2018 in spaceflight

2018 in spaceflight
A mannequin (Starman) in a spacesuit drives a car with the Earth in the background
Image of the science deck of the InSight lander, with the Martian landscape in the background
Animation of the rotating asteroid Bennu
A cosmonaut inspecting the exterior of a spacecraft during a spacewalk; Earth appears in the background
Highlights from spaceflight in 2018[a]
Orbital launches
First8 January
Last29 December
Total114
Successes111
Failures2
Partial failures1
Catalogued112
National firsts
Satellite
Suborbital launch Norway
Rockets
Maiden flights
Retirements
Crewed flights
Orbital3 (+1 failed)
Suborbital1 (private)
Total travellers11 (+2 failed)
EVAs8
2018 in spaceflight
← 2017
2019 →

This article documents notable spaceflight events during the year 2018. For the first time since 1990, more than 100 orbital launches were performed globally.

Overview

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Planetary exploration

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The NASA InSight seismology probe was launched in May 2018 and landed on Mars in November. The Parker Solar Probe was launched to explore the Sun in August 2018, and reached its first perihelion in November, traveling faster than any prior spacecraft. On 20 October the ESA and JAXA launched BepiColombo to Mercury, on a 10-year mission featuring several flybys and eventually deploying two orbiters in 2025 for local study. The asteroid sampling mission Hayabusa2 reached its target Ryugu in June,[1] and the similar OSIRIS-REx probe reached Bennu in December.[2] China launched its Chang'e 4 lander/rover in December which performed the first ever soft landing on the far side of the Moon in January 2019;[3][4] a communications relay was sent to the second Earth-Moon Lagrange point in May. The Google Lunar X Prize expired on 31 March without a winner for its $20 million grand prize, because none of its five finalist teams were able to launch a commercial lunar lander mission before the deadline.[5]

Human spaceflight

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The Soyuz MS-10 October mission to the International Space Station (ISS) was aborted shortly after launch, due to a separation failure of one of the rocket's side boosters. The crew landed safely, and was rescheduled for March 2019 on Soyuz MS-12.[6] The United States returned to spaceflight on 13 December with the successful suborbital spaceflight of VSS Unity Flight VP-03. The flight did not reach the Kármán line (100 km) but it did cross the US definition of space (50 mi). As per United States convention, it was the first human spaceflight launched from the U.S. since the last Space shuttle flight STS-135 in 2011. Astronauts Mark P. Stucky and Frederick W. Sturckow both received their FAA Commercial Astronaut Wings on 7 February 2019. The return of the United States to human orbital spaceflight was further delayed to 2019, as Boeing and SpaceX, under NASA supervision, performed further tests on their commercial crew spacecraft under development: Starliner on Atlas V and SpaceX Dragon 2 on Falcon 9.[7]

Rocket innovation

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After a failed launch in 2017, the Electron rocket reached orbit with its second flight in January; manufactured by Rocket Lab, it is the first orbital rocket equipped with electric pump-fed engines.[8] On 3 February, the Japanese SS-520-5 rocket (a modified sounding rocket) successfully delivered a 3U CubeSat to orbit, thus becoming the lightest and smallest orbital launch vehicle ever.[9] On 6 February, SpaceX performed the much-delayed test flight of Falcon Heavy,[10] carrying a car and a mannequin to a heliocentric orbit beyond Mars.[11] Falcon Heavy became the most powerful active rocket until the maiden launch of the Space Launch System in 2022.[12] On 27 October, LandSpace launched Zhuque-1, the first privately developed rocket in China; it failed to reach orbit.[13] The company later announced that it would not repeat the launch attempt and shift its focus to the Zhuque-2 launch vehicle, making this the only launch attempt of Zhuque-1.[14] On 13 December Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo reached 82.7 km, below the internationally recognized Kármán line but above the 50-mile definition of space used by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.[15][16]

Accelerating activity

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The global activity of the launch industry grew significantly in 2018. 114 launches were conducted over the full year, compared with 91 in 2017, a 25% increase. Only three missions failed fully or partially in 2018, compared with eight failures in 2017. In August, China surpassed its previous record of 22 launches in 2016, and ended the year with a total 39 launches, also more launches than any other country in 2018. The 100th orbital launch of the year occurred on 3 December,[17] exceeding all yearly tallies since the end of the Cold War space race in 1991.

Orbital and suborbital launches

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Main articles: List of spaceflight launches in January–June 2018 and List of spaceflight launches in July–December 2018
List of orbital launches
Month Num. of successes Num. of failures
January 13 0
February 8 0
March 10 0
April 9 0
May 7 0
June 8 0
July 8 0
August 4 0
September 8 0
October 11 2
November 13 0
December 15 0
Total 114 2

Deep-space rendezvous

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Date (GMT) Spacecraft Event Remarks
7 February Juno 11th perijove of Jupiter
1 April Juno 12th perijove
17 May TESS Gravity assist by the Moon Closest approach: 8,100 kilometres (5,000 mi)
24 May Juno 13th perijove
25 May Queqiao Moon flyby In Earth–Moon L2 halo orbit[18]
25 May Longjiang-1 Moon flyby Failed lunar orbital injection[19]
25 May Longjiang-2 Injection into Selenocentric orbit Preliminary orbit was 350 × 13800 km, inclined 21° to the equator[20]
27 June[1] Hayabusa2 Arrival at asteroid Ryugu
16 July Juno 14th perijove
7 September Juno 15th perijove
21 September HIBOU (ROVER-1A) Landing on Ryugu
21 September OWL (ROVER-1B) Landing on Ryugu
3 October MASCOT Landing on Ryugu
3 October Parker Solar Probe First gravity assist at Venus
29 October Juno 16th perijove
6 November Parker Solar Probe First perihelion Occurred at 03:28 UTC, a distance of 25 million km from the Sun. New record for the fastest spacecraft (95 km/s).
26 November InSight Arrival at Mars Successful landing at Elysium Planitia, coordinates 4°30′09″N 135°37′24″E / 4.5024°N 135.6234°E / 4.5024; 135.6234.[21]
26 November MarCO A, B Mars flyby Data relays for InSight lander
3 December OSIRIS-REx Arrival at asteroid Bennu[2] Approach phase operations began on 17 August
12 December Chang'e 4 Injection into Selenocentric orbit Preliminary orbit 100 × 400 km, en route to a landing attempt on the Lunar farside[22]
21 December Juno 17th perijove

Extravehicular activities (EVAs)

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See also: List of spacewalks 2015–2024 § 2018 spacewalks
Start Date/Time Duration End Time Spacecraft Crew Remarks
23 January
11:49 		7 hours
24 minutes 		19:13 Expedition 54
ISS Quest
  • Replacement of latching end effector-B (LEE-B) for the space station remote manipulator system (SSRMS)
2 February
15:34 		8 hours
13 minutes 		23:47 Expedition 54
ISS Pirs
  • Dismantling Lira electronics assembly
  • Installation of upgraded electronics unit
  • Jettisoning of removed unit
  • Test exposure unit retrieval
  • Biorisk retrieval
  • Foot restraint relocation
16 February
12:00 		5 hours
57 minutes 		17:57 Expedition 54
ISS Quest
  • Finished removal and replacement of latching end effector on POA
  • Replaced LEE camera, installed ground strap on Canadarm2
  • Brought failed LEE inside
  • Lubricated Canadarm2
  • Moved tool platform on Dextre
  • Adjusted struts on flex hose rotary coupler
29 March
13:33 		6 hours
10 minutes 		19:43 Expedition 55
ISS Quest
  • Node 3 external wireless antenna install
  • P1 truss ammonia jumper remove (P1-3-2 RBVM)
  • CP8 camera group replacement
  • S0 ammonia jumper relocate to ESP-1
  • APFR relocate to ESP-1
  • Bolt preps on ESP-2
16 May
11:39 		6 hours
31 minutes 		18:10 Expedition 55
ISS Quest
  • Relocation of two pump flow control subassembly (PFCS) units
  • Replace the camera port-13 (CP-13) external television camera group (ETVCG)
  • Replacement of the space to ground transmit/receive controller (SGTRC)
14 June
08:06[23] 		6 hours
49 minutes 		14:55 Expedition 56
ISS Quest
  • Installed new cameras to monitor the approach and docking maneuvers of commercial crew spacecraft
  • Replaced a defective camera and lighting on the right side of the station
  • Closed the cover of the Cloud Aerosol Transport System instrument
15 August
16:17 		7 hours
46 minutes 		00:03 on 16 August Expedition 56
ISS Pirs
  • Deployed four cubesats built by Russian students
  • Installed antennas and cables for the Icarus animal-tracking device
  • Retrieved two materials exposure packages from the Zvezda hull[24]
11 December
15:59 		7 hours
45 minutes 		21:44 Expedition 57
ISS Pirs

Space debris events

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Date/Time (UTC) Source object Event type Pieces tracked Remarks
31 August Centaur upper stage Unknown 80
22 December
07:12 		Orbcomm
OG1 FM 16 		Satellite breakup 34+ Orbcomm OG1 sat FM 16 disintegrated for unknown reasons.[26]

Orbital launch statistics

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See also: Timeline of spaceflight

By country

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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. As examples, Soyuz launches by Arianespace in Kourou are counted under Russia because Soyuz-2 is a Russian rocket and Electron launches from Mahia in New Zealand count as USA launches.

Country Launches Successes Failures Partial
failures
 China 39[b] 38 1[c] 0
 France 6 5 0 1[d]
 India 7 7[e] 0 0
 Italy 2 2 0 0
 Japan 6 6 0 0
 Russia 20[f] 19 1[g] 0
 United States 34[h] 34[i] 0 0
World 114 111 2 1

By rocket

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By family

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By type

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By configuration

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By spaceport

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10
20
30
40
China
France
India
Japan
Kazakhstan
New Zealand
Russia
United States
Site Country Launches Successes Failures Partial failures Remarks
Baikonur  Kazakhstan 9 8 1 0
Cape Canaveral  United States 17 16 1 0
Jiuquan  China 16 15 1 0
Kennedy  United States 3 3 0 0
Kourou  France 11 10 0 1
Mahia  New Zealand 3 3 0 0
MARS  United States 2 2 0 0
Plesetsk  Russia 6 6 0 0
Satish Dhawan  India 7 7 0 0
Taiyuan  China 6 6 0 0
Tanegashima  Japan 4 4 0 0
Uchinoura  Japan 2 2 0 0
Vandenberg  United States 9 9 0 0
Vostochny  Russia 2 2 0 0
Xichang  China 17 17 0 0
Total 114 110 3 1

By orbit

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  •   Low Earth
  •   Low Earth (ISS)
  •   Low Earth (SSO)
  •   Low Earth (retrograde)
  •   Medium Earth
  •   Geosychronous (transfer)
  •   High Earth
  •   Heliocentric
Orbital regime Launches Achieved Not achieved Accidentally
achieved 		Remarks
Transatmospheric 0 0 0 0
Low Earth / Sun-synchronous 67 64 3 0 Zuma, Soyuz MS-10 and Zhuque-1 lost
Geosynchronous / GTO 27 26 0 1 Ariane VA241 underperformed
Medium Earth 13 13 0 0
High Earth / Lunar transfer 3 3 0 0
Heliocentric / Planetary transfer 4 4 0 0
Total 114 110 3 1

References

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Notes

  1. ^ Clockwise from top
  2. ^ China surpassed its previous record of 22 launches in 2016
  3. ^ The only failure was the maiden flight of private rocket Zhuque-1.
  4. ^ During Ariane 5 flight VA241 in January, two launched satellites were placed on an off-nominal orbit.
  5. ^ GSAT-6A launch was a success, but the satellite failed.
  6. ^ Includes three European Soyuz launches from Kourou, French Guiana by Arianespace.
  7. ^ Crewed Soyuz MS-10 launch failure, two cosmonauts landed safely.
  8. ^ Includes three Electron launches from Mahia.
  9. ^ In January, Zuma launch was a success, satellite was reported lost but actual status is classified.

Citations

  1. ^ a b Clark, Stephen (28 June 2018). "Japanese spacecraft reaches asteroid after three-and-a-half-year journey". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  2. ^ a b Davenport, Justin (3 December 2018). "OSIRIS-REx Arrives at Asteroid Bennu". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  3. ^ Lyons, Kate. "Chang'e 4 landing: China probe makes historic touchdown on far side of the moon". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  4. ^ "China successfully lands Chang'e-4 on far side of Moon". Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  5. ^ "Google Lunar X Prize to end without winner - SpaceNews.com". 23 January 2018.
  6. ^ "NASA Astronaut Nick Hague Set for New Space Station Mission After Abort". 4 December 2018.
  7. ^ Dunn, Marcia (5 August 2018). "Astronauts chosen for SpaceX, Boeing capsule flights in 2019". The Palm Beach Post. Cape Canaveral, Florida: Gannett. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 20 May 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Grush, Loren (14 April 2015). "A 3D-Printed, Battery-Powered Rocket Engine". Popular Science. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  9. ^ "Japanese sounding rocket claims record-breaking orbital launch – NASASpaceFlight.com". www.nasaspaceflight.com. 3 February 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  10. ^ Gebhardt, Chris (5 February 2018). "SpaceX successfully debuts Falcon Heavy in demonstration launch from KSC". NASASpaceflight. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  11. ^ Joe Pappalardo (5 February 2018). "Elon Musk's Space Tesla Isn't Going to Mars. It's Going Somewhere More Important". Popular Mechanics.
  12. ^ Barnett, Amanda; Wattles, Jackie. "SpaceX Falcon Heavy: How the biggest rockets in history stack up". CNNMoney. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  13. ^ Barbosa, Rui C. (27 October 2018). "Chinese commercial provider LandSpace launches Weilai-1 on a Zhuque-1 rockets – fails to make orbit". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  14. ^ Jones, Andrew (12 July 2023). "China's Landspace reaches orbit with methane-powered Zhuque-2 rocket". SpaceNews. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  15. ^ Clyde Hughes (13 December 2018). "Virgin Galactic reaches edge of space in historic flight". UPI.
  16. ^ Christian Davenport (19 November 2018). "Virgin Galactic's quest for space". Washington Post.
  17. ^ Gebhardt, Chris (3 December 2018). "100th orbital launch of 2018: International trio launch to Space Station". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  18. ^ Jones, Andrew (1 June 2018). "Queqiao Chang'e-4 satellite performs Moon flyby, makes successful braking manoeuvre". GBTimes. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  19. ^ Jones, Andrew (28 May 2018). "Chang'e-4: Lunar microsatellite may be lost, Queqiao continues toward Lagrange point beyond Moon". GBTimes. Archived from the original on 29 May 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  20. ^ @planet4589 (27 May 2018). "So it looks like Longjiang-2 (DSLWP-B) is in a 350 x 13800 km x 21 deg lunar orbit. Longjiang-1 seems to have failed on May 21 and presumably remains in distant Earth orbit following its lunar flyby" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. ^ Genhardt, Chris (26 November 2018). "NASA, international InSight mission nail PERFECT landing on Mars". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  22. ^ Jones, Andrew [@AJ_FI] (12 December 2018). "Chang'e-4 has just successfully entered a 100 x 400km lunar orbit, achieved at 08:39 UTC (16:39 Beijing time), following a four-and-a-half day voyage to Moon" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  23. ^ Harwood, William (14 June 2018). "Station astronauts install new cameras on successful spacewalk". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  24. ^ Clark, Stephen (15 August 2018). "Spacewalkers toss nanosatellites into orbit, hook up bird migration monitor". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  25. ^ Bergin, Chris (11 December 2018). "Russian EVA examines hole repair area on Soyuz MS-09". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  26. ^ "#18SPCS confirmed breakup of ORBCOMM OG1 sat FM 16, #25417, on 22 Dec @ 0712 UTC - tracking 34 pieces - no indication caused by collision". twitter.com. 1 January 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
[edit]
Generic references:

Spaceflight portal
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