1976 in spaceflight

1976 in spaceflight

Viking 2 on the surface of Mars
Orbital launches
First	6 January
Last	28 December
Total	131
Catalogued	128
National firsts
Satellite	Indonesia
Rockets
Maiden flights	Thor DSV-2U
Retirements	Voskhod Scout B-1 Soyuz Soyuz-M Thor-Burner Luna sample return ascent stage
Crewed flights
Orbital	3
Total travellers	6
v t e

1976 in spaceflight

Timeline of spaceflight

The following is an outline of 1976 in spaceflight.

Launches

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
January
6 January 04:52	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 787 (Tselina-O 27)		Low Earth	SIGINT	12 December 1980	Successful
7 January 15:34	Voskhod			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Kosmos 788 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 54)	GRU USSR	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	20 January	Successful
15 January 05:34:00	Titan IIIE/Star-37			Cape Canaveral SLC-41		NASA
		Helios-B	NASA / DFVLR	Heliocentric	Solar probe	In orbit	Successful
		Achieved a closest approach to the Sun of 43.432 million km (0.29 AU) on 17 April 1976, the closest approach achieved by an artificial satellite; it was succeeded by the Parker Solar Probe in 2018.
17 January 23:27	Delta 2914		D-119	Cape Canaveral SLC-17B
		CTS Hermes	NASA / CSA	Geosynchronous	Experimental communications	In orbit	Successful
20 January 17:07	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 789 (Parus 5)		Low Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Successful
22 January 11:38	Molniya-M/Blok ML			Baikonur Site 1/5
		Molniya-1K 32		Molniya orbit	Communications	In orbit	Successful
22 January 22:26	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 790 (Tselina-O 30)		Low Earth	SIGINT	12 November 1980	Successful
28 January 10:39	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 791 (Strela-1M 105)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 792 (Strela-1M 106)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 793 (Strela-1M 107)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 794 (Strela-1M 108)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 795 (Strela-1M 109)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 796 (Strela-1M 110)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 797 (Strela-1M 111)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 798 (Strela-1M 112)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
29 January 08:30	Voskhod			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Kosmos 799 (Zenit-2M/Gektor 64)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	10 February	Successful
29 January 23:56	Atlas-SLV-3D Centaur-D1AR		AC-37	Cape Canaveral SLC-36B
		Intelsat IVA F-2	Intelsat	Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Successful
February
3 February 08:16	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 800 (Zaliv 20)		Low Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Successful
4 February 06:00	M-3C			Kagoshima Space Center LP-M		ISAS
		Corsa A	ISAS	Low Earth	X-ray astronomy	4 February	Failure
5 February 14:30	Kosmos-2			Plesetsk Site 133/1
		Kosmos 801 (DS-P1-I 17)		Low Earth	Radar calibration	5 January 1978	Successful
11 February 08:50	Voskhod			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Kosmos 802 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 55)	GRU	Low Eath	Reconnaissance	25 February	Successful
12 February 13:00	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/2
		Kosmos 803 (DS-P1-M 8)		Low Earth	ASAT target	In orbit	Successful
		Target for Kosmos 804 and 814
16 February 08:29	Tsyklon-2			Baikonur Site 90/20
		Kosmos 804 (IS-A 1)		Low Earth	ASAT test	16 February	Successful
19 February 07:52	Thor-LV2F Burner-2A			Vandenberg AFB SLC-10W		US Air Force
		DMSP-5C F3 (OPS 5140)	USAF	Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO)	Weather	19 February	Failure
		Thor stage not loaded with enough fuel due to typo in engine data sheet. The satellite was placed in much lower orbit and re-entered after one orbit
19 February 22:32	Delta 2914		D-120	Cape Canaveral SLC-17B
		Marisat-1	Marisat	Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Successful
20 February 14:01	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Kosmos 805 (Yantar-2K/Feniks 4)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	11 March	Successful
29 February 03:30:00	N-I			Tanegashima LA-N		ISAS
		Ionospheric Sounding Satellite (ISS) Ume	ISAS	Low Earth	Ionospheric research	In orbit	Successful
		First launch completed on February 29
March
10 March 08:00	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Kosmos 806 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 56)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	23 March	Successful
11 March 19:45	Molniya-M/Blok ML			Plesetsk Site 41/1
		Molniya-1K 33		Molniya	Communications	10 October 1990	Successful
12 March 13:30	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 807 (Taifun-1 4)		Low Earth	Radar calibration	In orbit	Successful
15 March 01:25:40[2]	Titan III(23)C			Cape Canaveral SLC-40		NASA
		LES-8	MIT Lincoln Laboratory	Geostationary	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Successful
		LES-9	MIT Lincoln Laboratory	Geostationary	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Successful
		SOLRAD 11A	NRL	High Earth orbit	Heliophysics	In orbit	Successful
		SOLRAD 11B	NRL	High Earth orbit	Heliophysics	In orbit	Successful
		LES-8 was decommissioned in 2004; LES-9, the last Lincoln Experimental Satellite, continued functioning for 44 years and was finally decommissioned in 2020.[1]
16 March 17:22	Vostok-2M			Plesetsk Site 41/1
		Kosmos 808 (Tselina-D 9)		Low Earth	SIGINT	20 November 1993	Successful
18 March 09:15	Kosmos 809			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Kosmos 809 (Zenit-2M/Gektor 65)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	30 March	Successful
19 March 19:31	Molniya-M/Blok ML			Baikonur Site 1/5
		Molniya-1K 34		Molniya	Communications	14 May 1985	Successful
22 March 18:14	Titan III(24)B			Vandenberg AFB SLC-4W		US Air Force
		KH-8 46 (Gambit-3 46, OPS 7600)	NRO	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	18 May	Successful
26 March 15:00	Voskhod			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Kosmos 810 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 57)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	8 April	Successful
26 March 22:47	Delta 3914		D-121	Cape Canaveral SLC-17A
		Satcom 2	RCA Americom	Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Successful
31 March 12:50	Soyuz-M			Plesetsk Site 41/1
		Kosmos 811 (Zenit-4MT/Orion 10)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	12 April	Successful
April
6 April 04:14	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 812 (Tselina-O 31)		Low Earth	SIGINT	30 October 1980	Successful
7 April 13:05	Vostok-2M			Plesetsk Site 41/1
		Meteor-1 24		Low Earth	Weather	In orbit	Successful
9 April 08:30	Voskhod			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Kosmos 813 (Zenit-2M/Gektor 66)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	21 April	Successful
13 April 17:15	Tsyklon-2			Baikonur Site 90/20
		Kosmos 814 (IS-A 2)		Low Earth	ASAT test	13 March	Successful
22 April 20:46	Delta 2914		D-122	Cape Canaveral SLC-17B		US Air Force
		NATO 3A	NATO	Geostationary	Military communications	In orbit	Successful
28 April 09:30	Voskhod			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Kosmos 815 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 58)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	11 May	Successful
28 April 13:30	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 816 (Taifun-2 1)		Low Earth	Radar calibration	24 November 1979	Successful
		24 Romb subsatellites		Low Earth	Radar calibration	1977
30 April 19:12	Atlas F MSD			Vandenberg AFB SLC-3W
		MSD 1	US Navy	Low Earth	Satellite deployment	In orbit	Successful
		NOSS 1A	US Navy	Low Earth	Ocean surveillance, ELINT	In orbit	Successful
		NOSS 1B	US Navy	Low Earth	Ocean surveillance, ELINT	In orbit	Successful
		NOSS 1C	US Navy	Low Earth	Ocean surveillance, ELINT	In orbit	Successful
May
4 May 08:00	Delta 2913 / Star-24		D-123	Vandenberg AFB SLC-2W
		LAGEOS-1	NASA	Medium Earth orbit	Geodesy	In orbit	Successful
5 May 07:50	Voskhod			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Kosmos 817 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 59)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	18 May	Successful
12 May 17:57	Molniya-M/Blok ML			Plesetsk Site 41/1
		Molniya-3 16L		Molniya	Communications	4 February 1990	Successful
13 May 22:28	Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1AR		AC-38	Cape Canaveral SLC-36A
		Comstar 1A (D1)	COMSAT	Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Successful
15 May 13:30	Vostok-2M			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Meteor-Priroda 2-1 (Meteor-1 25)		Low Earth	Weather, Earth observation	In orbit	Successful
18 May 10:59	Kosmos-2			Plesetsk Site 133/1
		Kosmos 818 (DS-P1-Yu 78)		Low Earth	Radar calibration	7 March 1977	Successful
20 May 09:00	Voskhod			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Kosmos 819 (Zenit-2M/Gektor 67)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	1 June	Successful
21 May 07:00	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Kosmos 820 (Zenit-4MKT/Fram 2)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	2 June	Successful
22 May 07:42	Scout B-1			Vandenberg AFB SLC-5		US Air Force
		Wideband (P76-5)	STP	Low Earth	Ionosphere research	In orbit	Successful
26 May 09:00	Voskhod			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Kosmos 821 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 60)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	8 June	Successful
28 May 15:00	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 822 (Taifun-1/Vektor 5)		Low Earth	Radar calibration	8 August 1978	Successful
June
2 June 20:56	Titan III(34)B			Vandenberg AFB SLC-4W
		Quasar 1 (SDS 1, OPS 7837)	NRO	Highly elliptical	Data relay	In orbit	Successful
2 June 22:30	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/2
		Kosmos 823 (Zaliv 21)		Low Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Successful
8 June 07:00	Voskhod			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Kosmos 824 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 61)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	21 June	Successful
10 June 00:09	Delta 2914		D-124	Cape Canaveral SLC-17A
		Marisat 2	Marisat	Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/2
		Kosmos 825 (Strela-1M 113)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 826 (Strela-1M 114)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 827 (Strela-1M 115)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 828 (Strela-1M 116)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 829 (Strela-1M 117)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 830 (Strela-1M 118)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 831 (Strela-1M 119)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 832 (Strela-1M 120)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
16 June 13:09	Voskhod			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Kosmos 833 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 62)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	29 June	Successful
19 June 16:00	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Interkosmos 15 (AUOS-Z-T-IK 1)	Interkosmos	Low Earth	Test spacecraft	18 November 1979	Successful
		Cooperative project of Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Hungary, Poland and the USSR
22 June 18:04:00	Proton-K			Baikonur Site 81/23
		Salyut 5 (Almaz OPS-3)		Low Earth	Space station	8 August 1977	Successful
		Visited by three crews, one of which failed to dock
24 June 07:10	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Kosmos 834 (Zenit-2M/Gektor 68)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	6 July	Successful
26 June 03:00	Titan III(23)C			Cape Canaveral SLC-40
		DSP 6 (OPS 2112)	USAF	Geostationary	Missile early warning	In orbit	Successful
29 June 07:20	Voskhod			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Kosmos 835 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 63)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	12 July	Successful
		Final flight of the Voskhod
29 June 08:12	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/2
		Kosmos 836 (Strela-2M 12)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
July
1 July 08:05	Molniya-M/Blok ML			Plesetsk Site 43/4
		Kosmos 837 (Molniya-2)		Molniya (planned) Low Earth (achieved)	Communications	18 November 1983	Partial failure
		Malfunction of Blok ML upper stage, the satellite placed in the much lower orbit
2 July 10:30	Tsyklon-2			Baikonur Site 90/19
		Kosmos 838 (US-P 3)		Low Earth	Ocean surveillance, ELINT	23 August 1977	Successful
6 July 12:08:45	Soyuz			Baikonur Site 1/5
		Soyuz 21		Low Earth (Salyut 5)	Salyut expedition	24 August 18:32:17	Partial mission failure
		Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, final flight of Soyuz 11A511, returned early due to crew illness
8 July 18:30	Titan IIID			Vandenberg AFB SLC-4E
		KH-9 12 (Hexagon, OPS 4699)	NRO	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	13 December	Successful
		Ursala 3 (P-11 4430, OPS 5366)		Low Earth	ELINT, SIGINT	In orbit	Successful
		S3 3 (S74-2, OPS 3986)	STP	Highly elliptical	Magnetosphere research	24 April 1986	Successful
		Ursala was deployed from KH-9
8 July 21:08	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 839 (DS-P1-M 9)		Low Earth	ASAT target	In orbit	Successful
		Target for Kosmos 843
8 July 23:31	Delta 2914		D-125	Cape Canaveral SLC-17A
		Palapa A1	Perumtel	Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		First Indonesian satellite
14 July 09:00	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Site 43/4
		Kosmos 840 (Zenit-2M/Gektor 69)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	26 July	Successful
15 July 13:11	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 841 (Strela-2M 13)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
21 July 10:20	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk 132/1
		Kosmos 842 (Sfera 15)		Low Earth	Geodesy	In orbit	Successful
21 July 15:14	Tsyklon-2			Baikonur Site 90/19
		Kosmos 843 (IS-A 3)		Low Earth	ASAT test	22 July	Successful
22 July 15:40	Soyuz-U
		Kosmos 844 (Yantar-2K/Feniks 5)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	30 August	Successful
22 July 22:04	Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1AR		AC-40	Cape Canaveral SLC-36B
		Comstar 1B (D2)	COMSAT	Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Successful
23 July 15:49	Molniya-M/Blok ML			Baikonur Site 1/5
		Molniya-1K 35		Molniya	Communications	30 May 1987	Successful
27 July 05:21	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 845 (Tselina-O 32)		Low Earth	SIGINT	15 November 1980	Successful
27 July 12:00	Kosmos-3M			Kapustin Yar Site 107/2
		Interkosmos 16 (DS-U3-IK 6)	Interkosmos	Low Earth	Aeronomy, solar research	10 July 1979	Successful
		Cooperative project of Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Sweden and the USSR
29 July 17:07	Delta 2310		D-126	Vendenberg AFB SLC-2W
		NOAA-5 (ITOS-H)	NOAA	SSO	Weather	In orbit	Successful
29 July 20:02	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 846 (Zaliv 22)		Low Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Successful
August
4 August 13:40	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Sie 43/4
		Kosmos 847 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 64)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	17 August	Successful
6 August 22:21	Titan III(34)B			Vandenberg AFB SLC-4W
		Quasar 2 (SDS 2, OPS 7940)	NRO	Highly elliptic	Data relay	18 April 2020	Successful
9 August 12:08:45	Proton-K/D			Baikonur 81/23
		Luna 24		Selenocentric	Lunar lander	22 August	Successful
		Third uncrewed lunar sample return, Third Soviet lunar sample return
12 August 13:30	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Kosmos 848 (Zenit-2M/Gektor #70)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	25 August	Successful
		Nauka-19KS 1L		Low Earth	Research
18 August 09:30	Kosmos-2			Plesetsk Site 133/1
		Kosmos 849 (DS-P1-I 18)		Low Earth	Radar calibration	24 April 1978	Successful
26 August 10:59	Kosmos-2			Plesetsk Site 133/1
		Kosmos 850 (DS-P1-Yu 79)		Low Earth	Radar calibration	16 May 1977	Successful
27 August 14:34	Vostok-2M			Plesetsk Site 43/4
		Kosmos 851 (Tselina-D 10)		Low Earth	SIGINT	5 August 1989	Successful
28 August 09:00	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Kosmos 852 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 65)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	10 September	Successful
30 August 11:45	Feng Bao 1			Jiuquan LA-2B (Site 138)
		JSSW-3 (CK 3)		Elliptical low Earth orbit	Unknown	25 November 1978	Successful
		Apogee much higher than intended.
September
1 September 03:23	Molniya-M/Blok ML			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Kosmos 853 (Molniya-2)		Molniya (intended) Low Earth (achieved)	Communications	31 December	Partial failure
		Malfunction of the Blok ML upper stage, the satellite placed to the much lower orbit
1 September 21:14	Scout D-1			Veandenberg AFB SLC-5		US Air Force
		Triad 3 (TIP 3)	US Navy	Low Earth	Navigation	30 May 1981	Successful
3 September 09:20	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Site 43/4
		Kosmos 854 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 66)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	16 September	Successful
11 September 08:00	Thor-LV2F Star-37XE Star-37S-ISS			Vandenberg AFB SLC-10W		US Air Force
		DMSP-5D1 F1 (OPS 5721)	USAF	SSO	Weather	In orbit	Successful
11 September 18:24	Proton-K/Blok DM			Baikonur Site 81/24
		Raduga 2 (Gran 12L)		Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Successful
15 September 09:48:30	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5
		Soyuz 22		Low Earth	Salyut expedition	23 September 07:40:47	Successful
		Crewed flight with two cosmonauts
15 September 18:50	Titan III(24)B			Vandenberg AFB SLC-4W		US Air Force
		KH-8 47 (Gambit-3, OPS 8533)	NRO	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	5 November	Successful
21 September 11:40	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Kosmos 855 (Zenit-4MT/Orion 11)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	3 October	Successful
22 September 09:30	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Kosmos 856 (Zenit-2M/Gektor 71) & Nauka	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	5 October	Successful
		Nauka		Low Earth	Research
24 September 15:00	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Kosmos 857 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 67)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	7 November	Successful
29 September 07:04	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/2
		Kosmos 858 (Strela-2M 14)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
October
4 October 11:00	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Site 43/4
		Zenit-4MKT/Fram 3	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	4 October	Failure
		One of liquid rocket boosters prematurely detached from the core stage, the launch vehicle lost stability. Thrust termination command was issued at T+94 s
10 October 09:35	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Kosmos 859 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 68)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	21 October	Successful
14 October 17:39:18	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5
		Soyuz 23		Low Earth (Intended: Salyut 5)	Salyut expedition	16 October 17:45:53	Spacecraft failure
		Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, failed to dock with Salyut 5
14 October 22:44	Delta 2914		D-	Cape Canaveral SLC-17A
		Marisat 3	Marisat	Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Successful
15 October 22:59	Vostok-2M			Plesetsk Site 43/3
		Meteor-1 26		Low Earth	Weather	In orbit	Successful
17 October 18:06	Tsyklon-2			Baikonur Site 90/19
		Kosmos 860 (US-A 12)		Low Earth	Radar ocean surveillance	In orbit	Successful
21 October 16:53	Tsyklon-2			Baikonur Site 90/19
		Kosmos 861 (US-A 13)		Low Earth	Radar ocean surveillance	In orbit	Successful
22 October 09:11	Molniya-M/Blok 2BL			Plesetsk Site 43/4
		Kosmos 862 (US-K 5)		Molniya	Missile early warning	In orbit	Successful
25 October 14:30	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Site 43/4
		Kosmos 863 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 69)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	5 November	Successful
26 October 14:50	Proton-K/Blok DM			Baikonur Site 81/24
		Ekran 1 (Ekran 11L)		Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Successful
29 October 12:39	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/2
		Kosmos 864 (Parus 6)		Low Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Successful
November
1 November 11:20	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Site 43/4
		Kosmos 865 (Zenit-2M/Gektor 72)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	13 November	Successful
10 November 09:05	Feng Bao 1			Jiuquan LA-2B (Site 138)
		JSSW		Low Earth	Unknown	10 November	Failure
		Engine on the second stage malfunctioned, reducing thrust.
11 November 10:45	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Kosmos 866 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 70)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	23 November	Successful
23 November 16:27	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Site 43/4
		Kosmos 867 (Zenit-6U/Argon 1)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	6 December	Successful
25 November 03:59	Molniya-M/Blok SO-L			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Prognoz 5		Highly elliptical	Magnetoshpere and solar research	12 July 1979	Successful
26 November 14:30	Tsyklon-2			Baikonur Site 90/20
		Kosmos 868 (US-P 4)		Low Earth	Ocean surveillance, ELINT	8 July 1978	Successful
29 November 16:04	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5
		Kosmos 869 (Soyuz-T Test 3)		Low Earth	Uncrewed test of Soyuz-T spacecraft	17 December 10:31	Successful
December
2 December 00:17	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/2
		Kosmos 870 (Tselina-O 33)		Low Earth	SIGINT	20 December 1980	Successful
2 December 02:44	Molniya-M/Blok ML			Plesetsk Site 43/4
		Molniya-2 16		Molniya	Communications	18 January 1991	Successful
7 December 04:38	Long March 2A			Jiquan LA-2B (Site 138)
		FSW-0 2		Low Earth	Reconnaissance	2 December	Successful
		Re-entry capsule recovered on 9 December
7 December 10:23	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 871 (Strela-1M 121)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 872 (Strela-1M 122)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 873 (Strela-1M 123)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 874 (Strela-1M 124)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 875 (Strela-1M 125)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 876 (Strela-1M 126)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 877 (Strela-1M 127)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Kosmos 878 (Strela-1M 128)		Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Successful
9 December 10:00	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Site 43/4
		Kosmos 879 (Zenit-2M/Gektor 73)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	22 December	Successful
9 December 20:00	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/2
		Kosmos 880 (DS-P1-M 10)		Low Earth	ASAT target	31 August 1991	Successful
		Target for Kosmos 886
15 December 01:30	Proton-K			Baikonur Site 81/24
		Kosmos 881 (TKS-VA 1)		Low Earth	Uncrewed test of TKS-VA spacecraft	15 December	Successful
		Kosmos 882 (TKS-VA 2)		Low Earth	Uncrewed test of TKS-VA spacecraft	15 December	Successful
		Test flight of two VA capsules without FGB service modules
15 December 13:59	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 883 (Tsikada 1)		Low Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Successful
17 December 09:30	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Kosmos 884 (Zenit-4MK/Germes 71)	GRU	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	29 December	Successful
17 December 12:00	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/2
		Kosmos 885 (Taifun-2 2)		Low Earth	Radar calibration	14 October 1979	Successful
		17 Romb subsatellites		Low Earth	Radar calibration	1977-1978
19 December 18:19	Titan IIID			Vandenberg SLC-4E		US Air Force
		KH-11 1 (Kennen, OPS 5705)	NRO	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	28 January 1979	Successful
27 December 12:05	Tsyklon-2			Baikonur Site 90/19
		Kosmos 886 (IS-A 4)		Low Earth	ASAT test	In orbit	Successful
28 December 06:38	Molniya-M/Blok BL			Plesetsk Site 43/4
		Molniya-3 17L		Molniya	Communications	19 March 1990	Successful
28 December 07:49	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1
		Kosmos 887 (Parus 7)		Low Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Successful

Launches from the Moon

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload (⚀ = CubeSat)	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
19 August 5:25	Luna 24 Ascent stage			Mare Crisium (Luna)
		Luna 24 Return capsule		Highly elliptical	Sample return	22 August 1976	Successful
		Third uncrewed lunar sample return mission

Deep space rendezvous

Date	Spacecraft	Event	Remarks
19 June	Viking 1	Areocentric orbit insertion
20 July	Viking 1 Lander	landed in Chryse Planitia
7 August	Viking 2	Areocentric orbit insertion
18 August	Luna 24	landed in Mare Crisium	sample return mission
19 August	Luna 24	lift-off from Mare Crisium	170 grams (6.0 oz)
3 September	Viking 2 Lander	landed in Utopia Planitia

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. "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.
• "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).
• "Rocket Launch Manifest". Next Spaceflight.
• "Space Launch Plans". Novosti Kosmonavtiki.
• "Space Satellite Tracking". N2YO.

Generic references:

• view
• talk
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Spaceflight portal

Footnotes

1. Ryan, Dorothy (27 May 2020). "Lincoln Laboratory decommissions Lincoln Experimental Satellite–9". MIT. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
2. McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathan's Space Report. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2020.

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