1985 in spaceflight

The following is an outline of 1985 in spaceflight.

First Atlantis flight

This section is an excerpt from Space Shuttle Atlantis.[edit]

Space Shuttle Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle designation: OV‑104) is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States.^[1] Atlantis was manufactured by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985. Atlantis is also the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built.^[2]^[3] Its maiden flight was STS-51-J made from October 3 to 7, 1985.

v t e Timeline of spaceflight
Spaceflight before 1951
1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s	2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Future

Launches

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

← Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec →


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	12 September	Launch Failure
		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	6 November 17:44	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.

← Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec →

Deep Space Rendezvous

Date (GMT)	Spacecraft	Event
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.^[4] This attempted repair was the first unplanned spacewalk in NASA history.^[5]
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.^[6]
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.^[6]
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.^[7]
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.^[7]

References

Bergin, Chris. "NASASpaceFlight.com".
Clark, Stephen. "Spaceflight Now".
Kelso, T.S. "Satellite Catalog (SATCAT)". CelesTrak.^{[dead link]}
Krebs, Gunter. "Chronology of Space Launches".
Kyle, Ed. "Space Launch Report". Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
McDowell, Jonathan. "GCAT Orbital Launch Log".
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.^{[dead link]}
"Space Information Center". JAXA.^{[dead link]}
"Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).

Generic references:

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Footnotes

^ "Space Shuttle Overview: Atlantis (OV-104)". NASA. 2007. Retrieved 6 November 2007. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ Justin Ray (11 May 2010). "Respecting Atlantis as the shuttle faces retirement". Spaceflight Now. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
^ Peter W. Merlin (20 May 2010). "Space Shuttle Atlantis Wraps Up 25-year Career". NASA. Retrieved 25 July 2010. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ "Space Shuttle Mission Archives". NASA. 2007. Archived from the original on 2 March 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
^ Becker, Joachim; Janssen, Heinz Hermann (2009). "Human Spaceflights - STS-51D". Space Facts. Archived from the original on 29 July 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
^ ^a ^b "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.
^ ^a ^b 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.

v t e Timeline of spaceflight
Spaceflight before 1951
1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s	2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Future

v t e ← 1984 Orbital launches in 1985 1986 →
January	STS-51-C (USA-8)
February	USA-9 Arabsat-1A Brasilsat A1
March	Geosat Intelsat VA F-10
April	STS-51-D (Anik C1, Leasat 3) STS-51-B (Nusat)
May	GStar-1 Telecom 1B
June	Soyuz T-13 STS-51-G (Morelos 1, Arabsat-1B, Telstar 3D, SPARTAN-101) Progress 24 Intelsat VA F-11
July	Giotto Kosmos 1669 STS-51-F (PDP)
August	STS-51-I (Aussat A1, ASC-1, Leasat 4)
September	Spacenet 3 Soyuz T-14 Kosmos 1686 Intelsat VA F-12
October	STS-51-J (USA-11, USA-12) USA-10 STS-61-A (GLOMR)
November	STS-61-B (Morelos 2, Aussat A2, Satcom K2, OEX, EASE/ACCESS)
Unknown month	Sakigake Kosmos 1616 Kosmos 1617 Kosmos 1618 Kosmos 1619 Kosmos 1620 Kosmos 1621 Kosmos 1622 Molniya-3 No.36 Kosmos 1623 Kosmos 1624 Gorizont No.21L Kosmos 1625 Kosmos 1626 Kosmos 1627 Kosmos 1628 Meteor-2 No.13 Kosmos 1629 Kosmos 1630 Kosmos 1631 Kosmos 1632 Kosmos 1633 Kosmos 1634 Kosmos 1635 Kosmos 1636 Kosmos 1637 Kosmos 1638 Kosmos 1639 Kosmos 1640 Kosmos 1641 Kosmos 1642 Ekran No.28L Kosmos 1643 Kosmos 1644 Unnamed Kosmos 1645 Kosmos 1646 Kosmos 1647 Kosmos 1648 Prognoz 10 Kosmos 1649 Kosmos 1650 Kosmos 1651 Kosmos 1652 Kosmos 1653 Kosmos 1654 Molniya-3 No.39 Kosmos 1655 Kosmos 1656 Kosmos 1657 Kosmos 1658 Kosmos 1659 Kosmos 1660 Kosmos 1661 Kosmos 1662 Kosmos 1663 Unnamed Kosmos 1664 Kosmos 1665 Kosmos 1666 Kosmos 1667 Kosmos 1668 Molniya-3 No.37 Kosmos 1670 Kosmos 1671 Transit-O 24 Transit-O 30 Kosmos 1672 Kosmos 1672 Kosmos 1673 Kosmos 1674 Gran' No.26L Kosmos 1675 Kosmos 1676 Suisei Molniya-1 No.61 Kosmos 1677 Unnamed Kosmos 1678 Kosmos 1679 Kosmos 1680 Kosmos 1681 ECS-3 Kosmos 1682 Kosmos 1683 Kosmos 1684 Kosmos 1685 Kosmos 1687 Kosmos 1688 Kosmos 1689 Molniya-3 No.38 Kosmos 1690 Kosmos 1695 Kosmos 1692 Kosmos 1693 Kosmos 1694 Kosmos 1691 Kosmos 1696 Fanhui Shi Weixing 8 Kosmos 1697 Kosmos 1698 Molniya-1 No.73 Unnamed Meteor-3 No.2 Kosmos 1699 Kosmos 1700 Molniya-1 No.56 Kosmos 1701 Kosmos 1702 Gran' No.28L Kosmos 1703 Kosmos 1704 Kosmos 1705 Kosmos 1706 Kosmos 1707 USA-13 USA-14 Kosmos 1708 Kosmos 1709 Molniya-3 No.40 Kosmos 1710 Kosmos 1711 Kosmos 1712 Meteor-2 No.14 Kosmos 1713 Kosmos 1714
Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( \| ). Crewed flights are indicated in underline. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets).