1988 in spaceflight

1988 in spaceflight
	Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-26R, the first US crewed spaceflight after the Challenger accident
Orbital launches
First	6 January 1988
Last	29 December 1988
Total	121
Catalogued	116
National firsts
Satellite	Israel; Luxembourg
Orbital launch	Israel
Space traveller	Afghanistan
Rockets
Maiden flights	Ariane 4; Long March 4A; Shavit
Retirements	Energia; Titan 34D
Crewed flights
Orbital	5
Total travellers	19
	v; t; e;

Last updated: 2025-07-30 02:43:43

1988 in spaceflight

The following is an outline of 1988 in spaceflight.

Shuttle return to flight

Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Launch Complex 39B, Kennedy Space Center, at 11:37:00 a.m. EDT on September 29, 1988, 975 days after the Challenger disaster.

Launches


Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload (⚀ = CubeSat)	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
25 March	Scout G-1			San Marco mobile range, Kenya		ASI

		San Marco-D/L	ASI	Low Earth	Atmospheric research	In orbit	Successful
7 June 21:38:16	Soyuz-U2			Baikonur Site 1/5

		Soyuz TM-5		Low Earth (Mir)	Mir EP-2	7 September 00:48:38	Successful
		Crewed flight launching three cosmonauts and landing two, computer problems during deorbit nearly resulted in loss of crew, and delayed landing by one day
15 June 11:19	Ariane 4 44LP			Kourou ELA-2		Arianespace

		Meteosat-3	EUMETSAT	GTO	Meteorology	In orbit	Successful
		PAS 1	PanAmSat	GTO	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		AMSAT-OSCAR-13	AMSAT	Low Earth	Amateur radio	6 December 1996	Successful
		Maiden flight of the Ariane 4 rocket
7 July 17:38	Proton-K			Baikonur site LC200/39

		Fobos 1		Intended: Areocentric Actual: Heliocentric	Mars orbiter	In orbit	Spacecraft failure
		stationary lander			Phobos lander	In orbit	Never deployed
		Loss of communication 2 September 1988 en route to Mars
12 July 17:01	Proton-K			Baikonur site LC200/40

		Fobos 2		Areocentric	Mars orbiter	In orbit	Spacecraft failure
		stationary lander			Phobos lander	In orbit	Never deployed
		"hopping" lander			Phobos lander	In orbit	Never deployed
		Loss of communication 27 March 1989 near Phobos
29 August 04:23:11	Soyuz-U2			Baikonur Site 1/5

		Soyuz TM-6		Low Earth (Mir)	Mir EP-3	21 December 09:57:00	Successful
		Crewed flight with three cosmonauts, one remained on Mir as part of EO-3, first Afghan space traveller
29 September 15:37:00	Space Shuttle Discovery			Kennedy LC-39B		United Space Alliance

		STS-26R	NASA	Low Earth	Satellite deployment	3 October 16:37:11	Successful
		TDRS-3 (TDRS-C)	NASA	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Crewed flight with five astronauts, first US crewed spaceflight after the Challenger accident in 1986, TDRS deployed using Inertial Upper Stage
15 November 03:00:02	Energia			Baikonur Site 110/37

		Buran 1K1		Low Earth	Test flight	06:26	Successful
		37KB No.3770		Low Earth (Buran)	Test flight	06:26	Successful
		Uncrewed test, only flight of Buran and final flight of Energia
26 November 14:49:34	Soyuz-U2			Baikonur Site 1/5

		Soyuz TM-7		Low Earth (Mir)	Mir EO-4/EP-4	27 April 1989 02:57:58	Successful
		Crewed flight with three cosmonauts
2 December 14:30:34	Space Shuttle Atlantis			Kennedy LC-39B		United Space Alliance

		STS-27R	NASA/NRO	Low Earth	Satellite deployment	6 December 23:30:39	Successful
		USA-34 (Lacrosse)	NRO/CIA	Low Earth	Radar imaging	25 March 1997	Successful
		Crewed flight with five astronauts
11 December 00:33	Ariane 4 44LP			Kourou ELA-2		Arianespace

		Skynet 4B	UK Ministry of Defence	GTO	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Astra 1A	SES Astra	GTO	Communications	In orbit	Successful

Deep-space rendezvous

There were no deep-space rendezvous in 1988.

References

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". 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.
"Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).
"Rocket Launch Manifest". Next Spaceflight.
"Space Launch Plans". Novosti Kosmonavtiki.

Generic references:

Spaceflight portal

Footnotes

View original on Wikipedia

v t e Timeline of spaceflight
Spaceflight before 1951
1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 (H1, H2) 1959 (H1, H2)
1960s	1960 (T1, T2, T3) 1961 (H1, H2) 1962 (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) 1963 (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) 1964 (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) 1965 (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) 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 (H1, H2) 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 (H1, H2) 2019 (H1, H2)
2020s	2020 2021 (H1, H2) 2022 (H1, H2) 2023 (H1, H2) 2024 (H1, H2) 2025 (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) 2026 2027 2028 2029
Future

v t e Timeline of spaceflight
Spaceflight before 1951
1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 (H1, H2) 1959 (H1, H2)
1960s	1960 (T1, T2, T3) 1961 (H1, H2) 1962 (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) 1963 (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) 1964 (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) 1965 (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) 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 (H1, H2) 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 (H1, H2) 2019 (H1, H2)
2020s	2020 2021 (H1, H2) 2022 (H1, H2) 2023 (H1, H2) 2024 (H1, H2) 2025 (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) 2026 2027 2028 2029
Future

v t e ← 1987 Orbital launches in 1988 1989 →
January	Kosmos 1908 Kosmos 1909, Kosmos 1910, Kosmos 1911, Kosmos 1912, Kosmos 1913, Kosmos 1914 Gorizont No.25L Progress 34 Kosmos 1915 Meteor-2 No.20
February	USA-29 Kosmos 1916 USA-30 Kosmos 1919, Kosmos 1917, Kosmos 1918 Kosmos 1920 Kosmos 1921 Sakura 3a Kosmos 1922
March	Zhongxing-1 Kosmos 1923 Kosmos 1924, Kosmos 1925, Kosmos 1926, Kosmos 1927, Kosmos 1928, Kosmos 1929, Kosmos 1930, Kosmos 1931 Molniya-1 No.65 Spacenet 3R, Telecom 1C Kosmos 1932 Kosmos 1933 IRS-1A Molniya-1 No.64 Kosmos 1934 Progress 35 Kosmos 1935 San Marco 5 Kosmos 1936 Gorizont No.26L
April	Kosmos 1937 Kosmos 1938 Foton No.4L Kosmos 1939 Transit-O 23, Transit-O 32 Kosmos 1940 Kosmos 1941
May	Ekran No.31L Kosmos 1942 Progress 36 Kosmos 1943 Intelsat VA F-13 Kosmos 1944 Kosmos 1945 Kosmos 1946, Kosmos 1947, Kosmos 1948 Molniya-3 No.49 Kosmos 1949 Kosmos 1950 Kosmos 1951
June	Soyuz TM-5 Kosmos 1952 Kosmos 1953 Meteosat 3, PAS-1, OSCAR-13 Nova 2 Kosmos 1954 Kosmos 1955 Kosmos 1956
July	Okean-O1 No.5 Kosmos 1957 Fobos 1 Unnamed Fobos 2 SROSS-B Kosmos 1958 Progress 37 Kosmos 1959 INSAT-1C, ECS-5 Meteor-3 No.3 Resurs-F1 No.30 Kosmos 1960
August	Kosmos 1961 Fanhui Shi Weixing I-02 Kosmos 1962 Molniya-1 No.66 Kosmos 1963 Gorizont No.28L Kosmos 1964 Kosmos 1965 Transit-O 25, Transit-O 31 Soyuz TM-6 Kosmos 1966
September	USA-31 USA-32 Kosmos 1967 Fengyun I-01 GStar-3, SBS-5 Kosmos 1968 Progress 38 Kosmos 1969 Kosmos 1970, Kosmos 1971, Kosmos 1972 Sakura 3b Ofek-1 Kosmos 1973 NOAA-11 Molniya-3 No.51 STS-26 (TDRS-3)
October	Kosmos 1974 Kosmos 1975 Kosmos 1976 Gran' No.34L Kosmos 1977 Kosmos 1978 TDF 1
November	USA-33 Unnamed Buran 1K1 (37KB No.3770) Kosmos 1979 Kosmos 1980 Kosmos 1981 Soyuz TM-7 Kosmos 1982
December	STS-27 (USA-34) Kosmos 1983 Ekran-M No.12L Skynet 4B, Astra 1A Kosmos 1984 Zhongxing-2 Molniya-3 No.52 Kosmos 1985 Progress 39 Molniya-1 No.63 Kosmos 1986
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).

Orbital launches
Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-26R, the first US crewed spaceflight after the Challenger accident
First	6 January 1988
Last	29 December 1988
Total	121
Catalogued	116
National firsts
Satellite	Israel Luxembourg
Orbital launch	Israel
Space traveller	Afghanistan
Rockets
Maiden flights	Ariane 4 Long March 4A Shavit
Retirements	Energia Titan 34D
Crewed flights
Orbital	5
Total travellers	19
v t e