1977 in spaceflight
Launch of Voyager 2 on a Titan IIIE
Orbital launches
First6 January
Last27 December
Total130
Catalogued124
Rockets
Maiden flightsMu-3H
Tsyklon-3
RetirementsKosmos-2I
Titan IIIE
Crewed flights
Orbital3
Total travellers6

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.

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
16 June
10:51:00		 United StatesDelta 2914 United StatesCape Canaveral LC-17B United States
United StatesGOES 2 NOAA Current: Graveyard
Operational: Geostationary		 WeatherIn orbitSuccessful
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 PlanetaryIn orbitSuccessful
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 PlanetaryIn orbitSuccessful
Operational
Final flight of Titan IIIE, spacecraft flew past Jupiter and Saturn

Deep space rendezvous

Date Spacecraft Event Remarks
20 FebruaryViking Orbiter 1Flyby of PhobosClosest approach: 89 kilometres (55 mi)
OctoberViking Orbiter 2Flyby 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

  • Bergin, Chris. "NASASpaceFlight.com".
  • Clark, Stephen. "Spaceflight Now".
  • Kelso, T.S. "Satellite Catalog (SATCAT)". CelesTrak.
  • 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. "Jonathan's Space Report".
  • 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.
  • "Space Information Center". JAXA.
  • "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).
Generic references:
 Spaceflight portal

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.


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