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.jpg)   _Oleg_Kononenko.jpg) Highlights from spaceflight in 2018[a] | |
| Orbital launches | |
|---|---|
| First | 8 January |
| Last | 29 December |
| Total | 114 |
| Successes | 111 |
| Failures | 2 |
| Partial failures | 1 |
| Catalogued | 112 |
| National firsts | |
| Satellite | |
| Suborbital launch |  Norway |
| Rockets | |
| Maiden flights | |
| Retirements | |
| Crewed flights | |
| Orbital | 3 (+1 failed) |
| Suborbital | 1 (private) |
| Total travellers | 11 (+2 failed) |
| EVAs | 8 |
This article documents notablespaceflight events during the year 2018. For the first time since1990, more than 100 orbital launches were performed globally.
The NASAInSight seismology probe was launched in May 2018 and landed on Mars in November. TheParker Solar Probe was launched to explore theSun in August 2018, and reached its first perihelion in November, traveling faster than any prior spacecraft. On 20 October theESA andJAXA launchedBepiColombo toMercury, on a 10-year mission featuring several flybys and eventually deploying two orbiters in 2025 for local study. The asteroid sampling missionHayabusa2 reached its targetRyugu in June,[1] and the similarOSIRIS-REx probe reachedBennu in December.[2] China launched itsChang'e 4 lander/rover in December which performed the first ever soft landing on thefar side of the Moon in January 2019;[3][4] a communications relay was sent to thesecond Earth-Moon Lagrange point in May. TheGoogle 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 commerciallunar lander mission before the deadline.[5]
TheSoyuz MS-10 October mission to theInternational 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 onSoyuz MS-12.[6] The United States returned to spaceflight on 13 December with the successfulsuborbital spaceflight ofVSS UnityFlight VP-03. The flight did not reach theKármán 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 lastSpace shuttle flightSTS-135 in 2011. AstronautsMark P. Stucky andFrederick W. Sturckow both received theirFAA Commercial Astronaut Wings on 7 February 2019. The return of the United States to humanorbital spaceflight was further delayed to 2019, asBoeing andSpaceX, underNASA supervision, performed further tests on their commercial crew spacecraft under development:Starliner onAtlas V andSpaceX Dragon 2 onFalcon 9.[7]
After a failed launch in 2017, theElectron rocket reached orbit with its second flight in January; manufactured byRocket Lab, it is the first orbital rocket equipped withelectric pump-fed engines.[8]On 3 February, the JapaneseSS-520-5 rocket (a modifiedsounding rocket) successfully delivered a 3UCubeSat to orbit, thus becoming the lightest and smallestorbital launch vehicle ever.[9]On 6 February, SpaceX performed the much-delayedtest flight ofFalcon Heavy,[10] carryinga car and a mannequin to aheliocentric orbit beyond Mars.[11] Falcon Heavy became the most powerful active rocket until themaiden launch of theSpace Launch System in 2022.[12]On 27 October,LandSpace launchedZhuque-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 theZhuque-2 launch vehicle, making this the only launch attempt of Zhuque-1.[14]On 13 DecemberVirgin Galactic'sSpaceShipTwo reached 82.7 km, below the internationally recognizedKármán line but above the 50-mile definition of space used by the U.S.Federal Aviation Administration.[15][16]
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.
| 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 |
| Date (GMT) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 February | Juno | 11thperijove ofJupiter | |
| 1 April | Juno | 12th perijove | |
| 17 May | TESS | Gravity assist by theMoon | Closest approach: 8,100 kilometres (5,000 mi) |
| 24 May | Juno | 13th perijove | |
| 25 May | Queqiao | Moon flyby | InEarth–Moon L2halo orbit[18] |
| 25 May | Longjiang-1 | Moon flyby | Failed lunar orbital injection[19] |
| 25 May | Longjiang-2 | Injection intoSelenocentric orbit | Preliminary orbit was 350 × 13800 km, inclined 21° to the equator[20] |
| 27 June[1] | Hayabusa2 | Arrival at asteroidRyugu | |
| 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 | Firstgravity assist atVenus | |
| 29 October | Juno | 16th perijove | |
| 6 November | Parker Solar Probe | Firstperihelion | 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 atMars | Successful landing atElysium Planitia, coordinates4°30′09″N135°37′24″E / 4.5024°N 135.6234°E /4.5024; 135.6234.[21] |
| 26 November | MarCO A, B | Mars flyby | Data relays forInSight lander |
| 3 December | OSIRIS-REx | Arrival at asteroidBennu[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 theLunar farside[22] |
| 21 December | Juno | 17th perijove |
| Start date/time | Duration | End time | Spacecraft | Crew | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 January 11:49 | 7 hours 24 minutes | 19:13 | Expedition 54 ISSQuest |
| |
| 2 February 15:34 | 8 hours 13 minutes | 23:47 | Expedition 54 ISSPirs |
| |
| 16 February 12:00 | 5 hours 57 minutes | 17:57 | Expedition 54 ISSQuest |
| |
| 29 March 13:33 | 6 hours 10 minutes | 19:43 | Expedition 55 ISSQuest |
| |
| 16 May 11:39 | 6 hours 31 minutes | 18:10 | Expedition 55 ISSQuest |
| |
| 14 June 08:06[23] | 6 hours 49 minutes | 14:55 | Expedition 56 ISSQuest |
| |
| 15 August 16:17 | 7 hours 46 minutes | 00:03 on 16 August | Expedition 56 ISSPirs | ||
| 11 December 15:59 | 7 hours 45 minutes | 21:44 | Expedition 57 ISSPirs |
|
| 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] |
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 becauseSoyuz-2 is a Russian rocket andElectron launches fromMahia 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 | |
| Family | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antares | United States | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ariane | France | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | |
| Atlas | United States | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Delta | United States | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Electron | United States | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Epsilon | Japan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Falcon | United States | 21 | 21 | 0 | 0 | |
| GSLV | India | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| GSLV Mk III | India | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| H-II | Japan | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kuaizhou | China | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March | China | 37 | 37 | 0 | 0 | |
| PSLV | India | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| R-7 | Russia | 16 | 15 | 1 | 0 | |
| S-Series | Japan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Final orbital flight |
| Universal Rocket | Russia | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Vega | Italy | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Zhuque | China | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Rocket | Country | Family | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antares 200 | United States | Antares | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ariane 5 | France | Ariane | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | |
| Atlas V | United States | Atlas | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Delta II | United States | Delta | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Final flight |
| Delta IV | United States | Delta | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Electron | United States | Electron | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Epsilon | Japan | Epsilon | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Falcon 9 | United States | Falcon | 21 | 21 | 0 | 0 | |
| GSLV | India | GSLV | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| GSLV Mk III | India | GSLV Mk III | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| H-IIA | Japan | H-II | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| H-IIB | Japan | H-II | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kuaizhou 1 | China | Kuaizhou | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March 2 | China | Long March | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March 3 | China | Long March | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March 4 | China | Long March | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March 11 | China | Long March | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Proton | Russia | Universal Rocket | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| PSLV | India | PSLV | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Soyuz | Russia | R-7 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| Soyuz-2 or ST | Russia | R-7 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | |
| SS-520 | Japan | S-Series | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Final orbital flight |
| UR-100 | Russia | Universal Rocket | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Vega | Italy | Vega | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Zhuque-1 | China | Zhuque | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Only flight |
| 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 | ||
| 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 andZhuque-1 lost |
| Geosynchronous /GTO | 27 | 26 | 0 | 1 | ArianeVA241 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 |
Notes
Citations
2018 in space | ||
|---|---|---|
| Space probe launches  |
|   .png) |
| Impact events | ||
| SelectedNEOs | ||
| Exoplanets | ||
| Discoveries |
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| Novae |
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| Comets | ||
| Space exploration |
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