1988 in spaceflight

1988 in spaceflight
Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-26R, the first US crewed spaceflight after the Challenger accident
Orbital launches
First6 January 1988
Last29 December 1988
Total121
Catalogued116
National firsts
Satellite Israel
 Luxembourg
Orbital launch Israel
Space traveller Afghanistan
Rockets
Maiden flightsAriane 4
Long March 4A
Shavit
RetirementsEnergia
Titan 34D
Crewed flights
Orbital5
Total travellers19

The following is an outline of 1988 in spaceflight.

Shuttle return to flight

This section is an excerpt from STS-26 § Mission summary.[edit]
Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Launch Complex 39B, Kennedy Space Center, at 11:37:00 a.m. EDT on September 29, 1988, 975 days after the Challenger disaster.

Launches

Date and time (UTC) Rocket Flight number Launch site LSP
Payload
(⚀ = CubeSat) 		Operator Orbit Function Decay (UTC) Outcome
Remarks
25 March United States Scout G-1 Italy San Marco mobile range, Kenya Italy ASI
Italy San Marco-D/L ASI Low Earth Atmospheric research In orbit Successful
7 June
21:38:16 		Soviet Union Soyuz-U2 Soviet Union Baikonur Site 1/5 Soviet Union
Soviet Union Soyuz TM-5 Low Earth (Mir) Mir EP-2 7 September
00:48:38		 Successful
Crewed flight launching three cosmonauts and landing two, computer problems during deorbit nearly resulted in loss of crew, and delayed landing by one day
15 June
11:19 		European Union Ariane 4 44LP France Kourou ELA-2 France Arianespace
European Union Meteosat-3 EUMETSAT GTO Meteorology In orbit Successful
United States PAS 1 PanAmSat GTO Communications In orbit Successful
Germany AMSAT-OSCAR-13 AMSAT Low Earth Amateur radio 6 December 1996 Successful
Maiden flight of the Ariane 4 rocket
7 July
17:38 		Soviet UnionProton-K Soviet UnionBaikonur site LC200/39 Soviet Union
Soviet UnionFobos 1 Intended: Areocentric
Actual: Heliocentric 		Mars orbiter In orbit Spacecraft failure
stationary lander Phobos lander In orbit Never deployed
Loss of communication 2 September 1988 en route to Mars
12 July
17:01 		Soviet UnionProton-K Soviet UnionBaikonur site LC200/40 Soviet Union
Soviet UnionFobos 2 Areocentric Mars orbiter In orbit Spacecraft failure
stationary lander Phobos lander In orbit Never deployed
"hopping" lander Phobos lander In orbit Never deployed
Loss of communication 27 March 1989 near Phobos
29 August
04:23:11 		Soviet UnionSoyuz-U2 Soviet UnionBaikonur Site 1/5 Soviet Union
Soviet UnionSoyuz TM-6 Low Earth (Mir) Mir EP-3 21 December
09:57:00		 Successful
Crewed flight with three cosmonauts, one remained on Mir as part of EO-3, first Afghan space traveller
29 September
15:37:00 		United StatesSpace Shuttle Discovery United StatesKennedy LC-39B United StatesUnited Space Alliance
United StatesSTS-26R NASA Low Earth Satellite deployment 3 October
16:37:11		 Successful
United StatesTDRS-3 (TDRS-C) NASA Geosynchronous Communications In orbit Operational
Crewed flight with five astronauts, first US crewed spaceflight after the Challenger accident in 1986, TDRS deployed using Inertial Upper Stage
15 November
03:00:02 		Soviet UnionEnergia Soviet UnionBaikonur Site 110/37 Soviet Union
Soviet Union Buran 1K1 Low Earth Test flight 06:26 Successful
Soviet Union 37KB No.3770 Low Earth (Buran) Test flight Successful
Uncrewed test, only flight of Buran and final flight of Energia
26 November
14:49:34 		Soviet UnionSoyuz-U2 Soviet UnionBaikonur Site 1/5 Soviet Union
Soviet UnionSoyuz TM-7 Low Earth (Mir) Mir EO-4/EP-4 27 April 1989
02:57:58		 Successful
Crewed flight with three cosmonauts
2 December
14:30:34 		United StatesSpace Shuttle Atlantis United StatesKennedy LC-39B United StatesUnited Space Alliance
United StatesSTS-27R NASA/NRO Low Earth Satellite deployment 6 December
23:30:39		 Successful
United StatesUSA-34 (Lacrosse) NRO/CIA Low Earth Radar imaging 25 March 1997 Successful
Crewed flight with five astronauts
11 December
00:33 		European UnionAriane 4 44LP FranceKourou ELA-2 FranceArianespace
United KingdomSkynet 4B UK Ministry of Defence GTO Communications In orbit Successful
LuxembourgAstra 1A SES Astra GTO Communications In orbit Successful

Deep-space rendezvous

There were no deep-space rendezvous in 1988.

References

  • 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