Space Travel Statistics

Here is a collection of some of the most interesting space travel statistics and facts I have stumbled across in my internet travels. These posts cover both the industry and individual companies and organizations.

Space Travel Fun Facts

1. The first human in space was Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut, who orbited the Earth aboard Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961.
2. The first American astronaut to orbit the Earth was John Glenn, who completed three orbits on February 20, 1962, aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft.
3. The first moon landing was on July 20, 1969, by the Apollo 11 mission, with astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin.
4. The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest human-made object in space, with a mass of over 400 metric tons and a length of 109 meters.
5. Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel to space, aboard the Soviet Vostok 6 mission in 1963.
6. The space shuttle Columbia was the first reusable spacecraft to be launched into space, on April 12, 1981.
7. The first privately-funded spacecraft to reach space was SpaceShipOne, which completed two successful flights in 2004.
8. The farthest distance traveled by humans from Earth was during the Apollo 13 mission, when the crew reached a distance of approximately 400,000 km from Earth.
9. The fastest human-made object ever launched was the Parker Solar Probe, which reached a speed of over 430,000 miles per hour in 2021.
10. The first commercial spaceflight carrying civilians was launched by SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft in September 2021, with a crew of four passengers.

Specific Space Travel Company Statistics Pages

Stat posts here are added, edited and updated almost daily, so be sure to check back often!