1985 in spaceflight

The following is an outline of 1985 in spaceflight.

1985 in spaceflight

National firsts
Space traveller	Mexico  Saudi Arabia
Rockets
Maiden flights	Space Shuttle Atlantis M-3SII
Crewed flights
Orbital	11
Total travellers	63

Launches

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket	Flight number	Launch site		LSP
	Payload (⚀ = CubeSat)	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
	Remarks
January
24 January 19:50	Space Shuttle Discovery		Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
	STS-51-C	NASA	Low Earth	Satellite deployment	27 January 21:23	Successful
	USA-8 (Magnum 1)	NRO	Geosynchronous	ELINT	In orbit	Successful
	Crewed orbital flight with five astronauts
February
8 February 06:10	Titan 34B		Vandenberg SLC-4W
	USA-9 (SDS)	US Air force	Molniya	Communications	In orbit	Successful
8 February 23:22	Ariane 3		Kourou ELA		Arianespace
	Arabsat-1A	Arabsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	Brasilsat-A1	Embratel	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	Arabsat 1A failed in March 1992
March
13 March 02:00	Atlas E/OIS		Vandenberg SLC-3W
	Geosat	US Navy	Sun-synchronous	Earth observation	In orbit	Successful
	Mission ended in January 1990
22 March 23:55	Atlas G		Cape Canaveral LC-36B
	Intelsat 510	Intelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
April
12 April 13:59	Space Shuttle Discovery		Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
	STS-51-D	NASA	Low Earth	Satellite deployment	19 April 13:54	Successful
	Anik C1	Telesat Canada	Current: Graveyard Operational: Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	Leasat 3	US Navy	Current: Graveyard Operational: Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	Crewed orbital flight with seven astronauts including the first sitting member of the United States Congress to fly in space (Senator Jake Garn). Anik C1 was retired on 5 May 2003. Leasat 3 failed to maneuver to geosynchronous orbit and was re-captured by mission STS-51-I in August, repaired and subsequently maneuvered to geosynchronous orbit. Discovery suffered extensive brake and tyre damage upon landing at Kennedy Space Center.
29 April 16:02	Space Shuttle Challenger		Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
	STS-51-B	NASA	Low Earth	Microgravity research	6 May 16:11	Successful
	Spacelab Long Module 1	NASA/ESRO	Low Earth (Challenger)	Microgravity research		Successful
	GLOMAR		Intended: Low Earth	Getaway Special		Deployment failure
	NUSAT		Low Earth	Getaway Special	15 December	Successful
	Crewed orbital flight with seven astronauts; GLOMAR failed to deploy from its GAS canister
May
8 May 01:15	Ariane 3		Kourou ELA		Arianespace
	GStar 1	GTE Spacenet	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	Telecom 1B	France Télécom	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
June
6 June 06:39	Soyuz-U2		Baikonur Site 1/5
	Soyuz T-13		Low Earth (Salyut 7)	Salyut 7 EO-4	26 September 09:51	Successful
	Crewed orbital flight with two cosmonauts
17 June 11:33	Space Shuttle Discovery		Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
	STS-51-G	NASA	Low Earth	Satellite deployment	24 June 13:11	Successful
	Morelos 1	Morelos	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	Arabsat-1B	Arabsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	Telstar 303	AT&T	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	Spartan 101	NASA	Low Earth	Astronomy	24 June 13:11	Successful
	Crewed orbital flight with seven astronauts including the first Saudi Arabian space traveller and member of royalty to fly in space (Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud) Arabsat 1B retired in 1993.
21 June 00:39	Soyuz-U		Baikonur Site 1/5
	Progress 24		Low Earth (Salyut 7)	Logistics	15 July 22:33	Successful
30 June 00:44	Atlas G		Cape Canaveral LC-36B
	Intelsat 511	Intelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
July
2 July 11:23	Ariane 1		Kourou ELA		Arianespace
	Giotto	ESA	Heliocentric	Flyby of Halley's Comet	In orbit	Successful
	Closest approach of Halley's Comet (596 kilometres (370 mi)) achieved on 13 March 1986 Closest approach of 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup (200 kilometres (120 mi)) achieved on 10 July 1992
19 July 13:05	Soyuz-U		Baikonur Site 1/5
	Kosmos 1669 (Progress)		Low Earth (Salyut 7)	Logistics	30 August 01:20	Successful
29 July 21:00	Space Shuttle Challenger		Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
	STS-51-F	NASA	Low Earth	Astronomical experiments	6 August 19:45	Successful
	PDP	NASA	Low Earth	Plasma research		Successful
	Spacelab 2 (three pallets)	NASA/ESRO	Low Earth (Challenger)	Astronomy		Successful
	Crewed orbital flight with seven astronauts; A main engine shut-down during ascent caused an Abort to Orbit, the first (and only) abort of the Space Shuttle program.
August
27 August 10:58	Space Shuttle Discovery		Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
	STS-51-I	NASA	Low Earth	Satellite deployment and repair	3 September 13:15	Successful
	Aussat 1	Aussat Pty Ltd	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	ASC-1	ASC	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	Leasat 4	US Navy	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Spacecraft failure
	Crewed orbital flight with five astronauts Leasat 4 failed in orbit after becoming operational for a short period Retrieved Leasat 3, deployed by STS-51-D in April and repaired the malfunctioning perigee motor to allow the satellite to reach geosynchronous orbit.
28 August 21:20	Titan 34D		Vandenberg SLC-4E
	KH-11-7	NRO	Intended: Sun-synchronous	Reconnaissance	28 August	Launch Failure
	First stage propellant feed malfunction
September
12 September 23:26	Ariane 3		Kourou ELA		Arianespace
	Eutelsat 1F3	Eutelsat	Intended: Geosynchronous	Communications	12 September	Launch Failure
	Spacenet F3	Spacenet	Intended: Geosynchronous	Communications
	Third stage failed to ignite
13 September	ASM-135 ASAT		Celestial Eagle, Vandenberg		US Air Force
		US Air Force	Suborbital	Anti-satellite weapon	13 September	Successful
	Successful intercept and destruction of Solwind P78-1.
17 September 12:38	Soyuz-U2		Baikonur Site 1/5
	Soyuz T-14		Low Earth (Salyut 7)	Salyut 7 EP-5	21 November 10:31	Successful
	Crewed orbital flight with three cosmonauts
27 September 08:41	Proton-K		Baikonur Site 200/39
	Kosmos 1686 (TKS)		Low Earth (Salyut 7)	Logistics	7 February 1991	Successful
	TKS-4; remained docked with Salyut 7 through that station's re-entry
28 September 23:17	Atlas G		Cape Canaveral LC-36B
	Intelsat 512	Intelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
October
3 October 15:15	Space Shuttle Atlantis		Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
	STS-51-J	NASA	Low Earth	Satellite deployment	7 October 17:00	Successful
	USA-11 (DSCS-III)	US Air Force	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	USA-12 (DSCS-III)	US Air Force	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	Crewed orbital flight with five astronauts; Maiden flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis
9 October 02:53	Atlas E/SGS-2		Vandenberg SLC-3W
	USA-10 (GPS-11)	US Air Force	Medium Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Successful
30 October 17:00	Space Shuttle Challenger		Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
	STS-61-A	NASA	Low Earth	Microgravity research	6 November 17:44	Successful
	Spacelab Long Module 2	NASA	Low Earth (Challenger)	Spacelab D1		Successful
	GLOMAR	DLR	Low Earth	Getaway Special	26 December 1986	Successful
	Crewed orbital flight with eight astronauts Maiden flight of Spacelab Long Module #2
November
27 November 00:29	Space Shuttle Atlantis		Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
	STS-61-B	NASA	Low Earth	Satellite deployment	2 December 21:33	Successful
	Morelos 2	Morelos	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	Aussat A2	Aussat Pty Ltd	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	Satcom K2	RCA Americom	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
	OEX Target	NASA	Low Earth		2 March 1987	Successful
	EASE/ACCESS	NASA	Low Earth (Atlantis)	Structure assembly experiment	2 December 21:33	Successful
	Crewed orbital flight with seven astronauts including the first Mexican space traveller.

Deep Space Rendezvous

Date (GMT)	Spacecraft	Event	Remarks
11 June	Vega 1	delivered lander and balloon on Venus
15 June	Vega 2	delivered lander and balloon on Venus
11 September	ISEE-3/ICE	Flyby of 21P/Giacobini-Zinner

EVAs

Start Date/Time	Duration	End Time	Spacecraft	Crew	Remarks
16 April	3 hours 6 minutes		STS-51-D Discovery	Jeffrey A. Hoffman S. David Griggs	Installed an improvised switch-pulling tool, called the Flyswatter, on the RMS robotic arm. The Flyswatter was used in an effort to push the sequencer start lever on the Leasat-3 in the proper position for deployment.[1] This attempted repair was the first unplanned spacewalk in NASA history.[2]
2 August 07:15	5 hours	12:15	Salyut 7 EO-4	Vladimir Dzhanibekov Viktor Savinykh	Installed a third pair of solar arrays on exterior of Salyut 7.
31 August	7 hours 20 minutes		STS-51-I Discovery	William Fisher James van Hoften	Van Hoften rode the RMS to capture the Leasat 3 satellite and pulled it into payload bay. Fisher and Van Hoften secured and started repairs on the satellite in the payload bay. The retrieval was complicated by a malfunction of the RMS that made operation of the arm more complicated.[3]
1 September	4 hours 26 minutes		STS-51-I Discovery	William Fisher James van Hoften	Completed repairs on the Leasat 3 satellite. Then Van Hoften, riding the RMS, heaved the satellite out of the payload bay, imparting the required spin needed to fire the perigee motor.[3]
29 November	5 hours 32 minutes		STS-61-B Atlantis	Jerry L. Ross Sherwood C. Spring	Practiced construction techniques in the payload bay and assembled and disassembled the two experimental EASE/ACCESS structures.[4]
1 December	6 hours 41 minutes		STS-61-B Atlantis	Jerry L. Ross Sherwood C. Spring	Conducted supplementary experiments on the EASE and ACCESS structures, including a test of the RMS to aid in the construction experiments.[4]

References

Generic references:
 Spaceflight portal

• 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".
• McDowell, Jonathan. "Jonathan's Space Report".
• 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.
• "Space Calendar". NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
• "Space Information Center". JAXA.
• "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).

Footnotes

1. "Space Shuttle Mission Archives". NASA. 2007. Archived from the original on 2 March 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
2. Becker, Joachim; Janssen, Heinz Hermann (2009). "Human Spaceflights - STS-51D". Space Facts. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
3. "Space Shuttle Flight 20 (STS-51A)". Space Shuttle Video Library. National Space Society. July 2008. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
4. Rumerman, Judith; Gamble, Chris; Okolski, Gabriel (2007). "Human Spaceflight" (PDF). NASA History Division. p. 45. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 February 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2009.