This timeline of spaceflight may require cleanup to ensure consistency with other timeline of spaceflight articles. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Spaceflight/Timeline of spaceflight working group for guidelines on how to improve the article. Details Concerns have been raised that:
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| 👁 Image The Pioneer Venus Orbiter atop an Atlas-Centaur before launch | |
| Orbital launches | |
|---|---|
| First | 6 January |
| Last | 28 December |
| Total | 128 |
| Catalogued | 124 |
| National firsts | |
| Space traveller | 👁 Image Czechoslovakia 👁 Image Poland 👁 Image East Germany DDR |
| Rockets | |
| Retirements | Atlas-Agena Mu-3H |
| Crewed flights | |
| Orbital | 5 |
| Total travellers | 10 |
1978 saw the launch of the Pioneer Venus missions launched by the United States, on 20 May and 8 August. The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe landed four spacecraft on the planet, one of which transmitted data for 67 minutes before being destroyed by atmospheric pressure. ISEE-C, which was launched on 8 December, flew past comet 21P/Giacobini–Zinner in 1985, and Halley's Comet in 1986.[1]
Launches
[edit]| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) |
Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | |||
| Remarks | ||||||||
January[edit] | ||||||||
| 10 January 12:26:00 |
👁 Soviet Union Soyuz-U |
👁 Soviet Union Baikonur Site 1/5 |
👁 Soviet Union | |||||
| 👁 Soviet Union Soyuz 27 |
Low Earth (Salyut 6) | Salyut 6 EP-1 | 16 March 11:18 |
Successful | ||||
| Crewed flight with two cosmonauts | ||||||||
| 20 January 08:25 |
👁 Soviet Union Soyuz-U |
👁 Soviet Union Baikonur Site 31/6 |
👁 Soviet Union | |||||
| 👁 Soviet Union Progress 1 |
Low Earth (Salyut 6) | Salyut 6 logistics | 8 February 02:00 |
Successful | ||||
| Maiden flight of Progress spacecraft. First in-orbit refuel, from Progress to Salyut 6, 2nd Feb. | ||||||||
| 26 January 04:58 |
👁 China Long March 2A |
Jiuquan, LA-2/138 | ||||||
| 👁 China FSW-0 3 |
Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 30 January | Successful | ||||
| Re-entry capsule recovered on 30 January. | ||||||||
February[edit] | ||||||||
| 4 February 07:00 |
👁 Japan M-3H |
👁 Japan Kagoshima Space Center LP-M |
ISAS | |||||
| 👁 Japan EXOS-A (Kyokko) |
ISAS | Highly elliptical orbit | Magnetosphere research | In orbit | Successful | |||
March[edit] | ||||||||
| 2 March 15:28:10 |
👁 Soviet Union Soyuz-U |
👁 Soviet Union Baikonur Site 1/5 |
👁 Soviet Union | |||||
| 👁 Soviet Union Soyuz 28 |
Low Earth (Salyut 6) | Salyut 6 EP-2 | 10 March 11:24 |
Successful | ||||
| Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, first Czechoslovak in space | ||||||||
May[edit] | ||||||||
| 20 May 13:13:00 |
👁 United States Atlas SLV-3D Centaur |
👁 United States Cape Canaveral LC-36A |
👁 United States | |||||
| 👁 United States Pioneer Venus Orbiter |
NASA/ARC | Cytherocentric | Venus orbiter | 22 October 1992 | Successful | |||
| Entered 181.6 x 66,360-km orbit around Venus on 4 December 1978. | ||||||||
June[edit] | ||||||||
| 15 June 20:16:45 |
👁 Soviet Union Soyuz-U |
👁 Soviet Union Baikonur Site 1/5 |
👁 Soviet Union | |||||
| 👁 Soviet Union Soyuz 29 |
Low Earth (Salyut 6) | Salyut 6 EO-2 | 31 September 11:40 |
Successful | ||||
| Crewed flight with two cosmonauts | ||||||||
| 16 June 10:49 |
👁 United States Delta 2914 |
👁 United States Cape Canaveral LC-17B |
👁 United States | |||||
| 👁 United States GOES 3 |
NOAA | Geostationary | Weather | In orbit | Successful | |||
| Decommissioned on 29 June 2016. | ||||||||
| 27 June 15:27:21 |
👁 Soviet Union Soyuz-U |
👁 Soviet Union Baikonur Site 1/5 |
👁 Soviet Union | |||||
| 👁 Soviet Union Soyuz 30 |
Low Earth (Salyut 6) | Salyut 6 EP-3 | 5 July 13:30 |
Successful | ||||
| Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, first Pole in space | ||||||||
August[edit] | ||||||||
| 8 August 07:33 |
👁 United States Atlas SLV-3D Centaur |
👁 United States Cape Canaveral LC-36A |
👁 United States | |||||
| 👁 United States Pioneer Venus Multiprobe Bus |
NASA/ARC | Heliocentric | Venus atmospheric probe | 9 December 1978 20:22:55 |
Successful | |||
| 👁 United States Pioneer Venus Large Probe |
NASA/ARC | Heliocentric | Venus atmospheric probe | 9 December 1978 19:39:53 |
Successful | |||
| 👁 United States Pioneer Venus North Probe |
NASA/ARC | Heliocentric | Venus atmospheric probe | 9 December 1978 19:42:40 |
Successful | |||
| 👁 United States Pioneer Venus Night Probe |
NASA/ARC | Heliocentric | Venus atmospheric probe | 9 December 1978 19:52:07 |
Successful | |||
| 👁 United States Pioneer Venus Day Probe |
NASA/ARC | Heliocentric | Venus atmospheric probe | 9 December 1978 20:55:34 |
Successful | |||
| Day Probe survived landing, sent data for an additional 67 minutes afterward. First American probe to send data from the surface of Venus. | ||||||||
| 12 August 14:12:00 |
👁 United States Delta 2914 |
👁 United States Cape Canaveral LC-17B |
👁 United States | |||||
| 👁 United States International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3)/International Cometary Explorer (ICE) |
NASA/ESRO | Sun/Earth L1 to Heliocentric | Probing interaction of Earth's magnetic field with solar wind, later cometary research | In orbit | Successful | |||
| First probe stationed at Sun/Earth L1 Lagrangian point. Later entered heliocentric orbit, encountering Comet Giacobini–Zinner on 11 September 1985. It would also study Halley's Comet from a distance in 1986. | ||||||||
| 26 August 14:51:30 |
👁 Soviet Union Soyuz-U |
👁 Soviet Union Baikonur Site 1/5 |
👁 Soviet Union | |||||
| 👁 Soviet Union Soyuz 31 |
Low Earth (Salyut 6) | Salyut 6 EP-4 | 2 November 11:04 |
Successful | ||||
| Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, first East German in space | ||||||||
September[edit] | ||||||||
| 16 September 05:00 |
👁 Japan M-3H |
👁 Japan Kagoshima Space Center LP-M |
👁 Japan ISAS | |||||
| 👁 Japan EXOS-B (Jikiken) |
ISAS | Highly elliptical orbit | Magnetosphere research | 23 April 2018 | Successful | |||
October[edit] | ||||||||
| 3 October 23:09:30 |
👁 Soviet Union Soyuz-U |
👁 Soviet Union Baikonur Site 31/6 |
👁 Soviet Union | |||||
| 👁 Soviet Union Progress 4 |
Low Earth (Salyut 6) | Salyut 6 logistics | 26 October 16:28 |
Successful | ||||
Deep Space Rendezvous
[edit]| Date (GMT) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 December | Pioneer Venus Orbiter | Cytherocentric orbit insertion | |
| 9 December | Pioneer Venus Multiprobe | Venerian atmospheric entry | The bus, one large and three small subprobes |
| 21 December | Venera 12 | Venerian landing | |
| 25 December | Venera 11 | Venerian landing |
EVAs
[edit]| Start date/time | Duration | End time | Spacecraft | Crew | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 July 04:00 |
2 hours 20 minutes |
06:20 | Salyut 6 PE-2 |
👁 Soviet Union Vladimir Kovalyonok 👁 Soviet Union Aleksandr Ivanchenkov |
Ivanchenkov retrieved samples and experiments attached to the outside of Salyut. Kovalyonok assisted with the retrievals and used a color television camera to transmit EVA images to the ground controllers. |
References
[edit]- Bergin, Chris. "NASASpaceFlight.com".
- Clark, Stephen. "Spaceflight Now".
- Kelso, T.S. "Satellite Catalog (SATCAT)". CelesTrak.
- Krebs, Gunter. "Chronology of Space Launches".
- Kyle, Ed. "Space Launch Report". Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
- McDowell, Jonathan. "GCAT Orbital Launch Log".
- Pietrobon, Steven. "Steven Pietrobon's Space Archive".
- Wade, Mark. "Encyclopedia Astronautica".
- Webb, Brian. "Southwest Space Archive".
- Zak, Anatoly. "Russian Space Web".
- "ISS Calendar". Spaceflight 101.
- "NSSDCA Master Catalog". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
- "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).
- "Rocket Launch Manifest". Next Spaceflight.
- "Space Launch Plans". Novosti Kosmonavtiki.
- "Space Satellite Tracking". N2YO.
Footnotes
[edit]- ^ Hughes, J (1996) Larousse Desk Reference Encloypedia London RD Press