January 16 


16 January 1969

Artist's depiction of the crew transfer EVA between Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 spacecraft

On January 16, 1969, the Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 conducted the first docking of two crewed spacecraft, and the first crew transfer between space vehicles. 

   Soyuz 4, piloted by pilot-cosmonaut Vladimir A. Shatalov (1927–2021) was launched on January 14, 1969, and Soyuz 5 was launched on January 15, with a crew of three men – Boris Volynov (born 1934), Commander, Aleksey Yeliseyev (born 1934), Flight Engineer, and Yevgeniy Khrunov (1933–2000), Research Engineer. 

   During the 34th orbit of Soyuz 4 and the 18th orbit of Soyuz 5, the automatic docking system brought the ships to within 99 m of one another, and cosmonaut Shatalov of Soyuz 4 completed the docking maneuver manually. Cosmonauts Khrunov and Yeliseyev passed into the orbital compartment of their ship, donned pressure suits, opened the outer hatch, and conducted a 37-minute transfer from Soyuz 5 on the exterior of the spacecraft to the opened hatch of Soyuz 4. Television cameras recorded the entire procudure both inside and outside the ships. The two spacecraft separated after 4 hours 33 minutes and 49 seconds of joint flight.

Soyuz 4 as seen from Soyuz 5 during the rendezvous. Credit: Roscosmos

Aleksey Yeliseyev transfers from Soyuz 5 to Soyuz 4

Soyuz 4 undocks from Soyuz 5

Diagram illustrating the EVA crew transfer between the docked spacecraft


© 2026, Andrew Mirecki


16 January 2025

New Glenn NG-1 mission liftoff. Credit: Blue Origin

New Glenn, a partially-reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured by Blue Origin, made its the maiden flight (mission NG-1) on January 16. 2025, from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36. 

   The vehicle successfully reached orbit, injecting the GS-2 upper stage and the Blue Ring Pathfinder payload into medium earth orbit, but the first stage of New Glenn (GS-1) was lost on descent during the recovery attempt. Telemetry showed that the booster was traveling at an approximate speed of Mach 5.5 at an altitude of 25.7 km before it was deemed lost.

New Glenn on the launch pad before its maiden flight. Credit: Blue Origin


© 2026, Andrew Mirecki


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