.png) .jpg)   Highlights from spaceflight in 2019[a] | |
| Orbital launches | |
|---|---|
| First | 10 January |
| Last | 27 December |
| Total | 102 |
| Successes | 97 |
| Failures | 5 |
| Catalogued | 97 |
| National firsts | |
| Spaceflight |
|
| Satellite | |
| Space traveller | |
| Rockets | |
| Maiden flights |
|
| Retirements | |
| Crewed flights | |
| Orbital | 3 |
| Suborbital | 1 (private) |
| Total travellers | 12 (3 suborbital) |
| EVAs | 11 |
This article documents notablespaceflight events during the year 2019.
The Russian-German X-ray observing satelliteSpektr-RG was launched on 13 July.
The Chinese probeChang'e 4 made humanity's first soft landing on thefar side of the Moon on 3 January and released itsYutu 2 rover to explore the lunar surface on the far side for the first time in human history.
Israel'sSpaceIL, one of the participants in the expiredGoogle Lunar X Prize,[1] launched the first private mission to the Moon in February. TheBeresheet lander fromSpaceIL made the landing attempt in April, but crashed onto the Moon.[2] India launched the delayedChandrayaan-2 lunar orbiter/lander/rover in July; the orbiter reached lunar orbit in September, but theVikram lander crashed onto the lunar surface.[3]
The probeNew Horizons encountered theKuiper belt object486958 Arrokoth on 1 January. This is the farthest object from the Sun ever to have a close encounter with a spacecraft.[4] The Japanese asteroid exploration missionHayabusa2 made a second touchdown with162173 Ryugu to collect samples,[5] and departed for Earth on 12 November.[6] NASA declared theMars roverOpportunity's mission over on 13 February.[7] TheInSight lander observed the first recordedMarsquake in April.[8]
The firstCommercial Crew Development test missions flew this year, aiming to restoreUnited States human spaceflight capability followingSpace Shuttle retirement in 2011. In an uncrewed test flight,SpaceXSpaceX Dragon 2 successfully flew on aFalcon 9 to theInternational Space Station on 3 March 2019; the crewed mission was delayed when the recovered capsule exploded during testing on 20 April.[9]Boeing'sCST-100 Starliner launched a similaruncrewed test flight on anAtlas V on 20 December, but an anomaly during launch meant that it could not reach the ISS and had to land only 2 days later.[10]
At the beginning of the year, around 100small satellite launchers were in active use, in development, or were recently cancelled or stalled.[11] Three Chinese manufacturers launched their first orbital rocket in 2019: The maiden flight ofOS-M1 in March failed to reach orbit,[12] the maiden flights ofHyperbola-1 in July[13] and ofJielong 1 in August[14] were successful. ThePSLV-DL andPSLV-QL variants of the Indian PSLV first flew in January and April respectively.
SpaceX began testing of theSpaceX Starship in 2019, with anuncrewed prototype "Starhopper" flying 150m in the air in a suborbital test flight on 27 August.[15] Theheavy-liftLong March 5 made its return to flight in December, more than two years after theJuly 2017 launch failure that grounded the vehicle and forced an engine redesign.[16]
The "single stick"Delta IV was retired in August,[17] and the analog-controlledSoyuz-FG was retired in September.[18] Due to Ukraine banning control system exports to Russia,Rokot was retired after a final flight in December.[19]
| Month | Num. of successes | Num. of failures |
|---|---|---|
| January | 7 | 1 |
| February | 5 | 1 |
| March | 8 | 1 |
| April | 7 | 0 |
| May | 8 | 1 |
| June | 6 | 0 |
| July | 11 | 1 |
| August | 12 | 0 |
| September | 6 | 0 |
| October | 5 | 0 |
| November | 12 | 0 |
| December | 15 | 0 |
| Total | 102 | 5 |
| Date (UTC) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January | New Horizons | Flyby ofKuiper belt object486958 Arrokoth | The observed planetesimal, consisting of two spheroid pieces, was initially nicknamedUltima Thule. |
| 3 January[20] | Chang'e 4 | Landing atVon Kármán crater | First landing on thefar side of the Moon, coordinates45°27′25″S177°35′20″E / 45.457°S 177.589°E /-45.457; 177.589. |
| 12 February | Juno | 18thperijove ofJupiter | |
| 21 February | Hayabusa2 | First sample collection from asteroidRyugu[21] | |
| 4 April | Parker Solar Probe | Secondperihelion | |
| 4 April | Beresheet | Lunar orbital insertion | |
| 5 April | Hayabusa2 | Release of Small Carry-On Impactor (SCI) on the surface of Ryugu | SCI created a crater for further investigation. A dedicated DCAM-3 camera was deployed to observe the impact. |
| 6 April | Juno | 19th perijove | |
| 11 April | Beresheet | Lunar landing | Crashed due to gyroscope failure[22] |
| 29 May | Juno | 20th perijove | |
| 11 July | Hayabusa2 | Second sample collection from Ryugu | |
| 21 July | Juno | 21st perijove | |
| 20 August | Chandrayaan-2 | Lunar orbital insertion | |
| 1 September | Parker Solar Probe | Third perihelion | |
| 6 September | Chandrayaan-2 | Lunar landing | Vikram lander crashed after it lost attitude and contact at an altitude of 2.3 km.[23] |
| 12 September | Juno | 22nd perijove | |
| 2 October | Hayabusa2 | Deployment ofROVER-2 (MINERVA-II-2) | Rover failed before deployment, it was deployed in orbit around the asteroid to perform gravitational measurements before it impacted on 8 October. |
| 3 November | Juno | 23rd perijove | |
| 13 November | Hayabusa2 | Departure from Ryugu | |
| 26 December | Parker Solar Probe | Secondgravity assist atVenus | |
| 26 December | Juno | 24th perijove |
| Start date/time | Duration | End time | Spacecraft | Crew | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 March 12:01 | 6 hours 39 minutes | 18:40 | Expedition 59 |  Anne McClain | |
| 29 March 11:42 | 6 hours 45 minutes | 18:27 | Expedition 59 | Nick Hague | |
| 8 April 11:31 | 6 hours 29 minutes | 18:00 | Expedition 59 | Anne McClain |
|
| 29 May 15:42 | 6 hours 1 minute | 21:43 | Expedition 59 |  Oleg Kononenko |
|
| 21 August 12:27 | 6 hours 32 minutes | 18:59 | Expedition 60 | Nick Hague | Hague and Morgan installed the finalInternational Docking Adapter on theHarmony Module. The task for this spacewalk was identical to Spacewalk 194 and required work by both spacewalkers andDextre to get the docking port installed in preparation for theBoeing CST-100 Starliner orbital flight test, which will occur by the end of December. The crew also routed cables and installedWi-Firouters for upcoming experiments.[28] |
| 6 October 11:39 | 7 hours 01 minutes | 18:40 | Expedition 61 | Christina Koch | This spacewalk was the first of Expedition 61 and the first in a series of five to replace and improve ISS batteries on the P6 truss.[29] |
| 11 October 11:38 | 6 hours45 minutes | 18:23 | Expedition 61 | Andrew R. Morgan | This spacewalk was the second of Expedition 61 and the second in a series of five to replace and improve ISS batteries on the P6 truss. Before they went out to the hatch,Mission Control Moscow relayed to the crew thatAlexei Leonov had died and that this spacewalk was dedicated to him. As the crew came in and took off their suits, each gave a few words in memory of Leonov before station commander Luca Parmitano said "Farewell Alexei, and ad astra."[30][31] |
| 18 October 11:38 | 7 hours 17 minutes | 18:55 | Expedition 61 | Christina Koch | This spacewalk was the third of Expedition 61 and the third in a series of five to replace and improve ISS batteries on the P6 truss. Some of the battery swaps were delayed to EVA 222 due to a power failure in a Battery Charge Discharge Unit in slots 5 and 6 on the P6 Truss taking the 4B battery channel offline. Koch and Meir replaced the failed unit and brought it back inside. The battery swap was moved to EVA 222 to save time and Meir and Koch wrapped up the spacewalk by installing a stanchion on theColumbus Module and tightening the bolts on the S0 Truss, which had come loose. This spacewalk was the first all-female spacewalk. During the spacewalk,President Trump called the station and congratulated Koch and Meir on this milestone.[32] |
| 15 November 11:39 | 6 hours 39 minutes | 18:18 | Expedition 61 |  Luca Parmitano | First of a series of four spacewalks to repair theAlpha Magnetic Spectrometer which suffered a power failure last year in one of its four cooling pumps limiting the operation of the experiment. Parmitano and Morgan went outside and removed a cover plate from AMS and jettisoned it into space to make way for a cryo pump that they will assemble between spacewalks. Some of the bolts put up a fight but Parmitano got them all out. The highlight of the spacewalk is when Andrew Morgan threw the cover plate overboard and it drifted off aft of the station into the vacuum of space. The plate will stay in orbit for a few days until the end of December when it enters the atmosphere and burns up. The crew also removed several carbon fiber strips around fluid lines and installed handrails and grapple bars as get-ahead task. This spacewalk marks Parmitano's return to spacewalking after the Water in the Helmet Incident during EVA 171.[33] |
| 22 November 12:02 | 6 hours 33 minutes | 16:35 | Expedition 61 | Luca Parmitano | The second in a series of four spacewalks to repair the AMS. Parmitano and Morgan cut fluid lines and installed a vent on the AMS Experiment to prep the old cooling pump for removal on the third spacewalk. Parmitano and Morgan also routed cables and installed a new power supply to power the pumps when they are installed on the third spacewalk.[34] |
| 2 December 11:31 | 6 hours 2 minutes | 17:33 | Expedition 61 | Luca Parmitano | The third in a series of four spacewalks to repair the AMS. Parmitano and Morgan went out on the third spacewalk and installed the cryo pump and routed fluid and electrical lines to power the pump. Flight controllers inHouston,Huntsville, and atCERN activated the experiment and radioed to the crew that AMS passed with flying colors. The crew finished the spacewalk by doing a get-ahead task by covering AMS with thermal blanket.[35] |
| Date/Time (UTC) | Source object | Event type | Pieces tracked | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 March |  Microsat-R (suspected)and kinetic kill vehicle | 2019 Indian anti-satellite missile test | 121[36] | Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi announced a successful test of an anti-satellite weapon. The test was believed to have destroyed the Microsat-R satellite launched in January.[37][38] |
| Early April | A Centaur 3 upper stage (previouslyInternational Designator 2018-079B) | Unknown[39] | 54[40] | The upper stage of the Centaur 3 that carriedAEHF −4 in high Earth orbit on 17 October 2018 broke up for unknown reasons.[41] |
| 7 May | Titan IIIC Transtage rocket body[42] | Titan IIIC Transtage rocket body | ?[note 1] | Energetic fragmentation event by caused the overheating of leftover anhydrous hydrazine(N2H4) Mono Propellant |
| 13 August |  Ariane 42P third stage rocket body | Unknown | 7 | |
| 19 August | SOZ (Sistema Obespecheniya Zapuska) ullage motor | Proton Block DM fourth stage | ?[note 2] | Energetic fragmentation event; caused by left over fuel in the ullage motor. |
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. For example,Soyuz launches by Arianespace in Kourou are counted under Russia becauseSoyuz-2 is a Russian rocket.
| Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 China | 34 | 32 | 2 | 0 | |
| France | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| India | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
 Iran | 2[b] | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Italy | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
 Japan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Russia | 25[c] | 25 | 0 | 0 | |
 United States | 27[d] | 27 | 0 | 0 | |
| World | 102 | 97 | 5 | 0 | |
| Family | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antares | United States | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ariane | France | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Atlas | United States | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Delta | United States | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Electron | United States | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| Epsilon | Japan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Falcon | United States | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | |
| GLSV Mk III | India | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| H-II | Japan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hyperbola | China | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Jielong | China | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Kuaizhou | China | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March | China | 26 | 25 | 1 | 0 | |
| Pegasus | United States | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| OneSpace | China | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| PSLV | India | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| R-7 | Russia | 18 | 18 | 0 | 0 | |
| Safir | Iran | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Simorgh | Iran | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Universal Rocket | Russia | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | |
| Vega | Italy | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Rocket | Country | Family | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antares 200 | United States | Antares | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ariane 5 | France | Ariane | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Atlas V | United States | Atlas | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Delta IV | United States | Delta | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Electron | United States | Electron | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| Epsilon | Japan | Epsilon | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Falcon 9 | United States | Falcon | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | |
| GLSV Mk III | India | GLSV Mk III | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| H-IIB | Japan | H-II | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hyperbola-1 | China | Hyperbola | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Jielong 1 | China | Jielong | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Kuaizhou-1 | China | Kuaizhou | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March 2 | China | Long March | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March 3 | China | Long March | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March 4 | China | Long March | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | |
| Long March 5 | China | Long March | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March 6 | China | Long March | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March 11 | China | Long March | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| OS-M1 | China | OneSpace | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Maiden flight |
| Pegasus XL | United States | Pegasus | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Proton | Russia | Universal Rocket | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| PSLV | India | PSLV | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Safir | Iran | Safir | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Final flight |
| Simorgh | Iran | Simorgh | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Soyuz | Russia | R-7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Final flight |
| Soyuz-2 | Russia | R-7 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 0 | |
| UR-100 | Russia | Universal Rocket | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Final flight |
| Vega | Italy | Vega | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Site | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baikonur |  Kazakhstan | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cape Canaveral | United States | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | Includes the 11 October Pegasus XL launch whose carrier aircraft took flight from Cape Canaveral |
| Jiuquan | China | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | |
| Kennedy | United States | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kourou | France | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | |
| Mahia |  New Zealand | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| MARS | United States | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Plesetsk | Russia | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | |
| Satish Dhawan | India | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| Semnan | Iran | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Additionally, one rocket exploded on the launch pad during a ground test. |
| Taiyuan | China | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | |
| Tanegashima | Japan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Uchinoura | Japan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Vandenberg | United States | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Vostochny | Russia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wenchang | China | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Xichang | China | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | |
| Yellow Sea | China | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 102 | 97 | 5 | 0 | ||
| Orbital regime | Launches | Achieved | Not achieved | Accidentally achieved | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transatmospheric | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Low Earth /Sun-synchronous | 66 | 61 | 5 | 0 | |
| Medium Earth | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | |
| Geosynchronous /GTO | 24 | 24 | 0 | 0 | Includes two inclined GSO orbits (IGSO) |
| High Earth /Lunar transfer | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Heliocentric /Planetary transfer | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 102 | 97 | 5 | 0 |
