1978 in spaceflight

none January 2014 January 2014 yes yes 1978 Atlas Centaur with Pioneer Venus Orbiter.jpg The Pioneer Venus Orbiter atop an Atlas-Centaur before launch 6 January 28 December 128 124 Atlas-AgenaMu-3H DDR 5 10 Timeline of spaceflight 1977 1979 1978 saw the launch of the Pioneer Venus missions launched by the United States, on 20 May and 8 August. The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe landed four spacecraft on the planet, one of which transmitted data for 67 minutes before being destroyed by atmospheric pressure. ISEE-C, which was launched on 8 December, flew past comet 21P/Giacobini–Zinner in 1985, and Halley's Comet in 1986.Hughes, J (1996) Larousse Desk Reference Encloypedia London RD Press right on Launches 1978 |colspan=8 style="background:white;"| January |- 1 10 January 12:26:00 USSR 1955Soyuz-U USSR 1955Baikonur Site 1/5 USSR 1955 Crewed flight with two cosmonauts USSR 1955Soyuz 27 Salyut 6 EP-1 Low Earth (Salyut 6) 16 March 11:18 Successful 1 20 January 08:25 USSR 1955Soyuz-U USSR 1955Baikonur Site 31/6 USSR 1955 Maiden flight of Progress spacecraft. First in-orbit refuel, from Progress to Salyut 6, 2nd Feb. USSR 1955Progress 1 Salyut 6 logistics Low Earth (Salyut 6) 8 February 02:00 Successful 1 26 January 04:58 PRCLong March 2A Jiuquan, LA-2/138 Re-entry capsule recovered on 30 January. PRCFSW-0 3 Low Earth Reconnaissance 30 January Successful |colspan=8 style="background:white;"| 1979 February |- 1 4 February 07:00 JPNM-3H JPNKagoshima Space Center LP-M ISAS JPNEXOS-A (Kyokko) ISAS Highly elliptical orbit Magnetosphere research Successful |colspan=8 style="background:white;"| 1979 March |- 1 2 March 15:28:10 USSR 1955Soyuz-U USSR 1955Baikonur Site 1/5 USSR 1955 Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, first Czechoslovak in space USSR 1955Soyuz 28 Salyut 6 EP-2 Low Earth (Salyut 6) 10 March 11:24 Successful |colspan=8 style="background:white;"| 1979 May |- 1 20 May 13:13:00 USAAtlas SLV-3D Centaur USACape Canaveral LC-36A USA Entered 181.6 x 66,360-km orbit around Venus on 4 December 1978. USAPioneer Venus Orbiter NASA/ARC Venus orbiter Cytherocentric 22 October 1992 Successful |colspan=8 style="background:white;"| 1979 June |- 1 15 June 20:16:45 USSR 1955Soyuz-U USSR 1955Baikonur Site 1/5 USSR 1955 Crewed flight with two cosmonauts USSR 1955Soyuz 29 Salyut 6 EO-2 Low Earth (Salyut 6) 31 September 11:40 Successful 1 16 June 10:49 USADelta 2914 USACape Canaveral LC-17B USA Decommissioned on 29 June 2016. USAGOES 3 NOAA Weather Geostationary Successful 1 27 June 15:27:21 USSR 1955Soyuz-U USSR 1955Baikonur Site 1/5 USSR 1955 Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, first Pole in space USSR 1955Soyuz 30 Salyut 6 EP-3 Low Earth (Salyut 6) 5 July 13:30 Successful |colspan=8 style="background:white;"| 1979 August |- 5 8 August 07:33 USAAtlas SLV-3D Centaur USACape Canaveral LC-36A USA Day Probe survived landing, sent data for an additional 67 minutes afterward. First American probe to send data from the surface of Venus. USAPioneer Venus Multiprobe Bus NASA/ARC Venus atmospheric probe Heliocentric 9 December 197820:22:55 Successful USAPioneer Venus Large Probe NASA/ARC Venus atmospheric probe Heliocentric 9 December 197819:39:53 Successful USAPioneer Venus North Probe NASA/ARC Venus atmospheric probe Heliocentric 9 December 197819:42:40 Successful USAPioneer Venus Night Probe NASA/ARC Venus atmospheric probe Heliocentric 9 December 197819:52:07 Successful USAPioneer Venus Day Probe NASA/ARC Venus atmospheric probe Heliocentric 9 December 197820:55:34 Successful 1 12 August 14:12:00 USADelta 2914 USACape Canaveral LC-17B USA First probe stationed at Sun/Earth Lagrangian point. Later entered heliocentric orbit, encountering Comet Giacobini–Zinner on 11 September 1985. It would also study Halley's Comet from a distance in 1986. USAInternational Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3)/International Cometary Explorer (ICE) NASA/ESRO Probing interaction of Earth's magnetic field with solar wind, later cometary research Sun/Earth to Heliocentric Successful 1 26 August 14:51:30 USSR 1955Soyuz-U USSR 1955Baikonur Site 1/5 USSR 1955 Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, first East German in space USSR 1955Soyuz 31 Salyut 6 EP-4 Low Earth (Salyut 6) 2 November 11:04 Successful |colspan=8 style="background:white;"| 1979 September |- 1 16 September 05:00 JPNM-3H JPNKagoshima Space Center LP-M JPNISAS JPNEXOS-B (Jikiken) ISAS Highly elliptical orbit Magnetosphere research 23 April 2018 Successful |colspan=8| October |- 1 3 October 23:09:30 USSR 1955Soyuz-U USSR 1955Baikonur Site 31/6 USSR 1955 USSR 1955Progress 4 Salyut 6 logistics Low Earth (Salyut 6) 26 October 16:28 Successful |} Deep Space Rendezvous Date (GMT)SpacecraftEventRemarks4 December Pioneer Venus Orbiter Cytherocentric orbit insertion 9 December Pioneer Venus Multiprobe Venerian atmospheric entry The bus, one large and three small subprobes21 December Venera 12 Venerian landing 25 December Venera 11 Venerian landing EVAs Start date/timeDurationEnd timeSpacecraftCrewRemarks29 July04:002 hours20 minutes06:20Salyut 6PE-2USSR 1955Vladimir KovalyonokUSSR 1955Aleksandr IvanchenkovIvanchenkov retrieved samples and experiments attached to the outside of Salyut. Kovalyonok assisted with the retrievals and used a color television camera to transmit EVA images to the ground controllers. References Footnotes 2 1978 on expanded Category:Spaceflight by year