1986 in spaceflight

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

← 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

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

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

^ "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]

v t e Timeline of spaceflight
Spaceflight before 1951
1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s	2020 2021 (H1, H2) 2022 (H1, H2) 2023 (H1, H2) 2024 (H1, H2) 2025 (H1, H2) 2026 2027 2028 2029
Future

v t e ← 1985 Orbital launches in 1986 1987 →
January	Shiyong Tongbu Tongxin Weixing 1 Kosmos 1729 Kosmos 1730 Kosmos 1731 USA-15, USA-16, USA-17, USA-18 Kosmos 1732 Yuri 2b Mir / Core Kosmos 1733 SPOT-1, Viking Kosmos 1734 Kosmos 1735 STS-51-L (TDRS-B, SPARTAN-203)
February	Soyuz T-15 Progress 25 Kosmos 1736 Kosmos 1737 Unnamed GStar-2, Brasilsat A2
March	Kosmos 1738 Kosmos 1739 Kosmos 1740 Kosmos 1741 KH-9 No.1220, Pearl Ruby Molniya-3 No.43 Progress 26
April	GOES-G Kosmos 1742 Kosmos 1743 Soyuz TM-1 Kosmos 1744 Kosmos 1745 Ekran No.30L Meteor-2 No.18 Kosmos 1746 Kosmos 1747 Intelsat VA F-14
May	Kosmos 1748, Kosmos 1749, Kosmos 1750, Kosmos 1751, Kosmos 1752, Kosmos 1753, Kosmos 1754, Kosmos 1755 Kosmos 1756 Gorizont No.24L Kosmos 1757 Kosmos 1758 Kosmos 1759 Kosmos 1760 Molniya-3 No.44
June	Kosmos 1761 Kosmos 1762 Kosmos 1763 Kosmos 1764 Kosmos 1765 Kosmos 1766 Kosmos 1767 Molniya-1 No.59
July	Kosmos 1768 Kosmos 1769 Kosmos 1770 Ajisai, Fuji 1a, Jindai Kosmos 1771 Kosmos 1772 Kosmos 1773 Kosmos 1774
August	Kosmos 1775 Kosmos 1776 Molniya-1 No.57 USA-19 Kosmos 1777 Kosmos 1778, Kosmos 1779, Kosmos 1780 Kosmos 1781 NOAA-10 Kosmos 1782
September	Kosmos 1783 Fanhui Shi Weixing 9 Kosmos 1784 Unnamed Kosmos 1785 Molniya-3 No.41 Kosmos 1786 Kosmos 1787 Gran' No.30L Kosmos 1788 Kosmos 1789
October	Kosmos 1790 Kosmos 1791 Kosmos 1792 Polar Bear Molniya-1 No.60 Gorizont No.22L Kosmos 1793 Kosmos 1794, Kosmos 1795, Kosmos 1796, Kosmos 1797, Kosmos 1798, Kosmos 1799, Kosmos 1800, Kosmos 1801 Kosmos 1802 Mech-K No.303
November	Kosmos 1715 Kosmos 1716, Kosmos 1717, Kosmos 1718, Kosmos 1719, Kosmos 1720, Kosmos 1721, Kosmos 1722, Kosmos 1723 STS-61-C (Satcom K1) Kosmos 1724 Kosmos 1725 Kosmos 1726 Gran' No.29L Kosmos 1727 Kosmos 1728
December	Kosmos 1803 Kosmos 1804 USA-20 Kosmos 1805 Kosmos 1806 Kosmos 1807 Kosmos 1808 Kosmos 1809 Kosmos 1810 Molniya-1 No.62
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).

Launches

January

February

March

April

May

August

September

November

December

Deep space rendezvous

EVAs

References