This timeline of spaceflight may require cleanup  to ensure consistency with other timeline of spaceflight articles. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Spaceflight/Timeline of spaceflight working group for guidelines on how to improve the article. Details Concerns have been raised that: 
  | 
| Rockets | |
|---|---|
| Maiden flights |  Atlas H  Space Shuttle Challenger  | 
| Retirements | Atlas-Centaur SLV-3D | 
| Crewed flights | |
| Orbital | 6 | 
| Total travellers | 25 | 
The following is an outline of 1983 in spaceflight.
| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|  Payload  (⚀ = CubeSat)  | Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | ||
| Remarks | |||||||
January | |||||||
| 20 January 17:26  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | Low Earth | ELINT | 4 January 2022 00:04  | Successful | |||
February | |||||||
| 9 February 13:47  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | US Navy | Low Earth | SIGINT | In orbit | Successful | ||
| Maiden flight of Atlas H | |||||||
March | |||||||
| 2 March 09:37  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | Low Earth (Salyut 7) | Logistics | 19 September 00:28  | Successful | |||
|   | Low Earth (Salyut 7) | Sample return | 23 August | Successful | |||
| 28 March 15:52  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | NOAA | Sun-synchronous | Meteorology | In orbit | Spacecraft failure | ||
| Spacecraft failed in June 1984 [1] | |||||||
April | |||||||
| 4 April 18:30  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | NASA | Low Earth | Satellite deployment | 9 April 18:53  | Successful | ||
|   | NASA | Geostationary | Communications | In orbit | Operational | ||
| Crewed orbital flight with four astronauts; Maiden flight of Space Shuttle Challenger | |||||||
| 15 April 18:45  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | NRO | Sun-synchronous | Reconnaissance | 21 August | Successful | ||
| 20 April 13:10  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | Low Earth Planned: Docked to Salyut 7  | Salyut 7 EO-2 | 22 April 13:28  | Docking failure | |||
| Crewed orbital flight with three cosmonauts; Failed to dock with Salyut 7 | |||||||
May | |||||||
| 19 May 22:26  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | Intelsat | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||
| Final flight of Atlas-Centaur SLV-3D | |||||||
June | |||||||
| 9 June 23:23  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | US Navy | Low Earth | SIGINT | In orbit | Successful | ||
| 16 June 11:59  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | Eutelsat | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||
|   | AMSAT | Geosynchronous transfer | Amateur radio | In orbit | Successful | ||
| Eutelsat 1F1 retired in 1996 | |||||||
| 18 June 11:33  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | NASA | Low Earth | Satellite deployment | 24 June 14:56  | Successful | ||
|   | Telesat Canada | Current: Graveyard  Operational: Geostationary  | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||
|   | Telkom Indonesia | Geostationary | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||
|   | NASA | Low Earth (Challenger) | Microgravity research | 24 June 14:56  | Successful | ||
|   | NASA | Low Earth (Challenger) | Scientific experiments | 24 June 14:56  | Successful | ||
| Crewed orbital flight with five astronauts; including the first female American astronaut, Sally Ride  Anik C2 retired 7 January 1998  | |||||||
| 20 June 18:45  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | NRO | Sun-synchronous | Reconnaissance | 21 March 1984 | Successful | ||
|   | NRO | Sun-synchronous | ELINT | In orbit | Successful | ||
| 27 June 09:12  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | Low Earth (Salyut 7) | Salyut 7 EO-2 | 23 November 19:58  | Successful | |||
| Crewed orbital flight with two cosmonauts | |||||||
July | |||||||
| 14 July 10:21  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | US Air Force | Medium Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Successful | ||
| 31 July 15:41  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | NRO | Molniya | SIGINT | In orbit | Successful | ||
August | |||||||
| 17 August 12:08  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | Low Earth (Salyut 7) | Logistics | 17 September 23:43  | Successful | |||
| 30 August 06:32  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | NASA | Low Earth | Satellite deployment | 5 September 07:40  | Successful | ||
|   | ISRO | Geostationary | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||
|   | NASA | Low Earth (Challenger) | Payload compatibility testing | 5 September 07:40  | Successful | ||
| Crewed orbital flight with five astronauts | |||||||
October | |||||||
| 19 October 00:45  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | Intelsat | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Successful | ||
| 20 October 09:59  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | Low Earth (Salyut 7) | Logistics | 16 November 04:18  | Successful | |||
November | |||||||
| 18 November 06:32  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | US Air Force | Sun-synchronous | Meteorology | In orbit | Successful | ||
| 28 November 16:00  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | NASA | Low Earth | Microgravity research | 8 December 23:47  | Successful | ||
|   | NASA/ESRO | Low Earth (Columbia) | Microgravity research | ||||
| Crewed orbital flight with six astronauts; Maiden flight of Spacelab Long Module | |||||||
| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payload | Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | ||
| Remarks | |||||||
January-March | |||||||
| 7 February 08:44  |   |   |   | ||||
|   | USAF | Suborbital | ABM target | 7 February | Successful | ||
| Target for HOE 1, was not intercepted. | |||||||
| 7 February 09:10  |   | HOE 1 |   |   | |||
|   | USAF | Suborbital | ABM test | 7 February | Spacecraft failure | ||
| Failed to intercept the target. | |||||||
April-June | |||||||
| 28 May |   |   |   | ||||
|   | USAF | Suborbital | ABM target | 28 May | Successful | ||
| Target for HOE 2, was not intercepted. | |||||||
| 28 May |   | HOE 2 |   |   | |||
|   | USAF | Suborbital | ABM test | 28 May | Spacecraft failure | ||
| Failed to intercept the target. | |||||||
July-September | |||||||
October-December | |||||||
| 15 December |   |   |   | ||||
|   | USAF | Suborbital | ABM target | 15 December | Successful | ||
| Target for HOE, was not intercepted. | |||||||
| 15 December |   | HOE 3 |   |   | |||
|   | USAF | Suborbital | ABM test | 15 December | Spacecraft failure | ||
| Failed to intercept the target. | |||||||
| Date (GMT) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks | 
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 October | Venera 15 | Entered Cytherean orbit | Radar mapper mission | 
| 14 October | Venera 16 | Entered Cytherean orbit | Radar mapper mission | 
| 21 October | ISEE-3/ICE | 4th flyby of the Moon | Closest approach: 17,440 kilometres (10,840 mi) | 
| 22 December | ISEE-3/ICE | 5th flyby of the Moon | Closest approach: 120 kilometres (75 mi) | 
| Start Date/Time | Duration | End Time | Spacecraft | Crew | Remarks | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 April 21:05  | 4 hours 10 minutes  | 8 April 01:15  | STS-6 ( Challenger) |   | Test spacesuits and tools for future space construction. [2] First spacewalk from a Space Shuttle. [3] | 
| 1 November 04:47  | 2 hours 50 minutes  | 07:36 | Salyut 7 EO-2 |   | Installed a new solar panel to increase the station's electrical output. | 
| 3 November 03:47  | 2 hours 55 minutes  | 06:42 | Salyut 7 EO-2 |   | Installed a second new solar panel, increasing electrical output by 50%. |