1978 in spaceflight
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]
 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 |  Czechoslovakia Poland East Germany DDR |
| Rockets | |
| Retirements | Atlas-Agena Mu-3H |
| Crewed flights | |
| Orbital | 5 |
| Total travellers | 10 |
Launches
| 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
| 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
| Start Date/Time | Duration | End Time | Spacecraft | Crew | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 July 04:00 |
2 hours 20 minutes |
06:20 | Salyut 6 PE-2 |
Vladimir KovalyonokAleksandr 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
- 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. "Jonathan's Space Report".
- 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.
- "Space Information Center". JAXA.
- "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).
Footnotes
- Hughes, J (1996) Larousse Desk Reference Encloypedia London RD Press
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