1977 in spaceflight

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1977 in spaceflight
Titan 3E Centaur launches Voyager 2.jpg
Launch of Voyager 2 on a Titan IIIE
Orbital launches
First6 January
Last27 December
Total130
Catalogued 124
Rockets
Maiden flights Mu-3H
Tsyklon-3
Retirements Kosmos-2I
Titan IIIE
Crewed flights
Orbital3
Total travellers6
1977 in spaceflight
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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 uncrewed until 13 August until a human crew landed the Enterprise for the first time.

Contents

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 Flight number Launch site LSP
Payload
(⚀ = CubeSat)
Operator Orbit Function Decay (UTC)Outcome
Remarks
19 February
05:15
Flag of Japan.svg M-3H Flag of Japan.svg Kagoshima Space Center LP-M Flag of Japan.svg ISAS
Flag of Japan.svg MS-T3 (Tansei 3)ISAS Highly elliptical orbit Technology testIn orbitSuccessful
First flight of M-3H
16 June
10:51:00
Flag of the United States.svg Delta 2914 Flag of the United States.svg Cape Canaveral LC-17B Flag of the United States.svg
Flag of the United States.svg GOES 2 NOAA Current: Graveyard
Operational: Geostationary
Weather In orbitSuccessful
Retired on 5 May 2001 and moved to a graveyard orbit
20 August
14:29:44
Flag of the United States.svg Titan IIIE Flag of the United States.svg Cape Canaveral LC-41 Flag of the United States.svg
Flag of the United States.svg Voyager 2 NASA Heliocentric to Galactocentric PlanetaryIn orbitSuccessful
Operational
Spacecraft flew past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, first spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune
5 September
12:56:01
Flag of the United States.svg Titan IIIE Flag of the United States.svg Cape Canaveral LC-41 Flag of the United States.svg
Flag of the United States.svg Voyager 1 NASAHeliocentric to GalactocentricPlanetaryIn orbitSuccessful
Operational
Final flight of Titan IIIE, spacecraft flew past Jupiter and Saturn

Deep space rendezvous

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

EVAs

Start date/timeDurationEnd timeSpacecraftCrewRemarks
19 December
21:36
1 hour
28 minutes
23:04 Salyut 6
PE-1
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Georgi Grechko (full)
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Yuri 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:
RocketSunIcon.svg Spaceflightportal

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 13 February 2009.