1978 in spaceflight

Summary

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]

1978 in spaceflight
The Pioneer Venus Orbiter atop an Atlas-Centaur before launch
Orbital launches
First6 January
Last28 December
Total128
Catalogued124
National firsts
Space traveller Czechoslovakia
 Poland
 East Germany DDR
Rockets
RetirementsAtlas-Agena
Mu-3H
Crewed flights
Orbital5
Total travellers10

Launches edit

Date and time (UTC) Rocket Flight number Launch site LSP
Payload
(⚀ = CubeSat)
Operator Orbit Function Decay (UTC) Outcome
Remarks
10 January
12:26:00
 Soyuz-U  Baikonur Site 1/5  
 Soyuz 27 Low Earth (Salyut 6) Salyut 6 EP-1 16 March
11:18
Successful
Crewed flight with two cosmonauts
20 January
08:25
 Soyuz-U  Baikonur Site 31/6  
 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.
2 March
15:28:10
 Soyuz-U  Baikonur Site 1/5  
 Soyuz 28 Low Earth (Salyut 6) Salyut 6 EP-2 10 March
11:24
Successful
Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, first Czechoslovakian in space
20 May
13:13:00
 Atlas SLV-3D Centaur  Cape Canaveral LC-36A  
 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.
15 June
20:16:45
 Soyuz-U  Baikonur Site 1/5  
 Soyuz 29 Low Earth (Salyut 6) Salyut 6 EO-2 31 September
11:40
Successful
Crewed flight with two cosmonauts
16 June
10:49
 Delta 2914  Cape Canaveral LC-17B  
 GOES 3 NOAA Geostationary Weather In orbit Successful
Decommissioned on 29 June 2016.
27 June
15:27:21
 Soyuz-U  Baikonur Site 1/5  
 Soyuz 30 Low Earth (Salyut 6) Salyut 6 EP-3 5 July
13:30
Successful
Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, first Pole in space
8 August
07:33
 Atlas SLV-3D Centaur  Cape Canaveral LC-36A  
 Pioneer Venus Multiprobe Bus NASA/ARC Heliocentric Venus atmospheric probe 9 December 1978
20:22:55
Successful
 Pioneer Venus Large Probe NASA/ARC Heliocentric Venus atmospheric probe 9 December 1978
19:39:53
Successful
 Pioneer Venus North Probe NASA/ARC Heliocentric Venus atmospheric probe 9 December 1978
19:42:40
Successful
 Pioneer Venus Night Probe NASA/ARC Heliocentric Venus atmospheric probe 9 December 1978
19:52:07
Successful
 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
 Delta 2914  Cape Canaveral LC-17B  
  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
 Soyuz-U  Baikonur Site 1/5  
 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
3 October
23:09:30
 Soyuz-U  Baikonur Site 31/6  
 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
 Vladimir Kovalyonok
 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.[dead link]
  • 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.
  • "Space Calendar". NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.[dead link]
  • "Space Information Center". JAXA.[dead link]
  • "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).
Generic references:
  Spaceflight portal

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ Hughes, J (1996) Larousse Desk Reference Encloypedia London RD Press