to go to the Moon' speech (1962)
- 'One small step': the Moonwalk broadcast (1969)
- Apollo 17 leaves the Moon (1972)
- Gemini 6 and 7 rendezvous in orbit (1965)
Around 1968
- Watergate scandal (1972)
- Iranian Revolution (1978)
- Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
- Yom Kippur War (1973)
- Prague Spring (1968)
- Vietnam War (American phase) (1965)
- The Troubles (1968)
- Six-Day War (1967)
- The Beatles (1960)
- Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody (1975)