1977 in spaceflight

1977 in spaceflight

Launch of Voyager 2 on a Titan IIIE
Orbital launches
First 6 January
Last 27 December
Total 130
Catalogued 124
Rockets
Maiden flights Mu-3H
Tsyklon-3
Retirements Kosmos-2I
Titan IIIE
Manned flights
Orbital 3
Total travellers 6

Spaceflight in 1977 included some important events such as the roll out of the space shuttle orbiter, Voyager 1 and Voyager space probes were launched. NASA received the space shuttle orbiter later named Enterprise, on 14 January. This unpowered sub-orbital space plane was launched off the top of a modified 747 and was flown unmanned until 13 August until a manned crew landed the Enterprise for the first time.

In August and September, the two Voyager spacecraft to the outer planets were launched. Voyager 2, launched on 20 August, went on to fly past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 1, which was launched on 5 September, flew past Jupiter and Saturn, with a planned flyby of Pluto being cancelled in favour of a closer flyby of Titan.[1]

Launches

Date and time (UTC) Rocket Launch site LSP
Payload Operator Orbit Function Decay (UTC) Outcome
Remarks
16 June
10:51:00
United StatesDelta 2914 United StatesCape Canaveral LC-17B United States
United StatesGOES 2 NOAA Current: Graveyard
Operational: Geostationary
Weather In orbit Successful
Retired on 5 May 2001 and moved to a graveyard orbit
20 August
14:29:44
United StatesTitan IIIE United StatesCape Canaveral LC-41 United States
United StatesVoyager 2 NASA Heliocentric to Galactocentric Planetary In orbit Successful
Operational
Spacecraft flew past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, first spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune
5 September
12:56:01
United StatesTitan IIIE United StatesCape Canaveral LC-41 United States
United StatesVoyager 1 NASA Heliocentric to Galactocentric Planetary In orbit Successful
Operational
Final flight of Titan IIIE, spacecraft flew past Jupiter and Saturn

Deep Space Rendezvous

Date Spacecraft Event Remarks
20 February Viking Orbiter 1 Flyby of Phobos Closest approach: 89 kilometres (55 mi)
October Viking Orbiter 2 Flyby of Deimos

EVAs

Start Date/Time Duration End Time Spacecraft Crew Remarks
19 December
21:36
1 hour
28 minutes
23:04 Salyut 6
PE-1
Soviet UnionGeorgi Grechko (full)
Soviet UnionYuri Romanenko (stand-up)
First Russian EVA in over 8 years and the first use of the Orlan-D spacesuit.[2] Grechko inspected the front docking port for damage from the failed Soyuz 25 docking and found no damage, while Romanenko assisted from the open hatch.

References

Generic references:

Footnotes

  1. Hughes, J. (1996) Larrousse Desk Reference Encloypedia London RD press, World Aircraft Information Files (2001) London Aerospace publishing Ltd
  2. Wade, Mark (2009). "Orlan". Encyclopedia Astronautica web site. Archived from the original on 26 March 2009. Retrieved February 13, 2009.


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