1963

Vostok 5
The Soviets launched Vostok 5 on June 14 with Valery F. Bykovsky aboard. He completed his mission after 5 days, the longest period one human has ever done throughout spaceflight history. However, he was brought back ahead of schedule due to the occurrence of a large solar flare.

First woman in space
Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to fly in space on June 16, when Vostok 6 was successfully launched. She had been part of a 5-woman team that joined the cosmonaut team, undergoing the same training as their male counterparts. She remained in o rbit until June 19, where she parachuted from her spacecraft back onto solid land.

The last of the Mercury missions
The last of the Mercury Program wasflown by Gordon Cooper on May 15. He spent 34 hours in space, but as he was about to return, the Mercury capsule's electrical power failed, requiring Cooper to manually align his craft for reentry. He managed to do that and landed within view of the recovery carrier. The Mercury Program was a huge success.

First geosynchronous communications satellite
On July 26, Syncom 2 became the world's first geosynchronous communications satellite. The U.S. received television pictures from this satellite during the 1964 Olympics in Japan. This success was followed by Syncom 3 in 1964 and the world's first commerc ial communications satellite known as Early Bird, also known as INTELSAT 1.

Mars 1
Launched by the Soviets, Mars 1 became the first spacecraft to fly by Mars.