1976 in spaceflight
![]() | |
| Orbital launches | |
|---|---|
| First | 6 January |
| Last | 28 December |
| Total | 131 |
| Catalogued | 128 |
| National firsts | |
| Satellite | |
| Rockets | |
| Maiden flights | Thor DSV-2U |
| Retirements | Voskhod Scout B-1 Soyuz Soyuz-M Thor-Burner Luna sample return ascent stage |
| Crewed flights | |
| Orbital | 3 |
| Total travellers | 6 |
The following is an outline of 1976 in spaceflight.
Launches
| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payload | Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | ||
| Remarks | |||||||
January | |||||||
| 6 January 04:52 |
Plesetsk Site 132/1 | ||||||
| Low Earth | SIGINT | 12 December 1980 | Successful | ||||
| 7 January 15:34 |
Plesetsk Site 43/3 | ||||||
| GRU USSR | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 20 January | Successful | |||
| 15 January 05:34:00 |
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| NASA / DFVLR | Heliocentric | Solar probe | In orbit | Successful | |||
| Achieved a closest approach to the Sun of 43.432 million km (0.29 AU) on 17 April 1976, the closest approach achieved by an artificial satellite; it was succeeded by the Parker Solar Probe in 2018. | |||||||
| 17 January 23:27 |
D-119 | ||||||
| NASA / CSA | Geosynchronous | Experimental communications | In orbit | Successful | |||
| 20 January 17:07 |
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| Low Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 22 January 11:38 |
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| Molniya orbit | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 22 January 22:26 |
Plesetsk Site 132/1 | ||||||
| Low Earth | SIGINT | 12 November 1980 | Successful | ||||
| 28 January 10:39 |
Plesetsk Site 132/1 | ||||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 29 January 08:30 |
Baikonur Site 31/6 | ||||||
| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 10 February | Successful | |||
| 29 January 23:56 |
AC-37 | ||||||
| Intelsat | Geostationary | Communications | In orbit | Successful | |||
February | |||||||
| 3 February 08:16 |
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| Low Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 4 February 06:00 |
Kagoshima Space Center LP-M | ISAS | |||||
| Corsa A | ISAS | Low Earth | X-ray astronomy | 4 February | Failure | ||
| 5 February 14:30 |
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| Low Earth | Radar calibration | 5 January 1978 | Successful | ||||
| 11 February 08:50 |
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| GRU | Low Eath | Reconnaissance | 25 February | Successful | |||
| 12 February 13:00 |
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| Low Earth | ASAT target | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Target for Kosmos 804 and 814 | |||||||
| 16 February 08:29 |
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| Low Earth | ASAT test | 16 February | Successful | ||||
| 19 February 07:52 |
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| USAF | Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) | Weather | 19 February | Failure | |||
| Thor stage not loaded with enough fuel due to typo in engine data sheet. The satellite was placed in much lower orbit and re-entered after one orbit | |||||||
| 19 February 22:32 |
D-120 | ||||||
| Marisat | Geostationary | Communications | In orbit | Successful | |||
| 20 February 14:01 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 11 March | Successful | |||
| 29 February 03:30:00 |
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| ISAS | Low Earth | Ionospheric research | In orbit | Successful | |||
| First launch completed on February 29 | |||||||
March | |||||||
| 10 March 08:00 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 23 March | Successful | |||
| 11 March 19:45 |
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| Molniya | Communications | 10 October 1990 | Successful | ||||
| 12 March 13:30 |
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| Low Earth | Radar calibration | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 15 March 01:25:40[2] |
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| MIT Lincoln Laboratory | Geostationary | Technology demonstration | In orbit | Successful | |||
| MIT Lincoln Laboratory | Geostationary | Technology demonstration | In orbit | Successful | |||
| NRL | High Earth orbit | Heliophysics | In orbit | Successful | |||
| NRL | High Earth orbit | Heliophysics | In orbit | Successful | |||
| LES-8 was decommissioned in 2004; LES-9, the last Lincoln Experimental Satellite, continued functioning for 44 years and was finally decommissioned in 2020.[1] | |||||||
| 16 March 17:22 |
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| Low Earth | SIGINT | 20 November 1993 | Successful | ||||
| 18 March 09:15 |
Kosmos 809 | Baikonur Site 31/6 | |||||
| Kosmos 809 (Zenit-2M/Gektor 65) | GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 30 March | Successful | ||
| 19 March 19:31 |
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| Molniya | Communications | 14 May 1985 | Successful | ||||
| 22 March 18:14 |
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| NRO | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 18 May | Successful | |||
| 26 March 15:00 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 8 April | Successful | |||
| 26 March 22:47 |
D-121 | ||||||
| RCA Americom | Geostationary | Communications | In orbit | Successful | |||
| 31 March 12:50 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 12 April | Successful | |||
April | |||||||
| 6 April 04:14 |
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| Low Earth | SIGINT | 30 October 1980 | Successful | ||||
| 7 April 13:05 |
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| Low Earth | Weather | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 9 April 08:30 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 21 April | Successful | |||
| 13 April 17:15 |
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| Low Earth | ASAT test | 13 March | Successful | ||||
| 22 April 20:46 |
D-122 | ||||||
| NATO | Geostationary | Military communications | In orbit | Successful | |||
| 28 April 09:30 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 11 May | Successful | |||
| 28 April 13:30 |
Plesetsk Site 132/1 | ||||||
| Low Earth | Radar calibration | 24 November 1979 | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Radar calibration | 1977 | |||||
| 30 April 19:12 |
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| US Navy | Low Earth | Satellite deployment | In orbit | Successful | |||
| US Navy | Low Earth | Ocean surveillance, ELINT | In orbit | Successful | |||
| US Navy | Low Earth | Ocean surveillance, ELINT | In orbit | Successful | |||
| US Navy | Low Earth | Ocean surveillance, ELINT | In orbit | Successful | |||
May | |||||||
| 4 May 08:00 |
D-123 | ||||||
| NASA | Medium Earth orbit | Geodesy | In orbit | Successful | |||
| 5 May 07:50 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 18 May | Successful | |||
| 12 May 17:57 |
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| Molniya | Communications | 4 February 1990 | Successful | ||||
| 13 May 22:28 |
AC-38 | ||||||
| COMSAT | Geostationary | Communications | In orbit | Successful | |||
| 15 May 13:30 |
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| Low Earth | Weather, Earth observation | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 18 May 10:59 |
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| Low Earth | Radar calibration | 7 March 1977 | Successful | ||||
| 20 May 09:00 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 1 June | Successful | |||
| 21 May 07:00 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 2 June | Successful | |||
| 22 May 07:42 |
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| STP | Low Earth | Ionosphere research | In orbit | Successful | |||
| 26 May 09:00 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 8 June | Successful | |||
| 28 May 15:00 |
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| Low Earth | Radar calibration | 8 August 1978 | Successful | ||||
June | |||||||
| 2 June 20:56 |
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| NRO | Highly elliptical | Data relay | In orbit | Successful | |||
| 2 June 22:30 |
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| Low Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 8 June 07:00 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 21 June | Successful | |||
| 10 June 00:09 |
D-124 | ||||||
| Marisat | Geostationary | Communications | In orbit | Successful | |||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 16 June 13:09 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 29 June | Successful | |||
| 19 June 16:00 |
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| Interkosmos | Low Earth | Test spacecraft | 18 November 1979 | Successful | |||
| Cooperative project of Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Hungary, Poland and the USSR | |||||||
| 22 June 18:04:00 |
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| Low Earth | Space station | 8 August 1977 | Successful | ||||
| Visited by three crews, one of which failed to dock | |||||||
| 24 June 07:10 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 6 July | Successful | |||
| 26 June 03:00 |
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| USAF | Geostationary | Missile early warning | In orbit | Successful | |||
| 29 June 07:20 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 12 July | Successful | |||
| Final flight of the Voskhod | |||||||
| 29 June 08:12 |
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| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
July | |||||||
| 1 July 08:05 |
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| Molniya (planned) Low Earth (achieved) |
Communications | 18 November 1983 | Partial failure | ||||
| Malfunction of Blok ML upper stage, the satellite placed in the much lower orbit | |||||||
| 2 July 10:30 |
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| Low Earth | Ocean surveillance, ELINT | 23 August 1977 | Successful | ||||
| 6 July 12:08:45 |
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| Low Earth (Salyut 5) | Salyut expedition | 24 August 18:32:17 |
Partial mission failure | ||||
| Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, final flight of Soyuz 11A511, returned early due to crew illness | |||||||
| 8 July 18:30 |
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| NRO | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 13 December | Successful | |||
| Low Earth | ELINT, SIGINT | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| STP | Highly elliptical | Magnetosphere research | 24 April 1986 | Successful | |||
| Ursala was deployed from KH-9 | |||||||
| 8 July 21:08 |
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| Low Earth | ASAT target | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Target for Kosmos 843 | |||||||
| 8 July 23:31 |
D-125 | ||||||
| Perumtel | Geostationary | Communications | In orbit | Successful | |||
| First Indonesian satellite | |||||||
| 14 July 09:00 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 26 July | Successful | |||
| 15 July 13:11 |
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| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 21 July 10:20 |
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| Low Earth | Geodesy | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 21 July 15:14 |
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| Low Earth | ASAT test | 22 July | Successful | ||||
| 22 July 15:40 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 30 August | Successful | |||
| 22 July 22:04 |
AC-40 | ||||||
| COMSAT | Geostationary | Communications | In orbit | Successful | |||
| 23 July 15:49 |
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| Molniya | Communications | 30 May 1987 | Successful | ||||
| 27 July 05:21 |
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| Low Earth | SIGINT | 15 November 1980 | Successful | ||||
| 27 July 12:00 |
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| Interkosmos | Low Earth | Aeronomy, solar research | 10 July 1979 | Successful | |||
| Cooperative project of Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Sweden and the USSR | |||||||
| 29 July 17:07 |
D-126 | ||||||
| NOAA | SSO | Weather | In orbit | Successful | |||
| 29 July 20:02 |
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| Low Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Successful | ||||
August | |||||||
| 4 August 13:40 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 17 August | Successful | |||
| 6 August 22:21 |
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| NRO | Highly elliptic | Data relay | 18 April 2020 | Successful | |||
| 9 August 12:08:45 |
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| Selenocentric | Lunar lander | 22 August | Successful | ||||
| Third uncrewed lunar sample return, Third Soviet lunar sample return | |||||||
| 12 August 13:30 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 25 August | Successful | |||
| Low Earth | Research | ||||||
| 18 August 09:30 |
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| Low Earth | Radar calibration | 24 April 1978 | Successful | ||||
| 26 August 10:59 |
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| Low Earth | Radar calibration | 16 May 1977 | Successful | ||||
| 27 August 14:34 |
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| Low Earth | SIGINT | 5 August 1989 | Successful | ||||
| 28 August 09:00 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 10 September | Successful | |||
| 30 August 11:45 |
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| Elliptical low Earth orbit | Unknown | 25 November 1978 | Successful | ||||
| Apogee much higher than intended. | |||||||
September | |||||||
| 1 September 03:23 |
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| Molniya (intended) Low Earth (achieved) |
Communications | 31 December | Partial failure | ||||
| Malfunction of the Blok ML upper stage, the satellite placed to the much lower orbit | |||||||
| 1 September 21:14 |
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| US Navy | Low Earth | Navigation | 30 May 1981 | Successful | |||
| 3 September 09:20 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 16 September | Successful | |||
| 11 September 08:00 |
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| USAF | SSO | Weather | In orbit | Successful | |||
| 11 September 18:24 |
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| Geostationary | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 15 September 09:48:30 |
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| Low Earth | Salyut expedition | 23 September 07:40:47 |
Successful | ||||
| Crewed flight with two cosmonauts | |||||||
| 15 September 18:50 |
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| NRO | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 5 November | Successful | |||
| 21 September 11:40 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 3 October | Successful | |||
| 22 September 09:30 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 5 October | Successful | |||
| Low Earth | Research | ||||||
| 24 September 15:00 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 7 November | Successful | |||
| 29 September 07:04 |
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| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
October | |||||||
| 4 October 11:00 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 4 October | Failure | |||
| One of liquid rocket boosters prematurely detached from the core stage, the launch vehicle lost stability. Thrust termination command was issued at T+94 s | |||||||
| 10 October 09:35 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 21 October | Successful | |||
| 14 October 17:39:18 |
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| Low Earth (Intended: Salyut 5) | Salyut expedition | 16 October 17:45:53 |
Spacecraft failure | ||||
| Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, failed to dock with Salyut 5 | |||||||
| 14 October 22:44 |
D- | ||||||
| Marisat | Geostationary | Communications | In orbit | Successful | |||
| 15 October 22:59 |
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| Low Earth | Weather | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 17 October 18:06 |
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| Low Earth | Radar ocean surveillance | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 21 October 16:53 |
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| Low Earth | Radar ocean surveillance | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 22 October 09:11 |
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| Molniya | Missile early warning | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 25 October 14:30 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 5 November | Successful | |||
| 26 October 14:50 |
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| Geostationary | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 29 October 12:39 |
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| Low Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Successful | ||||
November | |||||||
| 1 November 11:20 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 13 November | Successful | |||
| 10 November 09:05 |
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| Low Earth | Unknown | 10 November | Failure | ||||
| Engine on the second stage malfunctioned, reducing thrust. | |||||||
| 11 November 10:45 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 23 November | Successful | |||
| 23 November 16:27 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 6 December | Successful | |||
| 25 November 03:59 |
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| Highly elliptical | Magnetoshpere and solar research | 12 July 1979 | Successful | ||||
| 26 November 14:30 |
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| Low Earth | Ocean surveillance, ELINT | 8 July 1978 | Successful | ||||
| 29 November 16:04 |
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| Low Earth | Uncrewed test of Soyuz-T spacecraft | 17 December 10:31 |
Successful | ||||
December | |||||||
| 2 December 00:17 |
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| Low Earth | SIGINT | 20 December 1980 | Successful | ||||
| 2 December 02:44 |
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| Molniya | Communications | 18 January 1991 | Successful | ||||
| 7 December 04:38 |
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| Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 2 December | Successful | ||||
| Re-entry capsule recovered on 9 December | |||||||
| 7 December 10:23 |
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| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 9 December 10:00 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 22 December | Successful | |||
| 9 December 20:00 |
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| Low Earth | ASAT target | 31 August 1991 | Successful | ||||
| Target for Kosmos 886 | |||||||
| 15 December 01:30 |
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| Low Earth | Uncrewed test of TKS-VA spacecraft | 15 December | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Uncrewed test of TKS-VA spacecraft | 15 December | Successful | ||||
| Test flight of two VA capsules without FGB service modules | |||||||
| 15 December 13:59 |
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| Low Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 17 December 09:30 |
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| GRU | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 29 December | Successful | |||
| 17 December 12:00 |
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| Low Earth | Radar calibration | 14 October 1979 | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth | Radar calibration | 1977-1978 | |||||
| 19 December 18:19 |
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| NRO | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 28 January 1979 | Successful | |||
| 27 December 12:05 |
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| Low Earth | ASAT test | In orbit | Successful | ||||
| 28 December 06:38 |
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| Molniya | Communications | 19 March 1990 | Successful | ||||
| 28 December 07:49 |
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| Low Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Successful | ||||
Launches from the Moon
| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) |
Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | ||
| Remarks | |||||||
| 19 August 5:25 |
Mare Crisium (Luna) | ||||||
| Highly elliptical | Sample return | 22 August 1976 | Successful | ||||
| Third uncrewed lunar sample return mission | |||||||
Deep space rendezvous
| Date | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 June | Viking 1 | Areocentric orbit insertion | |
| 20 July | Viking 1 Lander | landed in Chryse Planitia | |
| 7 August | Viking 2 | Areocentric orbit insertion | |
| 18 August | Luna 24 | landed in Mare Crisium | sample return mission |
| 19 August | Luna 24 | lift-off from Mare Crisium | 170 grams (6.0 oz) |
| 3 September | Viking 2 Lander | landed in Utopia Planitia |
References
- 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.
Footnotes
- ^ Ryan, Dorothy (27 May 2020). "Lincoln Laboratory decommissions Lincoln Experimental Satellite–9". MIT. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathan's Space Report. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
