2008 in spaceflight

First successful flight of a SpaceX Falcon 1
Orbital launches
First	15 January
Last	25 December
Total	69
Successes	66
Failures	2
Partial failures	1
Catalogued	67
National firsts
Satellite	Venezuela  Vietnam
Space traveller	South Korea
Rockets
Maiden flights	Ariane 5ES Long March 3C PSLV-XL Safir Zenit-3SLB
Retirements	H-IIA 2024
Crewed flights
Orbital	7
Total travellers	37
v t e

The year 2008 contained several significant events in spaceflight, including the first flyby of Mercury by a spacecraft since 1975, the discovery of water ice on Mars by the Phoenix spacecraft, which landed in May, the first Chinese spacewalk in September, the launch of the first Indian Lunar probe in October, and the first successful flight of a privately developed orbital launch vehicle by SpaceX's Falcon 1.

Overview

The internationally accepted definition of a spaceflight is any flight which crosses the Kármán line, 100 kilometres above sea level. The first recorded spaceflight launch of the year occurred on 11 January, when a Black Brant was launched on a suborbital trajectory from White Sands, with the LIDOS ultraviolet astronomy payload.^[1] This was followed by the first orbital launch of the year on 15 January, by a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL, with the Thuraya 3 communications satellite.^[2] The launch marked the return to flight for Sea Launch following the explosion of a Zenit-3SL on the launch pad the previous January during an attempt to launch the NSS-8 satellite.

Five carrier rockets made their maiden flights in 2008; the Ariane 5ES, Long March 3C, Zenit-3SLB, PSLV-XL, and the operational version of the Falcon 1, with an uprated Merlin-1C engine.^[3] These were all derived from existing systems. The Blue Sparrow and Sejjil missiles also conducted their maiden flights, and the ATK Launch Vehicle made its only flight, but was destroyed by range safety after it went off course. In November, the baseline Proton-M was retired in favour of the Enhanced variant, first launched in 2007.

The first Vietnamese and Venezuelan satellites, Vinasat-1 and Venesat-1 respectively, were launched in 2008, while a failed Iranian launch was reported to have been that country's first indigenous orbital launch attempt. In September, SpaceX conducted the first successful orbital launch of a privately developed and funded liquid-fuelled carrier rocket, when the fourth Falcon 1 launched RatSat, following previous failures in 2006, 2007, and August.

Space exploration

India launched its first Lunar probe, Chandraayan-1, on 22 October, with the spacecraft entering selenocentric orbit on 8 November. On 16 November, the Moon Impact Probe was released, and crashed into the Lunar surface. Although no other spacecraft were launched beyond geocentric orbit in 2008, several significant events occurred in interplanetary flights which had been launched in previous years. MESSENGER conducted flybys of Mercury in January and October, the first spacecraft to do so since Mariner 10 in 1975. Cassini continued to make flybys of the moons of Saturn, including several close passes of Enceladus, one at a distance of 25 kilometres.^[4] In September Rosetta flew past the asteroid 2867 Šteins. On 25 May, the Phoenix spacecraft landed in the Green Valley on Mars, where it discovered water ice.^[5] Phoenix exceeded its design life of 90 days, finally failing on 10 November. The Ulysses spacecraft, launched in 1990, was also retired in 2008.^[6]

Crewed spaceflight

Seven crewed flights were launched in 2008, one by China, two by Russia and four by the United States. In April, Yi So-yeon became the first South Korean to fly in space, aboard Soyuz TMA-12. On the same flight, Sergey Volkov became the first second-generation cosmonaut. Yi returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-11, which nearly ended in disaster following a separation failure between the descent and service modules, resulting in a ballistic reentry.^[7] In September, China conducted its third crewed mission, Shenzhou 7, from which Zhai Zhigang and Liu Boming conducted the first Chinese spacewalk.^[8] Soyuz TMA-13, launched in October, was the hundredth flight of the Soyuz programme to carry a crew at some point in its mission.^[9]

Assembly of the International Space Station continued, with the delivery of the Columbus module by Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-122 in February. March saw the launch of the Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle, an uncrewed European spacecraft which was used to resupply the space station. Also in March, Space Shuttle Endeavour launched on STS-123 with the first component of the Japanese Experiment Module, the Experiment Logistics Module. STS-123 marked the final flight of the Spacelab programme, with a SpaceLab pallet used to carry the Canadian-built Dextre RMS extension. The second JEM component, the main pressurised module, was launched by STS-124, flown by Discovery in May. In November, Endeavour launched on the STS-126 logistics flight, with the Leonardo MPLM.

Launch failures

On 14 March, a Proton-M with a Briz-M upper stage launched AMC-14. Several hours later, on 15 March, the Briz-M engine cut off prematurely during a burn,^[10] leaving the satellite in a medium Earth orbit. Following a small legal dispute,^[11] the satellite was sold, and raised to a geosynchronous orbit by its manoeuvring thrusters, at the expense of a large amount of its fuel and hence operational life.^[12]

On 3 August, SpaceX launched the third Falcon 1. Due to residual thrust caused by the upgraded Merlin-1C engine which was being flown for the first time, the first stage recontacted the second during staging, resulting in the rocket failing to reach orbit. The Trailblazer, PreSat and NanoSail-D satellites were lost in the failure, as was a space burial capsule, containing the remains of several hundred people, including astronaut Gordon Cooper, actor James Doohan, writer and director John Meredyth Lucas and Apollo mission planner Mareta West.^[13]

On 16 August, Iran launched a Safir, which though officially successful, was reported to have failed due to a second stage malfunction. The purpose of this launch is in doubt, as before the launch it was claimed that it would place the Omid into orbit, whilst following the launch, it was reported that a boilerplate payload had been launched.^[14] Other reports indicated that the launch was only a suborbital test of the rocket.^[15] If this was an orbital launch attempt, it was the first Iranian attempt to launch a satellite.

On 22 August, the inaugural launch of the Alliant Techsystems ALV X-1 was terminated 27 seconds after launch from Wallops Flight Facility when it veered off course. Both hypersonic physics experiments on board were destroyed.^[16]

Summary of launches

In total, sixty nine orbital launches were made in 2008, with sixty seven reaching orbit, and two outright failures if the Iranian launch in August is counted.^[3] This is an increase of one orbital launch attempt on 2007, with two more launches reaching orbit, which continues a trend of increasing launch rates seen since 2006. The final launch of the year was conducted on 25 December, by a Proton-M with three GLONASS navigation satellites for the Russian government.

Suborbital spaceflight in 2008 saw a number of sounding rocket and missile launches. On 21 February, a RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 was used as an anti-satellite weapon to destroy the USA-193 satellite. USA-193 was a US spy satellite which had failed immediately after launch in 2006.^[17][18]

By country

China conducted twelve orbital launches of a planned fifteen. Europe had intended to conduct seven launches of Ariane 5 rockets, and the maiden flight of the Vega rocket, however payload delays pushed one of the Arianes into 2009, and the Vega was delayed due to development issues. India had originally scheduled five to seven launches, however only three of these were conducted, mostly due to delays with the launch of Chandraayan-1. Japan scheduled three launches for 2008, of which one was launched; an H-IIA with WINDS in February. Russia and the former Soviet Union conducted twenty six launches, not including the international Sea and Land launch programmes, which conducted six. Fourteen launches were conducted by the United States, which had originally announced plans to launch many more, however technical issues with several rockets, particularly the Atlas V, Delta II and Falcon 1, caused a number of delays. The Atlas problems, combined with a series of delays to the launch of NRO L-26 on a Delta IV, resulted in just two of ten planned EELV launches being conducted.^[3][19] Two of six planned Space Shuttle launches were also delayed to 2009, one due to problems with External Tank delivery, and another due to a major systems failure on the Hubble Space Telescope, which it was to have serviced. Israel was not reported to have scheduled, or conducted an orbital launch attempt.

List of launches

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload (⚀ = CubeSat)	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
January[edit]
11 January 05:32[1]	Black Brant IX			White Sands LC-36		NASA
		LIDOS	JHU	Suborbital	UV Astronomy	05:42	Successful
		Apogee: 315 kilometres (196 mi)
15 January 11:49[2]	Zenit-3SL			Ocean Odyssey		Sea Launch
		Thuraya 3	Thuraya	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
17 January[20]	Jericho III			Palmachim		Israeli Air Force
			Israeli Air Force	Suborbital	Missile test	17 January	Successful
18 January 07:30[21]	Black Brant XII			Andøya		NASA
		SCIFER-2	Cornell/Dartmouth	Suborbital	Ionospheric research	18 January	Successful
		Apogee: 1,460 kilometres (910 mi)
21 January 03:45[2]	PSLV-CA			Satish Dhawan FLP		ISRO
		TecSAR (Polaris)	IAI	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Operational
25 January[22]	Shaheen-I			Sonmiani		Pakistan Army
			Pakistan Army	Suborbital	Missile test	25 January	Successful
28 January 00:18[2]	Proton-M / Briz-M			Baikonur Site 200/39		Roskosmos
		Ekspress AM-33	RSCC	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
31 January 19:14[23]	VS-30-Orion			Andøya		DLR/Andøya
		HotPay-2	University of Leeds	Suborbital	Ionospheric research	31 January	Successful
		Apogee: 380.6 kilometres (236.5 mi)
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → February[edit]
4 February[24]	Safir			Semnan		ISA
		Kavoshgar-1	ISA	Suborbital	Test flight	4 February	Successful
5 February 13:02:54[2]	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5		Roscosmos
		Progress M-63	Roscosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS logistics	7 April 11:50[25]	Successful
		ISS flight 28P
6 February 09:14:40[26]	S-310			Uchinoura		JAXA
			JAXA	Suborbital	Ionospheric research	6 February	Successful
7 February 11:30[27]	VSB-30			Esrange		DLR / ESA
		TEXUS-44	DLR / ESA	Suborbital	Microgravity	7 February	Successful
		Apogee: 264 kilometres (164 mi)
7 February 19:45:30[2]	Space Shuttle Atlantis			Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
		STS-122	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS assembly	20 February 14:07:10[28]	Successful
		Columbus	ESA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS assembly	In orbit	Operational
		Crewed flight with seven astronauts
11 February 11:34[2]	Proton-M / Briz-M			Baikonur Site 200/39		International Launch Services
		Thor-5	Telenor	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
21 February 03:26[29]	RIM-161 Standard Missile 3			USS Lake Erie		U.S. Navy / MDA
		ASAT	MDA	Suborbital	Satellite intercept	03:29[29]	Successful
		Destroyed USA-193 satellite[17]
21 February 06:15[27]	VSB-30			Esrange		DLR / ESA
		TEXUS-45	DLR / ESA	Suborbital	Microgravity	21 February	Successful
23 February 08:55[2]	H-IIA 2024			Tanegashima LA-Y		Mitsubishi
		WINDS (Kizuna)	JAXA / NICT	Geosynchronous	Communications Technology	In orbit	Successful[30]
26 February 07:28[31]	K-15 Sagarika			INS Kalinga		Indian Navy
			Indian Navy	Suborbital	Missile test	26 February	Successful
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → March[edit]
9 March 04:03:07[2]	Ariane 5ES			Kourou ELA-3		Arianespace
		Jules Verne ATV	ESA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS logistics	29 September 13:31	Successful
		Maiden flight of Ariane 5ES and ATV
11 March 06:28:14[2]	Space Shuttle Endeavour			Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
		STS-123	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS assembly	27 March 00:39:08[33]	Successful
		Spacelab MD002[32]	NASA	Low Earth (STS/ISS)	ISS logistics		Successful
		JEM ELM-PF	JAXA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS assembly	In orbit	Operational
		Dextre (SPDM)	MDA Corporation	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS assembly	In orbit	Operational
		Crewed flight with seven astronauts Final flight of Spacelab programme, pallet used to transport Dextre[32]
13 March 10:02[2]	Atlas V 411			Vandenberg SLC-3E		United Launch Alliance
		USA-200 (Improved Trumpet)[34]	NRO	Molniya[34]	ELINT[34]	In orbit	Operational
		NRO Launch 28, first Atlas V launch from Vandenberg
14 March 23:18:55[2][38]	Proton-M / Briz-M			Baikonur Site 200/39		International Launch Services
		AMC-14	SES Americom	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational Partial launch failure[3]
		Upper stage malfunction during second burn left spacecraft in wrong orbit[10][35] Initial recovery attempted but abandoned due to legal issues.[11][36] Later sold and recovery efforts restarted.[37]
15 March 06:10[39]	Delta II 7925-9.5			Cape Canaveral SLC-17A		United Launch Alliance
		USA-201 (GPS IIR-19/M6)[40]	US Air Force	Medium Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
		80th consecutive successful Delta II launch.[39]
19 March 22:47:59[41]	Zenit-3SL			Ocean Odyssey		Sea Launch
		DirecTV-11	DirecTV	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
23 March 04:45[42]	Agni 1			Integrated Test Range LC-4[42]		Indian Army
			SFC / DRDO	Suborbital	Missile test	23 March	Successful
27 March 17:15[43]	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1		COSMOS International
		SAR-Lupe 4	Bundeswehr	Low Earth (SSO)	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Operational
28 March	VSB-30			Andøya		Andøya
		Mini-DUSTY 14	Andøya	Suborbital	Ionospheric research	28 March	Successful
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → April[edit]
2 April 08:01[44]	LGM-30G Minuteman III			Vandenberg LF-09		U.S. Air Force
		GT-196GM	U.S. Air Force	Suborbital	Missile test	2 April	Successful
		Travelled 6,759 kilometres (4,200 mi) downrange[44]
8 April 11:16:39[25][46]	Soyuz-FG			Baikonur Site 1/5		Roscosmos
		Soyuz TMA-12	Roscosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS Expedition 17[46]	24 October 03:37[47]	Successful
		Crewed flight with three cosmonauts, including first South Korean in space[25] and first second-generation cosmonaut[45] Docked on 10 April at 12:57 GMT[46]
14 April 16:58[48]	Black Brant IX			White Sands LC-36		NASA
		SEE	UCB LASP	Suborbital	UV Astronomy[49]	17:08[48]	Successful
14 April 20:12:00[50]	Atlas V 421			Cape Canaveral SLC-41		United Launch Alliance
		ICO G1	ICO	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Heaviest single commercial satellite to be placed in GSO. Heaviest satellite to be launched by an Atlas rocket.[50]
15 April	Blue Sparrow			F-15 Eagle, Israel		Israeli Air Force
			Israeli Air Force	Suborbital	Test flight	15 April	Successful
		Maiden flight of Blue Sparrow.
16 April 17:01[51]	Pegasus-XL			Stargazer, Kwajalein Atoll		Orbital Sciences
		C/NOFS	STP/NASA	Low Earth	Electrodynamics	28 November 2015	Successful
18 April 22:17[52]	Ariane 5 ECA			Kourou ELA-3		Arianespace
		Vinasat-1	VNPT	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Star One C2	Star One	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		First Vietnamese satellite
19 April[53][54]	Shaheen-II			Sonmiani		Pakistan Army[55]
			Pakistan Army[55]	Suborbital	Missile test	19 April	Successful
21 April[56]	Shaheen-II			Sonmiani		Pakistan Army
			Pakistan Army	Suborbital	Missile test	21 April	Successful
25 April 15:35[57]	Long March 3C			Xichang LA-2		CNSA
		Tianlian I-01	CNSA	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Maiden flight of Long March 3C
26 April 22:16:02[58]	Soyuz-FG / Fregat			Baikonur Site 31/6		Starsem
		GIOVE-B	ESA	Medium Earth	Navigation Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
28 April 03:53:51[60][61]	PSLV-C			Satish Dhawan SLP		ISRO
		Cartosat-2A[62]	ISRO	Low Earth	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		TWSAT (IMS-1)[62]	ISRO	Low Earth	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		RUBIN-8[63]	OHB System	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ AAUSAT-II[64]	Aalborg	Low Earth	Radiation[64]	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ CanX-2[65]	UTIAS	Low Earth	Technology demonstration[65]	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ CanX-6[66]	UTIAS/COM DEV	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ COMPASS-1[67]	Aachen	Low Earth	Earth observation Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Cute-1.7+APD II[68]	Tokodai	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Delfi-C3[69]	Delft	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	13 November 2023[70]	Successful
		⚀ SEEDS-2[71]	Nihon	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		All payloads except CartoSat, TWSAT and RUBIN were CubeSats, launched under designation NSL-4, except CanX-6 which was NSL-5.[59] RUBIN-8 intentionally remained attached to upper stage
28 April 05:00[73]	Zenit-3SLB			Baikonur Site 45/1		Land Launch
		AMOS-3 (AMOS-60)	SCL	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		First Land Launch flight and maiden flight of Zenit-3SLB. Reached incorrect orbit due to carrier rocket underperformance.[72] Corrected by satellite through use of spare fuel, without affecting operational life.
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → May[edit]
1 May 05:30[74][75]	Black Brant IX			White Sands LC-36		NASA
			JHU	Suborbital	UV Astronomy	05:40	Successful
7 May 04:26[76][77]	Agni-III			Integrated Test Range LC-4		Indian Army
			SFC/DRDO	Suborbital	Missile test	04:41	Successful
8 May	UGM-133 Trident II			USS Nebraska		U.S. Navy
			U.S. Navy	Suborbital	Missile test	8 May	Successful
8 May	UGM-133 Trident II			USS Nebraska		U.S. Navy
			U.S. Navy	Suborbital	Missile test	8 May	Successful
14 May 20:22:54[78][79]	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5		Roscosmos
		Progress M-64	Roscosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS logistics	8 September[80]	Successful
		ISS flight 29P
15 May 04:00[82][83][81]	VSB-30			Esrange		SSC/DLR
		MASER-11	SSC/ESA	Suborbital	Microgravity	15 May	Successful[81]
		Apogee: 252 kilometres (157 mi)[81]
21 May 09:43[84]	Zenit-3SL			Ocean Odyssey		Sea Launch
		Galaxy 18	Intelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
22 May 10:04[86][87]	LGM-30G Minuteman III			Vandenberg LF-10		U.S. Air Force
		GT-197GM	U.S. Air Force/NNSA[86]	Suborbital	Missile test	22 May	Successful
		Long range test[85]
23 May 05:00[88]	Prithvi			Integrated Test Range		Indian Army
			Indian Army[88]	Suborbital	Missile test	23 May	Successful
		User test[88]
23 May 15:20:09[89]	Rokot / Briz-KM			Plesetsk Site 133/3[73]		RVSN RF
		Kosmos 2437 (Rodnik)[90]	VKS	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Kosmos 2438 (Rodnik)[90]	VKS	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Kosmos 2439 (Rodnik)[90]	VKS	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Yubeleiny	NPO PM[91]	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
27 May 03:02[92]	Long March 4C			Taiyuan LC-1		CASC
		Fengyun 3A	CMA	Sun-synchronous	Weather[93]	In orbit	Operational
29 May	Tszyuylan-2			P629 submarine, Yellow Sea		PLAN
			PLAN	Suborbital	Missile test	29 May	Successful
31 May 21:02:12[94][95]	Space Shuttle Discovery			Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
		STS-124	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS assembly	14 June 15:15[96]	Successful
		JEM-PM	JAXA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS assembly	In orbit	Operational
		Crewed flight with seven astronauts
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → June[edit]
5 June 18:13	TR-SRBM		FTM-14	USS Tripoli, Kauai		U.S. Navy / MDA
			MDA	Suborbital	AEGIS target	5 June	Successful
		Destroyed after re-entry by endoatmospheric SM-2 missile launch
9 June 12:15[97]	Long March 3B[98]			Xichang LC-2		CASC
		Chinasat 9[99]	CNPT	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
11 June 16:05[100]	Delta II 7920H-10C			Cape Canaveral SLC-17B		United Launch Alliance
		FGST[101] (GLAST)[102]	NASA	Low Earth	Gamma-ray astronomy	In orbit	Operational
12 June 22:05:02[103]	Ariane 5 ECA			Kourou ELA-3		Arianespace
		Skynet 5C	MoD	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Turksat 3A	Türksat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
13 June	MRT			Barking Sands		U.S. Navy / MDA
			MDA	Suborbital	AEGIS target	13 June	Successful
		Used for simulated test, not intercepted
13 June	MRT			Barking Sands		U.S. Navy / MDA
			MDA	Suborbital	AEGIS target	13 June	Successful
		Used for simulated test, not intercepted
19 June 06:36 [105][106]	Kosmos-3M			Kapustin Yar Site 107		COSMOS International
		Orbcomm CDS-3	Orbcomm	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Spacecraft failure
		Orbcomm QL-1	Orbcomm	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational[107]
		Orbcomm QL-2	Orbcomm	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Spacecraft failure
		Orbcomm QL-3	Orbcomm	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational[107]
		Orbcomm QL-4	Orbcomm	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Spacecraft failure
		Orbcomm QL-5	Orbcomm	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Spacecraft failure
		Spacecraft affected by communications problems, four had failed by December 2009.[104]
20 June 07:46:25[105]	Delta II 7320			Vandenberg SLC-2W		United Launch Alliance
		Jason-2 (OSTM)	NASA	Low Earth	Oceanography	In orbit	Operational
26 June 02:16[108]	TRBM		FTT-09	C-17, Pacific Ocean		U.S. Air Force
			MDA	Suborbital	THAAD Target	26 June	Successful
		Intercepted after re-entry by THAAD launched from KMR at 02:22 GMT.[108][109][110]
26 June 19:57[111][112]	Black Brant XI			Wallops Island		NASA
			MDA[112]	Suborbital	Technology demonstration	26 June	Successful
26 June 23:59[113]	Proton-K / DM-2[114] (?? DM-3[37])			Baikonur Site 81/24		RVSN RF
		Kosmos 2440 (Prognoz)[37]	VKS	Geosynchronous	Missile defence[37]	In orbit	Operational
30 June[115]	Nike-Orion			Andøya		Andøya
		ECOMA 2008-1	Andøya / DLR	Suborbital	Aeronomy	30 June	Successful
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → July[edit]
7 July 21:30[115]	Nike-Orion			Andøya		Andøya
		ECOMA 2008-2	Andøya / DLR	Suborbital	Aeronomy	7 July	Successful
		Apogee: 125 kilometres (78 mi)
7 July 21:47[116]	Ariane 5 ECA			Kourou ELA-3		Arianespace
		Badr-6	Arabsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		ProtoStar-1[117]	ProtoStar	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
9 July[118]	Shahab-3[citation needed]			Strait of Hormuz[118]		IRGC
			IRGC	Suborbital	Missile test	9 July	Successful
		Part of Great Prophet III exercise.[citation needed]
9 July[118]	Shahab-2[119]			Strait of Hormuz[118]		IRGC
			IRGC	Suborbital	Missile test	9 July	Successful
		Part of Great Prophet III exercise,[citation needed] missile type not confirmed.
9 July[118]	Shahab-1[119]			Strait of Hormuz[118]		IRGC
			IRGC	Suborbital	Missile test	9 July	Successful
		Part of Great Prophet III exercise,[citation needed] missile type not confirmed.
10 July[120]	Shahab-3			Strait of Hormuz		IRGC
			IRGC	Suborbital	Missile test	10 July	Successful
		Part of Great Prophet III exercise, missile type not confirmed.
12 July 10:46[115]	Nike-Orion			Andøya[115]		Andøya
		ECOMA 2008-3	Andøya / DLR	Suborbital	Aeronomy[115]	12 July	Successful
		Apogee: 123 kilometres (76 mi)[115]
14 July 10:10[121]	Terrier-Orion[122]			Wallops Island LP-1		NASA
		SubTEC-II	NASA / Wallops	Suborbital	Technology demonstration	14 July	Successful
16 July 05:20:59 [123][124]	Zenit-3SL			Ocean Odyssey		Sea Launch
		Echostar 11	Echostar	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
18 July 22:47[125]	UGM-27 Polaris (STARS			Kodiak Island		U.S. Air Force
		FTX-03	MDA	Suborbital	Target	18 July	Successful[126]
		Radar targeting test only, missile not intercepted
22 July 02:40:09 [127][128]	Kosmos-3M			Plesetsk Site 132/1		COSMOS International[citation needed]
		SAR-Lupe 5	Bundeswehr	Low Earth (SSO)	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Operational
26 July 18:31[129]	Soyuz-2.1b			Plesetsk Site 43/4		RVSN RF
		Kosmos 2441 (Persona)[129]	VKS	Low Earth (SSO)	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Spacecraft failure
		Spacecraft lost due to electrical malfunction[citation needed]
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → August[edit]
1 August[citation needed]	R-29			Ryazan, Barents Sea[citation needed]		VMF
			VMF	Suborbital	Missile test	1 August	Successful[citation needed]
2 August 08:30[130][131]	S-520			Uchinoura		JAXA
			JAXA/Teikyo	Suborbital	Microgravity	2 August	Successful
		Apogee: 293 kilometres (182 mi)
3 August 03:34[132][137]	Falcon 1			Omelek		SpaceX
		Trailblazer	ORS / MDA	Intended: Low Earth	Technology demonstration	~T+140 seconds[138]	Launch failure[138]
		⚀ PreSat[139]	Santa Clara / NASA[139][140]	Intended: Low Earth	Biological
		⚀ NanoSail-D[139]	Santa Clara / NASA[139][141]	Intended: Low Earth	Solar sail
		Explorers[142]	Celestis	Intended: Low Earth	Space burial
		First and second stage recontact due to residual thrust.[132] PreSAT and NanoSail-D CubeSats, Celestis burial payload included remains of astronaut Gordon Cooper,[133] actor James Doohan,[134] writer and director John Meredyth Lucas,[135] and Apollo mission planner Mareta West[136]
13 August 08:01[144]	LGM-30G Minuteman III			Vandenberg		U.S. Air Force
		GT-195GM	U.S. Air Force	Suborbital	Missile test	13 August	Successful[144]
		Travelled about 6,790 kilometres (4,220 mi) downrange.[143]
14 August 20:44[105]	Ariane 5 ECA			Kourou ELA-3		Arianespace
		Superbird 7	SCC	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		AMC-21	SES Americom	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
16 August 19:32[145]	Safir[146]			Semnan		ISA
		DemoSat[147]	ISA	Intended: Low Earth[145]	Test flight	16 August	Launch failure[145]
		Reported to have been first Iranian orbital launch attempt. Officially successful, however no objects were left in orbit.[145] Unofficial reports of a second stage malfunction.[145] Also reported to have been a suborbital test, or an attempt to launch the Omid satellite, instead of an orbital test launch.
18 August 22:43[148][149][150]	Proton-M / Briz-M Enhanced			Baikonur Site 200/39[150]		International Launch Services
		Inmarsat-4 F3[151]	Inmarsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
22 August 09:10[153]	ALV			MARS LP-0B		Alliant Techsystems
		SOAREX-VI	NASA	Suborbital	Technology demonstration	T+27 seconds[153]	Launch failure
		Hy-BoLT	NASA	Suborbital	Aerodynamics
		Only flight of ALV, veered off course to the South and destroyed by RSO[152]
25 August[154]	UGM-133 Trident II			USS Louisiana, Pacific Ocean		U.S. Navy
			U.S. Navy	Suborbital	Missile test	25 August	Successful
25 August[154]	UGM-133 Trident II			USS Louisiana, Pacific Ocean		U.S. Navy
			U.S. Navy	Suborbital	Missile test	25 August	Successful
28 August[155]	RT-2PM Topol (RS-12M)			Plesetsk		RVSN RF
			RVSN RF	Suborbital	Missile test	28 August	Successful
29 August 07:15:58[156]	Dnepr			Baikonur Site 109/95		ISC Kosmotras
		Tachys (RapidEye-1)[157]	RapidEye / Planet Labs	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Successful[158]
		Mati (RapidEye-2)[157]	RapidEye / Planet Labs	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Successful[158]
		Choma (RapidEye-3)[157]	RapidEye / Planet Labs	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Successful[158]
		Choros (RapidEye-4)[157]	RapidEye / Planet Labs	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Successful[158]
		Trochia (RapidEye-5)[157]	RapidEye / Planet Labs	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Successful[158]
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → September[edit]
6 September 03:25[159]	Long March 2C			Taiyuan LC-1		CASC
		Huan Jing 1A	CNSA	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		Huan Jing 1B	CNSA	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
6 September 18:50:57[160]	Delta II 7420			Vandenberg SLC-2W		United Launch Alliance
		GeoEye 1 (Orbview 5)	GeoEye	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
10 September 19:50:02[80]	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5		Roscosmos
		Progress M-65	Roscosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS logistics	7 December 08:48:47[161]	Successful
		ISS flight 30P
18 September 02:05[162]			FTT-10	Kauai		MDA
			MDA	Suborbital	Target	18 September	Launch failure[162]
		Two THAAD intercept launches cancelled.[162]
18 September 14:45[163]	RSM-56 Bulava (R-30)			Dmitri Donskoi, White Sea[164]		VMF
			VMF	Suborbital	Missile test	15:05[165]	Successful
19 September 21:48[157][166]	Proton-M / Briz-M			Baikonur Site 200/39		International Launch Services
		Nimiq-4[167]	Telesat Canada	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
24 September 06:57[168]	Chimera[168] (Minuteman/Minotaur II)			Vandenberg LF-06		Orbital Sciences
		NFIRE 2b	MDA	Suborbital	Target	24 September	Successful
		Tracked by NFIRE satellite
24 September 09:27:59[169]	Zenit-3SL			Ocean Odyssey		Sea Launch
		Galaxy 19	Intelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
25 September 08:49:37 [157][170]	Proton-M / DM-2[171]			Baikonur Site 81/24		RVSN RF
		Kosmos 2442 (GLONASS)[157][172]	VKS	Medium Earth	Navigation[173]	In orbit	Operational
		Kosmos 2443 (GLONASS)[157][172]	VKS	Medium Earth	Navigation[173]	In orbit	Operational
		Kosmos 2444 (GLONASS)[157][172]	VKS	Medium Earth	Navigation[173]	In orbit	Operational
25 September 13:10[157][175]	Long March 2F			Jiuquan LA-4/SLS-1		CASC
		Shenzhou 7	CMSA	Low Earth	Crewed flight	28 September 09:37:40[174]	Successful
		Ban Xing[174]	CMSA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	30 October 2009[176]	Successful
		Shenzhou 7-GC[174]	CMSA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	4 January 2010[177]	Successful
		Crewed flight with three yǔhángyuán, crew conducted first Chinese EVA Ban Xing deployed from Shenzhou on 27 September at 11:27 GMT, GC separated on 28 September at 08:48 to begin independent mission[174]
28 September 23:15[179]	Falcon 1			Omelek		SpaceX
		RatSat[174]	SpaceX	Low Earth	Boilerplate	In orbit	Successful[179][178]
		Launched boilerplate payload. First privately funded and developed liquid fuelled rocket to reach orbit.[178]
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → October[edit]
1 October 06:37:16	Dnepr			Dombarovskiy		ISC Kosmotras
		THEOS	GISTDA	Low Earth	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
11 October[citation needed]	R-29RMU Sineva			Tula, Barents Sea		VMF
			VMF	Suborbital	Missile test	11 October	Successful
		Long-range test[citation needed]
12 October 07:01[180]	Soyuz-FG			Baikonur Site 1/5		Roscosmos
		Soyuz TMA-13[181]	Roscosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS Expedition 18	8 April 2009 07:16	Successful
		Crewed flight with three cosmonauts, including a space tourist. 100th flight of the Soyuz programme to be crewed at some point in its mission[9]
12 October 07:24[citation needed]	RT-2PM Topol (RS-12M)			Plesetsk		RVSN RF
			RVSN RF	Suborbital	Missile test	07:50[citation needed]	Successful
12 October[182]	R-29R Vysota			Zelenograd, Sea of Okhotsk[182]		VMF
			VMF	Suborbital	Missile test	12 October	Successful
12 October[182]	R-29RM Shtil			Yekaterinburg, Barents Sea[182]		VMF
			VMF	Suborbital	Missile test	12 October	Successful
19 October 17:47:23[183]	Pegasus-XL/Star-27			Stargazer, Kwajalein Atoll		Orbital Sciences
		IBEX	NASA	High Earth	Solar	In orbit	Operational
20 October 08:39[184]	Black Brant IX			White Sands LC-36		NASA
			NRL	Suborbital	UV Astronomy[185]	08:49[184]	Successful
22 October 00:52:11[187]	PSLV-XL			Satish Dhawan SLP		ISRO
		Chandrayaan-1[188]	ISRO	Selenocentric	Lunar orbiter	In orbit	Partial spacecraft failure
		MIP	ISRO	Selenocentric	Lunar impactor	14 November	Successful
		First Indian lunar spacecraft,[186] failed on 28 August 2009 after less than half of planned mission duration, maiden flight of PSLV-XL
22 October 09:10[189]	RS-18 UR-100N			Baikonur		RVSN RF
			RVSN RF	Suborbital	Missile test	22 October	Successful
22 October 12:30[190]	Nike-Orion			Esrange		EuroLaunch
		REXUS-4	SSC / DLR	Suborbital	Student research	22 October	Successful
		Apogee: 175 kilometres (109 mi)
25 October 01:15[192]	Long March 4B			Taiyuan LC-2[191]		CASC
		Shijian 6-03A	CNSA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		Shijian 6-03B	CNSA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		First launch from Taiyuan LC-2[191]
25 October 02:28[193]	Delta II 7420-10			Vandenberg SLC-2W		United Launch Alliance
		COSMO-3	ASI[194]	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
29 October 16:53:53[195]	Long March 3B/E			Xichang LC-2		CASC
		VeneSat-1 (Simón Bolívar)	VMoST	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful; Partial spacecraft failure
		First Venezuelan satellite.[195] Lost in March 2020 due to the failure of both solar array drives.[196]
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → November[edit]
1 November[197]			Pacific Blitz	Barking Sands		U.S. Navy
			U.S. Navy	Suborbital	Target	1 November	Successful
		Intercepted by SM-3 missile, part of Pacific Blitz exercise[197]
1 November[197]	RIM-161 SM-3		Pacific Blitz	USS Paul Hamilton, Pacific Ocean[197]		U.S. Navy
			U.S. Navy[197]	Suborbital	Intercept test	1 November	Successful
		Intercepted target missile, part of Pacific Blitz exercise[197]
1 November[197]			Pacific Blitz	Barking Sands		U.S. Navy
			U.S. Navy	Suborbital	Target	1 November	Successful
		Intercept by SM-3 missile failed. Part of Pacific Blitz exercise[197]
1 November[197]	RIM-161 SM-3		Pacific Blitz	USS Hopper, Pacific Ocean[197]		U.S. Navy
			U.S. Navy[197]	Suborbital	Intercept test	1 November	Spacecraft failure
		Sensor fault resulted in failure to intercept target missile.[197] Part of Pacific Blitz exercise[197]
5 November 00:15[198]	Long March 2D[199]			Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center SLS-2[200]		CASC
		Chuang Xin 1B	CNSA	Low Earth	Weather	In orbit	Operational
		Shiyan 3[200]	CNSA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
5 November 09:00[201]	LGM-30G Minuteman III			Vandenberg		U.S. Air Force
		GT-198GM	U.S. Air Force	Suborbital	Missile test	5 November	Successful
		Travelled 6,740 kilometres (4,190 mi) downrange[201]
5 November 20:44	Proton-M / Briz-M			Baikonur Site 200/39		International Launch Services
		Astra 1M	SES Astra	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Final flight of standard Proton-M
12 November 05:56[202]	Shaurya[203]			Integrated Test Range LC-3[204]		DRDO
			Indian Army	Suborbital	Missile test	12 November	Successful
12 November[205]	Sejjil			Iran		IRGC AF
			IRGC AF	Suborbital	Missile test	12 November	Successful
		Maiden flight of Sejjil missile
13 November 09:06[206]	M51			CEL		FOST
			FOST	Suborbital	Missile test	13 November	Successful
14 November 15:50[207]	Soyuz-U			Plesetsk Site 16/2		RVSN RF
		Kosmos 2445 (Kobalt-M)	VKS	Low Earth	Optical imaging	23 February 2009[208] 16:15[209]	Successful
14 November	Black Brant IX			White Sands LC-36		NASA
			NRL[210]	Suborbital	Solar[210]	14 November	Successful
15 November 00:55:39[212]	Space Shuttle Endeavour[213]			Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
		STS-126[214]	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS assembly	30 November 21:25:06[215]	Successful
		Leonardo MPLM	ASI / NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS logistics		Successful
		PSSC	U.S. Air Force	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	17 February 2010 17:31[216]	Successful
		Crewed flight with seven astronauts, PSSC deployed from Shuttle at 20:33 GMT on 29 November and operated for 110 days.[211]
19 November 02:18[217][218]			JFTM-2	Barking Sands		U.S. Navy
			U.S. Navy / JMSDF	Suborbital	Target	19 November	Successful
		Intercept by SM-3 missile failed
19 November 02:21[218]	RIM-161 SM-3		JFTM-2	JDS Chōkai, Pacific Ocean		JMSDF
			JMSDF	Suborbital	Interceptor	19 November	Spacecraft failure
		Infrared sensor fault, failed to intercept target[219]
26 November 12:38:27[220]	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5		Roscosmos
		Progress M-01M	Roscosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS logistics	8 February 2009 08:20[221]	Successful
		First flight of modernised Progress spacecraft, Kurs anomaly necessitated manual docking. ISS flight 31P
26 November 13:24[citation needed]	RS-24 Yars			Plesetsk		RVSN RF
			RVSN RF	Suborbital	Missile test	26 November	Successful
26 November[222]	Kavoshgar-2			Semnan		ISA
		Kavoshgar-2	ISA	Suborbital	Test flight	26 November	Successful
		Payload recovered by parachute
28 November[223]	RSM-56 Bulava (R-30)			Dmitri Donskoi, White Sea[224]		VMF
			VMF	Suborbital	Missile test	28 November	Successful
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → December[edit]
1 December 04:42[225]	Long March 2D			Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center SLS-2		CASC
		Yaogan-4	CNSA	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
2 December 05:00[226]	Molniya-M/2BL[227]			Plesetsk Site 16/2		RVSN RF
		Kosmos 2446 (Oko)	VKS	Molniya	Missile defence	In orbit	Operational
5 December 10:35:10[228]	VS-30-Orion			SvalRak		Andøya
		ICI-2[229]	Oslo	Suborbital	Auroral	10:45[228]	Successful
		Apogee: 330 kilometres (210 mi)[228]
5 December 20:04[231]	UGM-27 Polaris (STARS)		FTG-05	Kodiak Island		U.S. Air Force
			MDA	Suborbital	Target	20:29[232]	Partial spacecraft failure
		Decoy target failed to deploy,[230] intercepted by GBI
5 December 20:21[231]	Ground Based Interceptor		FTG-05	Vandenberg		U.S. Air Force
			MDA	Suborbital	Target	20:29[232]	Successful
		Intercepted Polaris
10 December 13:43:00[233]	Proton-M / Briz-M Enhanced			Baikonur Site 200/39		International Launch Services
		Ciel-2[105]	Ciel[234]	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
15 December 03:22[235]	Long March 4B			Taiyuan LC-2		CASC
		Yaogan-5	CNSA	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	2 September 2014	Successful
20 December 22:35[236]	Ariane 5 ECA			Kourou ELA-3		Arianespace
		Hot Bird 9[105]	Eutelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Eutelsat W2M[105]	Eutelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Spacecraft failure[237]
23 December 00:54[238]	Long March 3A			Xichang LC-2		CASC
		Fengyun 2E	CMA	Geosynchronous	Meteorology	In orbit	Operational
23 December 03:00[240]	RSM-56 Bulava[241]			Dmitry Donskoi[239]		VMF
			VMF	Suborbital	Missile test	23 December	Launch failure
		Self-destruct system activated after missile went off course.[239]
25 December 10:43[242]	Proton-M / DM-2 Enhanced			Baikonur Site 81/24		RVSN RF
		Kosmos 2447 (GLONASS)	VKS	Medium Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
		Kosmos 2448 (GLONASS)	VKS	Medium Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
		Kosmos 2449 (GLONASS)	VKS	Medium Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
		First flight of Proton-M Enhanced with DM-2 upper stage, last orbital launch from Baikonur to be conducted by the Russian military