1986_in_spaceflight Knowpia

1986 in spaceflight
	Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates during the launch of STS-51-L, killing all seven astronauts
National firsts
Satellite	Sweden
Rockets
Maiden flights	Ariane 2
Retirements	Ariane 1; Space Shuttle Challenger
Crewed flights
Orbital	2
Total travellers	9
	v; t; e;

The year 1986 saw the destruction of Space Shuttle Challenger shortly after lift-off, killing all seven aboard,^[1] the first in-flight deaths of American astronauts. This accident followed the successful flight of Columbia just weeks earlier,^[2] and dealt a major setback to the U.S. crewed space program, suspending the Shuttle program for 32 months.^[3]

The year also saw numerous fly-bys of Halley's Comet as well as other successes.

Launches edit

← Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec →


Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload (⚀ = CubeSat)	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
January edit
12 January 11:55	Space Shuttle Columbia			Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance

		STS-61-C	NASA	Low Earth	Satellite deployment	18 January 13:58	Successful
		Satcom K1	RCA Americom	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		MSL-2	NASA	Low Earth (Columbia)	Microgravity experiments	18 January 13:58	Successful
		Getaway Special Bridge	NASA	Low Earth (Columbia)	Getaway Special carrier	18 January 13:58	Successful
		Crewed orbital flight with seven astronauts; Maiden flight of the Getaway Special Bridge
28 January 16:38	Space Shuttle Challenger			Kennedy LC-39B		United Space Alliance

		STS-51-L	NASA	Intended: Low Earth	Satellite deployment	+ 73 seconds	Launch failure
		TDRS-B	NASA	Intended: Geosynchronous	Communications
		SPARTAN 203	NASA	Intended: Low Earth	Examine Halley's Comet
		Space Shuttle Challenger disaster; Vehicle disintegrated at + 73 seconds from an O-ring failure in the right SRB. All seven astronauts were killed, including Christa McAuliffe, the intended first Teacher in Space. First Shuttle launch from LC-39B.
February edit
9 February 10:06	Atlas H			Vandenberg SLC-3E

		USA-15 (NOSS-8)	US Navy	Low Earth	SIGINT	In orbit	Successful
		USA-16 (NOSS)	US Navy	Low Earth	SIGINT	In orbit	Successful
		USA-17 (NOSS)	US Navy	Low Earth	SIGINT	In orbit	Successful
		USA-18 (NOSS)	US Navy	Low Earth	SIGINT	In orbit	Successful
19 February 21:28	Proton-K			Baikonur Site 200/39

		DOS-7 (Mir Core)		Low Earth (Mir)	Space station	23 March 2001 05:07	Successful
		Core module of the Mir space station
22 February 01:44	Ariane 1			Kourou ELA		Arianespace

		SPOT 1	CNES	Sun-synchronous	Earth observation	In orbit	Successful
		Viking	SSC	Sun-synchronous	Plasma research	In orbit	Successful
		Final flight of Ariane 1 SPOT 1 retired on 31 December 1990 and orbit was lowered to a disposal orbit in 2003 Viking is the first Swedish satellite, and operations concluded on 12 May 1987
March edit
13 March 12:33	Soyuz-U2			Baikonur Site 1/5

		Soyuz T-15		Low Earth (Salyut 7 and Mir)	Salyut 7 EO-5 Mir EO-1	16 July 12:34	Successful
		Crewed orbital flight with two cosmonauts; Final crewed spaceflight to Salyut 7 and the first to Mir. Final flight of the Soyuz-T spacecraft. Only spacecraft to dock with two space stations during one flight.
19 March 10:08	Soyuz-U2			Baikonur Site 1/5

		Progress 25		Low Earth (Mir)	Logistics	21 April 00:48	Successful
28 March 23:30	Ariane 3			Kourou ELA		Arianespace

		GStar 2	GTE Spacenet	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Brasilsat-A2	Embratel	Current: Graveyard Operational: Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Brasilsat-A2 was retired on 6 March 2004 and moved 200 kilometres (120 mi) higher to a graveyard orbit
April edit
18 April 17:45	Titan 34D			Vandenberg SLC-4E

		KH-9-20	NRO	Intended: Sun-synchronous	Reconnaissance	+ 8.5 seconds	Launch Failure
		SSF-D-6	NRO	Intended: Sun-synchronous	ELINT	+ 8.5 seconds	Launch Failure
		SRM burnthrough, exploded 8.5 seconds after launch Final flight of the KH-9 spacecraft
23 April 19:40	Soyuz-U2			Baikonur Site 1/5

		Progress 26		Low Earth (Mir)	Logistics	23 June 18:41	Successful
May edit
3 May 22:18	Delta 3914			Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 17A		McDonnell Douglas

		GOES-G	NOAA, NASA	Geostationary	Weather satellite	3 May	Launch Failure
		Rocket destroyed 71 sec. after liftoff due to engine shutdown; First launch from CCAFS after Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
21 May 08:21	Soyuz-U2			Baikonur Site 1/5

		Soyuz TM-1		Low Earth (Mir)	Test flight	30 May 04:26	Successful
		Maiden flight of Soyuz-TM spacecraft; Uncrewed test flight
31 May 00:53	Ariane 2			Kourou ELA		Arianespace

		Intelsat 514	Intelsat	Intended: Geosynchronous	Communications	31 May	Launch Failure
		Maiden flight of Ariane 2; Third stage failed to ignite
August edit
28 August 08:02	Molniya-M/2BL			Plesetsk Site 16/2

		Kosmos 1774 (Oko)		Molniya	Missile defence	2 November 2010 15:14	Successful
September edit
17 September 15:52	Atlas E/Star-37S-ISS			Vandenberg SLC-3W

		NOAA-10 (NOAA-G)	NOAA	Sun-synchronous	Meteorology	In orbit	Successful
November edit
14 November 00:23	Scout G-1			Vandenberg SLC-5		US Air Force

		Polar BEAR P87-1	US Air Force/STP	Low Earth (Polar)		In orbit	Successful
December edit
5 December 02:30	Atlas G			Cape Canaveral LC-36B

		USA-20 (FLTSATCOM 7)	US Navy	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful

← Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec →

Deep space rendezvous edit

Date (GMT)	Spacecraft	Event	Remarks
24 January	Voyager 2	Flyby of Uranus	Closest approach: 71,000 kilometres (44,000 mi)
6 March	Vega 1	Flyby of Halley's Comet	Closest approach: 8,890 kilometres (5,520 mi)
8 March	Suisei	Flyby of Halley's Comet	Closest approach: 151,000 kilometres (94,000 mi)
9 March	Vega 2	Flyby of Halley's Comet	Closest approach: 8,030 kilometres (4,990 mi)
11 March	Sakigake	Distant flyby of Halley's Comet	Closest approach: 6,990,000 kilometres (4,340,000 mi)
14 March	Giotto	Flyby of Halley's Comet	Closest approach: 595 kilometres (370 mi)

EVAs edit

Start date/time	Duration	End time	Spacecraft	Crew	Remarks
28 May 05:43	3 hours 50 minutes	09:33	Salyut 7 EO-5	Leonid Kizim Vladimir Solovyov	Retrieved test panels from the outside of Salyut 7 and assembled a test "girder-constructor" apparatus in preparation for work on Mir.
31 May 04:57	5 hours	09:57	Salyut 7 EO-5	Leonid Kizim Vladimir Solovyov	Conducted additional tests on the experimental construction equipment, including the welding of several girders joints.

References edit

^ "NASA - STS-51L Mission Profile". NASA.gov. NASA. 19 January 2016. Archived from the original on 5 May 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
^ "Mission Archives: STS-61-C". NASA.gov. NASA. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
^ "Mission Archives: STS-26". NASA.gov. NASA. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2017.

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

Preceded by 1985	Timeline of spaceflight 1986	Succeeded by 1987

[51L-1] "NASA - STS-51L Mission Profile". NASA.gov. NASA. 19 January 2016. Archived from the original on 5 May 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.

[61C-2] "Mission Archives: STS-61-C". NASA.gov. NASA. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.

[STS-26-3] "Mission Archives: STS-26". NASA.gov. NASA. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2017.

[1]

[2]

[3]

National firsts
Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates during the launch of STS-51-L, killing all seven astronauts
Satellite	Sweden
Rockets
Maiden flights	Ariane 2
Retirements	Ariane 1 Space Shuttle Challenger
Crewed flights
Orbital	2
Total travellers	9
v t e

Summary

Launches edit

January edit

February edit

March edit

April edit

May edit

August edit

September edit

November edit

December edit

Deep space rendezvous edit

EVAs edit

References edit