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2019 in spaceflight

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FieldValue
year2019
image{{Photomontage
photo1aChangE-4,_Yutu-2_(cropped).pngYutu-2 rover on the far side of the Moon
photo2aCrew Dragon at the ISS for Demo Mission 1 (cropped).jpgA Crew Dragon capsule approaches the International Space Station
photo2bLightSail 2 with deployed solar sail.pngLightSail 2 in flight above Earth
photo3aAscent Abort-2 Liftoff.jpgA boilerplate Orion spacecraft launching from Spaceport Florida LC-46
size250
spacing3
colortransparent
color_bordertransparent
captionHighlights from spaceflight in 2019
first10 January
last27 December
total102
success97
failed5
catalogued97
firstflight{{plainlist
firstsat{{plainlist
firsttrav{{plainlist
maidens{{plainlist
retired{{plainlist
orbital3
suborbital1 (private)
totalcrew12 (3 suborbital)
EVAs11
  • (first payload)
  • Atlas V N22
  • Hyperbola-1
  • Jielong 1
  • OneSpace OS-M1
  • PSLV-DL
  • PSLV-QL
  • Antares 230+
  • Antares 230
  • Delta IV M+(5,4)
  • Delta IV M+(4,2)
  • Rokot
  • Safir
  • Soyuz-FG

This article documents notable spaceflight events during the year 2019.

Overview

Astronomy and astrophysics

The Russian-German X-ray observing satellite Spektr-RG was launched on 13 July.

Lunar exploration

The Chinese probe Chang'e 4 made humanity's first soft landing on the far side of the Moon on 3 January and released its Yutu 2 rover to explore the lunar surface on the far side for the first time in human history.
Israel's SpaceIL, one of the participants in the expired Google Lunar X Prize, launched the first private mission to the Moon in February. The Beresheet lander from SpaceIL made the landing attempt in April, but crashed onto the Moon. India launched the delayed Chandrayaan-2 lunar orbiter/lander/rover in July; the orbiter reached lunar orbit in September, but the Vikram lander crashed onto the lunar surface.

Exploration of the Solar System

The probe New Horizons encountered the Kuiper belt object 486958 Arrokoth on 1 January. This is the farthest object from the Sun ever to have a close encounter with a spacecraft. The Japanese asteroid exploration mission Hayabusa2 made a second touchdown with 162173 Ryugu to collect samples, and departed for Earth on 12 November. NASA declared the Mars rover ''Opportunity'''s mission over on 13 February. The InSight lander observed the first recorded Marsquake in April.

Human spaceflight

The first Commercial Crew Development test missions flew this year, aiming to restore United States human spaceflight capability following Space Shuttle retirement in 2011. In an uncrewed test flight, SpaceX SpaceX Dragon 2 successfully flew on a Falcon 9 to the International Space Station on 3 March 2019; the crewed mission was delayed when the recovered capsule exploded during testing on 20 April. Boeing's CST-100 Starliner launched a similar uncrewed test flight on an Atlas V on 20 December, but an anomaly during launch meant that it could not reach the ISS and had to land only 2 days later.

Rocket innovation

At the beginning of the year, around 100 small satellite launchers were in active use, in development, or were recently cancelled or stalled. Three Chinese manufacturers launched their first orbital rocket in 2019: The maiden flight of OS-M1 in March failed to reach orbit, the maiden flights of Hyperbola-1 in July and of Jielong 1 in August were successful. The PSLV-DL and PSLV-QL variants of the Indian PSLV first flew in January and April respectively.

SpaceX began testing of the SpaceX Starship in 2019, with an uncrewed prototype "Starhopper" flying 150m in the air in a suborbital test flight on 27 August. The heavy-lift Long March 5 made its return to flight in December, more than two years after the July 2017 launch failure that grounded the vehicle and forced an engine redesign.

The "single stick" Delta IV was retired in August, and the analog-controlled Soyuz-FG was retired in September. Due to Ukraine banning control system exports to Russia, Rokot was retired after a final flight in December.

Orbital and suborbital launches

Main article: List of spaceflight launches in January–June 2019, List of spaceflight launches in July–December 2019

MonthNum. of successesNum. of failuresTotal
January71
February51
March81
April70
May81
June60
July111
August120
September60
October50
November120
December150

Deep-space rendezvous

Date (UTC)SpacecraftEventRemarks
1 JanuaryNew HorizonsFlyby of Kuiper belt object 486958 ArrokothThe observed planetesimal, consisting of two spheroid pieces, was initially nicknamed Ultima Thule.
3 JanuaryChang'e 4Landing at Von Kármán craterFirst landing on the far side of the Moon, coordinates .
12 FebruaryJuno18th perijove of Jupiter
21 FebruaryHayabusa2First sample collection from asteroid Ryugu
4 AprilnowrapParker Solar ProbeSecond perihelion
4 AprilBeresheetLunar orbital insertion
5 AprilHayabusa2Release of Small Carry-On Impactor (SCI) on the surface of RyuguSCI created a crater for further investigation. A dedicated DCAM-3 camera was deployed to observe the impact.
6 AprilJuno19th perijove
11 AprilBeresheetLunar landingCrashed due to gyroscope failure
29 MayJuno20th perijove
11 JulyHayabusa2Second sample collection from Ryugu
21 JulyJuno21st perijove
20 AugustnowrapChandrayaan-2Lunar orbital insertion
1 SeptemberParker Solar ProbeThird perihelion
6 SeptemberChandrayaan-2Lunar landingVikram lander crashed after it lost attitude and contact at an altitude of 2.3 km.
nowrap12 SeptemberJuno22nd perijove
2 OctoberHayabusa2Deployment of ROVER-2 (MINERVA-II-2)Rover failed before deployment, it was deployed in orbit around the asteroid to perform gravitational measurements before it impacted on 8 October.
3 NovemberJuno23rd perijove
13 NovemberHayabusa2Departure from Ryugu
26 DecemberParker Solar ProbeSecond gravity assist at Venus
26 DecemberJuno24th perijove

Extravehicular activities (EVAs)

Start date/timeDurationEnd timeSpacecraftCrewRemarks
22 March 12:016 hours18:40Expedition 59Anne McClain
29 March 11:426 hours18:27Expedition 59Nick Hague
8 April 11:316 hours 29 minutes18:00Expedition 59Anne McClain
29 May 15:426 hours 1 minute21:43Expedition 59Oleg Kononenko
21 August 12:276 hours 32 minutes18:59Expedition 60Nick Hague
6 October 11:397 hours 01 minutes18:40Expedition 61Christina Koch
11 October 11:386 hours 45 minutes18:23Expedition 61Andrew R. Morgan
18 October7 hours 17 minutes18:55Expedition 61Christina Koch
15 November6 hours 39 minutes18:18Expedition 61Luca Parmitano
22 November6 hours 33 minutes16:35Expedition 61Luca Parmitano
2 December6 hours 2 minutes17:33Expedition 61Luca Parmitano

Space debris events

Date/Time (UTC)Pieces trackedRemarks
27 MarchnowrapMicrosat-R (suspected)
and kinetic kill vehiclenowrap2019 Indian anti-satellite missile test
Early AprilnowrapA Centaur 3 upper stage
(previously International Designator 2018-079B)nowrapUnknown{{Cite weburl=https://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/quarterly-news/pdfs/odqnv23i3.pdftitle=Orbital Debris Quarterly Newslast=National Aeronautics and Space Administration
7 MaynowrapTitan IIIC Transtage rocket bodynowrapTitan IIIC Transtage rocket body
13 AugustnowrapAriane 42P third stage rocket bodynowrapUnknown
19 AugustnowrapSOZ (Sistema Obespecheniya Zapuska) ullage motornowrapProton Block DM fourth stage

Orbital launch statistics

By country

For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of orbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. For example, Soyuz launches by Arianespace in Kourou are counted under Russia because Soyuz-2 is a Russian rocket.

CountryLaunchesSuccessesFailuresPartial
failuresstyle="text-align:left;"style="text-align:left;"style="text-align:left;"style="text-align:left;"style="text-align:left;"style="text-align:left;"style="text-align:left;"style="text-align:left;"style="text-align:left;"World
343220
4400
6600
2020
2110
2200
6600
252500
212100

By rocket

By family

FamilyCountryLaunchesSuccessesFailuresPartial failuresRemarks
Antares2200
Ariane4400
Atlas2200
Delta3300
Electron6600
Epsilon1100
Falcon131300
GLSV Mk III1100
H-II1100
Hyperbola1100Maiden flight
Jielong1100Maiden flight
Kuaizhou5500
Long March262510
Pegasus1100
OneSpace1010Maiden flight
PSLV5500
R-7181800
Safir1010
Simorgh1010
Universal Rocket7700
Vega2110

By type

RocketCountryFamilyLaunchesSuccessesFailuresPartial failuresRemarks
Antares 200Antares2200
Ariane 5Ariane4400
Atlas VAtlas2200
Delta IVDelta3300
ElectronElectron6600
EpsilonEpsilon1100
Falcon 9Falcon131300
GLSV Mk IIIGLSV Mk III1100
H-IIBH-II1100
Hyperbola-1Hyperbola1100Maiden flight
Jielong 1Jielong1100Maiden flight
Kuaizhou-1Kuaizhou5500
Long March 2Long March2200
Long March 3Long March121200
Long March 4Long March7610
Long March 5Long March1100
Long March 6Long March1100
Long March 11Long March3300
OS-M1OneSpace1010Maiden flight
Pegasus XLPegasus1100
ProtonUniversal Rocket5500
PSLVPSLV5500
SafirSafir1010Final flight
SimorghSimorgh1010
SoyuzR-73300Final flight
Soyuz-2R-7151500
UR-100Universal Rocket2200Final flight
VegaVega2110

By configuration

RocketCountryTypeLaunchesSuccessesFailuresPartial failuresRemarks
Antares 230Antares 2001100Final flight
Antares 230+Antares 2001100Maiden flight
Ariane 5 ECAAriane 54400
Atlas V 401Atlas V0000
Atlas V 411Atlas V0000
Atlas V 531Atlas V0000
Atlas V 551Atlas V1100
Atlas V N22Atlas V1100Maiden flight
Delta IV Medium+ (4,2)Delta IV1100Final flight
Delta IV Medium+ (5,4)Delta IV1100Final flight
Delta IV HeavyDelta IV1100
EpsilonEpsilon1100
ElectronElectron6600
Falcon 9 Block 5Falcon 9111100
Falcon HeavyFalcon 92200
GSLV Mk IIIGSLV Mk III1100
H-IIBH-IIB1100
Hyperbola-1Hyperbola-11100Maiden flight
Jielong 1Jielong 11100Maiden flight
Kuaizhou-1AKuaizhou-15500
Long March 2CLong March 21100
Long March 2DLong March 21100
Long March 3B/ELong March 38800
Long March 3B/E / YZ-1Long March 33300
Long March 3C/ELong March 31100
Long March 4BLong March 44400
Long March 4CLong March 43210
Long March 5Long March 51100
Long March 6Long March 61100
Long March 11Long March 113300
OS-M1OneSpace1010Maiden flight
Pegasus XLPegasus XL1100
Proton-M / Briz-M or DM-03Proton3300
Proton-M / Blok DM-03Proton2200
PSLV-CAPSLV1100
PLSV-DLPSLV1100Maiden flight
PLSV-QLPSLV2200Maiden flight
PLSV-XLPSLV1100
Rokot / Briz-KMUR-1002200Final flight
SafirSafir1010Final flight
SimorghSimorgh1010
Soyuz-FGSoyuz3300Final flight
Soyuz-2.1a or ST-ASoyuz-24400
Soyuz-2.1a or ST-A / Fregat-MSoyuz-22200
Soyuz-2.1b or ST-B / Fregat-MSoyuz-27700
Soyuz-2-1v / VolgaSoyuz-22200
VegaVega2110

By spaceport

SiteCountryLaunchesSuccessesFailuresPartial failuresRemarksTotal1029750
Baikonur131300
Cape Canaveral131300Includes the 11 October Pegasus XL launch whose carrier aircraft took flight from Cape Canaveral
Jiuquan9810
Kennedy3300
Kourou9810
Mahia6600
MARS2200
Palmachim0000
Plesetsk8800
Satish Dhawan6600
Semnan2020Additionally, one rocket exploded on the launch pad during a ground test.
Sohae0000
Taiyuan10910
Tanegashima1100
Uchinoura1100
Vandenberg3300
Vostochny1100
Wenchang1100
Xichang131300
Yellow Sea1100

By orbit

Orbital regimeLaunchesAchievedNot achievedAccidentally
achievedRemarksTotal1029750
Transatmospheric0000
Low Earth / Sun-synchronous666150
Medium Earth9900
Geosynchronous / GTO242400Includes two inclined GSO orbits (IGSO)
High Earth / Lunar transfer2200
Heliocentric / Planetary transfer1100

Notes

References

References

  1. Grush, Loren. (31 March 2018). "No one won the Google Lunar X Prize, but these competitors are still shooting for the Moon". [[The Verge]].
  2. Lidman, Melanie. (11 April 2019). "Israel's Beresheet spacecraft crashes into the moon during landing attempt". [[The Times of Israel]].
  3. Ramesh, Sandhya. (12 June 2019). "Why Chandrayaan-2 is ISRO's 'most complex mission' so far". ThePrint.
  4. (12 December 2017). "New Horizons – Kuiper Belt Extended Mission". [[JHUAPL]].
  5. Hays, Brooks. (11 July 2019). "Hayabusa-makes completes second asteroid touchdown to collect samples". SpaceDaily.
  6. Bartels, Meghan. (13 November 2019). "Farewell, Ryugu! Japan's Hayabusa2 Probe Leaves Asteroid for Journey Home". [[Space.com]].
  7. Northon, Karen. (13 February 2019). "NASA's Record-Setting Opportunity Rover Mission on Mars Comes to End". [[NASA]].
  8. (23 April 2019). "NASA's InSight Detects First Likely 'Quake' on Mars". [[NASA]].
  9. Berger, Eric. (22 April 2019). "Here's what we know, and what we don't, about the Crew Dragon accident". [[Ars Technica]].
  10. Burghardt, Thomas. (22 December 2019). "OFT Starliner Makes Early Landing at White Sands". [[NASASpaceFlight]].
  11. Clark, Stephen. (18 January 2019). "Relativity Space obtains Air Force approval for Cape Canaveral launch pad". Spaceflight Now.
  12. Barbosa, Rui C.. (27 March 2019). "Maiden launch of OneSpace OS-M rocket fails". [[NASASpaceFlight]].
  13. Huang, Echo. (25 July 2019). "iSpace achieves China's first private rocket launch". [[Quartz (publication).
  14. Clark, Stephen. (17 August 2019). "China's Jielong 1 smallsat launcher successful on first flight". Spaceflight Now.
  15. Baylor, Michael. (27 August 2019). "SpaceX's Starhopper completes 150 meter test hop". [[NASASpaceFlight]].
  16. Gebhardt, Chris. (27 December 2019). "Long March 5 conducts critical Return To Flight mission". [[NASASpaceFlight]].
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  19. Graham, William. (26 December 2019). "Rokot conducts final launch – carries three Gonets-M satellites to orbit". [[NASASpaceFlight]].
  20. McDowell, Jonathan. (8 December 2018). "Chang'e-4 confirmed in 200 x 420000 km orbit on the way to Luna. Should reach lunar orbit around Dec 11. Landing in the South Pole -Aitken Basin (SPA to its friends) scheduled for Jan 4. https://t.co/9GX0DaTTqC".
  21. Davis, Jason. (16 January 2019). "Hayabusa2 team sets date for sample collection, considers two touchdown sites". [[Planetary Society]].
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  24. "Spacewalkers Complete Battery Swaps for Station Power Upgrades – Space Station".
  25. Weitering, Hanneke. (22 March 2019). "Spacewalking Astronauts Swap Space Station Batteries in Power Upgrade".
  26. Weitering, Hanneke. (29 March 2019). "Spacewalking Astronauts Replace Old Batteries on Space Station".
  27. "U.S. and Canadian Astronauts Wrap Up Power Upgrades Spacewalk – Space Station".
  28. Garcia, Mark. (21 August 2019). "Spacewalkers Complete Installation of Second Commercial Docking Port". [[NASA]].
  29. Garcia, Mark. (6 October 2019). "First of Five Power Upgrade Spacewalks This Month Wraps Up". [[NASA]].
  30. Moran, Norah. (11 October 2019). "Second of Five Power Upgrade Spacewalks Wraps Up". [[NASA]].
  31. Malik, Tariq. (11 October 2019). "Astronauts Mourn Alexei Leonov, the World's 1st Spacewalker, While On a Spacewalk of Their Own". [[Space.com]].
  32. Garcia, Mark. (18 October 2019). "NASA Astronauts Wrap Up Historic All-Woman Spacewalk". [[NASA]].
  33. "Spacewalkers Complete First Excursion to Repair Cosmic Particle Detector – Space Station".
  34. "Astronauts Complete Intricate Tasks During Second Cosmic Repair Spacewalk – Space Station".
  35. (2 December 2019). "Astronauts Wrap Up Third Spacewalk for Cosmic Particle Detector Repairs – Space Station".
  36. T.S. Kelso. (22 August 2019). "CelesTrak also has 3 more TLEs for debris from the Indian ASAT test (MICROSAT-R DEB). That brings the total, so far, to 121 pieces (including the original), of which only 65 have decayed —148 days after the event: https://t.co/yHuEC6Ac6l https://t.co/1S52MRjXtk".
  37. DiMascio, Jen. (27 March 2019). "Indian ASAT Test Likely Targeted Microsat-R". [[Aviation Week & Space Technology.
  38. (28 March 2019). "US cautions nations on ASAT tests; warns of space debris". [[Business Today (India).
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  40. (November 2019). "Orbital Debris Quarterly News". Space News.
  41. Pietrobon, Steven. (29 November 2019). "Chinese Launch Manifest".
  42. Pietrobon, Steven. (1 August 2019). "Iran Launch Record (from 1998)".
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  44. Clark, Stephen. (12 December 2019). "Launch Schedule". Spaceflight Now.
  45. Cooper, Ben. (17 October 2019). "Rocket Launch Viewing Guide for Cape Canaveral".
  46. Krebs, Gunter. "CZ-2 (Chang Zheng-2)". Gunter's Space Page.
  47. Krebs, Gunter. "CZ-3 (Chang Zheng-3)". Gunter's Space Page.
  48. Krebs, Gunter. "CZ-4 (Chang Zheng-4)". Gunter's Space Page.
  49. Krebs, Gunter. "CZ-5 (Chang Zheng-5)". Gunter's Space Page.
  50. Krebs, Gunter. "CZ-11 (Chang Zheng-11)". Gunter's Space Page.
  51. Krebs, Gunter. "Kuaizhou-1A (KZ-1A)". Gunter's Space Page.
  52. Krebs, Gunter. "PSLV". Gunter's Space Page.
  53. Krebs, Gunter. "BlackSky Global 1, ..., 60". Gunter's Space Page.
  54. (6 February 2019). "NASA, Partners Update Commercial Crew Launch Dates". NASA Commercial Crew Program Blog.
  55. Krebs, Gunter. "Atlas-5". Gunter's Space Page.
  56. Krebs, Gunter. "H-2A". Gunter's Space Page.
  57. Krebs, Gunter. "NROL launches". Gunter's Space Page.
  58. Pietrobon, Steven. (23 November 2019). "Ariane Launch Manifest".
  59. Pietrobon, Steven. (25 October 2019). "Indian Launch Manifest".
  60. Pietrobon, Steven. (16 October 2019). "Russian Launch Manifest".
  61. Pietrobon, Steven. (10 October 2019). "United States Commercial ELV Launch Manifest".
  62. Pietrobon, Steven. (24 June 2019). "United States Military Manifest".
  63. "PRISMA (Hyperspectral Precursor and Application Mission)". [[ESA]].
  64. Frommert, Hartmut. (23 December 2018). "International Space Station Flight Schedule".
  65. (7 December 2019). "中国航天发射预报".
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