2018 in spaceflight

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|

2018 in spaceflight

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|

* New Zealand
* Costa Rica
* Kenya
* Bhutan
* Jordan

Suborbital launch|  Norway
Rockets
Maiden flights|

* Falcon Heavy
* Falcon 9 Block 5
* Zhuque-1

Retirements|

* Delta IV M+(5,2)
* SS-520
* Falcon 9 Full Thrust
* Falcon 9 Block 4
* Ariane 5 ES
* Delta II
* Zhuque-1
* Long March 3A

Crewed flights
Orbital| 3 (+1 failed)
Suborbital| 1 (private)
Total travellers| 11 (+2 failed)
EVAs| 8

* v
* t
* e

2018 in spaceflight

Timeline of spaceflight

<- 2017

2019 ->

* 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

This article documents notable spaceflight events during the year 2018. For the first time since 1990, more than 100 orbital launches were performed globally.

## Overview

[edit]

### Planetary exploration

[edit]

The NASA InSight seismology probe was launched in May 2018 and landed on Mars in November. The Parker Solar Probe was launched to explore the Sun in August 2018, and reached its first perihelion in November, traveling faster than any prior spacecraft. On 20 October the ESA and JAXA launched BepiColombo to Mercury, on a 10-year mission featuring several flybys and eventually deploying two orbiters in 2025 for local study. The asteroid sampling mission Hayabusa2 reached its target Ryugu in June,[1] and the similar OSIRIS-REx probe reached Bennu in December.[2] China launched its Chang'e 4 lander/rover in December which performed the first ever soft landing on the far side of the Moon in January 2019;[3][4] a communications relay was sent to the second Earth-Moon Lagrange point in May. The Google 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 commercial lunar lander mission before the deadline.[5]

### Human spaceflight

[edit]

The Soyuz MS-10 October mission to the International 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 on Soyuz MS-12.[6] The United States returned to spaceflight on 13 December with the successful suborbital spaceflight of VSS Unity Flight VP-03. The flight did not reach the Kármán 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 last Space shuttle flight STS-135 in 2011. Astronauts Mark P. Stucky and Frederick W. Sturckow both received their FAA Commercial Astronaut Wings on 7 February 2019. The return of the United States to human orbital spaceflight was further delayed to 2019, as Boeing and SpaceX, under NASA supervision, performed further tests on their commercial crew spacecraft under development: Starliner on Atlas V and SpaceX Dragon 2 on Falcon 9.[7]

### Rocket innovation

[edit]

After a failed launch in 2017, the Electron rocket reached orbit with its second flight in January; manufactured by Rocket Lab, it is the first orbital rocket equipped with electric pump-fed engines.[8] On 3 February, the Japanese SS-520-5 rocket (a modified sounding rocket) successfully delivered a 3U CubeSat to orbit, thus becoming the lightest and smallest orbital launch vehicle ever.[9] On 6 February, SpaceX performed the much-delayed test flight of Falcon Heavy,[10] carrying a car and a mannequin to a heliocentric orbit beyond Mars.[11] Falcon Heavy became the most powerful active rocket until the maiden launch of the Space Launch System in 2022.[12] On 27 October, LandSpace launched Zhuque-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 the Zhuque-2 launch vehicle, making this the only launch attempt of Zhuque-1.[14] On 13 December Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo reached 82.7 km, below the internationally recognized Kármán line but above the 50-mile definition of space used by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.[15][16]

### Accelerating activity

[edit]

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.

## Orbital and suborbital launches

[edit]

Main articles: List of spaceflight launches in January–June 2018 and List of spaceflight launches in July–December 2018

List of orbital launches  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

## Deep-space rendezvous

[edit]

Date (GMT)  | Spacecraft  | Event  | Remarks

|
|
|

7 February  | Juno | 11th perijove of Jupiter |
1 April  | Juno | 12th perijove  |
17 May  | TESS | Gravity assist by the Moon | Closest approach: 8,100 kilometres (5,000 mi)
24 May  | Juno | 13th perijove  |
25 May  | Queqiao | Moon flyby  | In Earth–Moon L2 halo orbit[18]
25 May  | Longjiang-1 | Moon flyby  | Failed lunar orbital injection[19]
25 May  | Longjiang-2 | Injection into Selenocentric orbit | Preliminary orbit was 350 × 13800 km, inclined 21° to the equator[20]
27 June[1] | Hayabusa2 | Arrival at asteroid Ryugu |
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 | First gravity assist at Venus |
29 October  | Juno | 16th perijove  |
6 November  | Parker Solar Probe | First perihelion | 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 at Mars | Successful landing at Elysium Planitia, coordinates 4°30′09″N 135°37′24″E﻿ / ﻿4.5024°N 135.6234°E﻿ / 4.5024; 135.6234.[21]
26 November  | MarCO A, B | Mars flyby  | Data relays for InSight lander
3 December  | OSIRIS-REx | Arrival at asteroid Bennu[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 the Lunar farside[22]
21 December  | Juno | 17th perijove  |

## Extravehicular activities (EVAs)

[edit]

See also: List of spacewalks 2015–2024 § 2018 spacewalks

Start Date/Time  | Duration  | End Time  | Spacecraft  | Crew  | Remarks

|
|
|
|
|

23 January
11:49  | 7 hours
24 minutes  | 19:13  | Expedition 54
ISS Quest |

* Mark T. Vande Hei
* Scott D. Tingle

* Replacement of latching end effector-B (LEE-B) for the space station remote manipulator system (SSRMS)

2 February
15:34  | 8 hours
13 minutes  | 23:47  | Expedition 54
ISS Pirs |

* Alexander Misurkin
* Anton Shkaplerov

* Dismantling Lira electronics assembly
* Installation of upgraded electronics unit
* Jettisoning of removed unit
* Test exposure unit retrieval
* Biorisk retrieval
* Foot restraint relocation

16 February
12:00  | 5 hours
57 minutes  | 17:57  | Expedition 54
ISS Quest |

* Mark T. Vande Hei
* Norishige Kanai

* Finished removal and replacement of latching end effector on POA
* Replaced LEE camera, installed ground strap on Canadarm2
* Brought failed LEE inside
* Lubricated Canadarm2
* Moved tool platform on Dextre
* Adjusted struts on flex hose rotary coupler

29 March
13:33  | 6 hours
10 minutes  | 19:43  | Expedition 55
ISS Quest |

* Richard R. Arnold
* Andrew J. Feustel

* Node 3 external wireless antenna install
* P1 truss ammonia jumper remove (P1-3-2 RBVM)
* CP8 camera group replacement
* S0 ammonia jumper relocate to ESP-1
* APFR relocate to ESP-1
* Bolt preps on ESP-2

16 May
11:39  | 6 hours
31 minutes  | 18:10  | Expedition 55
ISS Quest |

* Richard R. Arnold
* Andrew J. Feustel

* Relocation of two pump flow control subassembly (PFCS) units
* Replace the camera port-13 (CP-13) external television camera group (ETVCG)
* Replacement of the space to ground transmit/receive controller (SGTRC)

14 June
08:06[23] | 6 hours
49 minutes | 14:55  | Expedition 56
ISS Quest |

* Andrew J. Feustel
* Richard R. Arnold

* Installed new cameras to monitor the approach and docking maneuvers of commercial crew spacecraft
* Replaced a defective camera and lighting on the right side of the station
* Closed the cover of the Cloud Aerosol Transport System instrument

15 August
16:17  | 7 hours
46 minutes  | 00:03 on 16 August  | Expedition 56
ISS Pirs |

* Oleg Artemyev
* Sergey Prokopyev

* Deployed four cubesats built by Russian students
* Installed antennas and cables for the Icarus animal-tracking device
* Retrieved two materials exposure packages from the Zvezda hull[24]

11 December
15:59  | 7 hours
45 minutes  | 21:44  | Expedition 57
ISS Pirs |

* Oleg Kononenko
* Sergey Prokopyev

* Inspected damage to the hull of Soyuz MS-09[25]

## Space debris events

[edit]

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]

## Orbital launch statistics

[edit]

See also: Timeline of spaceflight

### By country

[edit]

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 because Soyuz-2 is a Russian rocket and Electron launches from Mahia 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

### By rocket

[edit]

Antares

Ariane

Atlas

Delta

Electron

Falcon

GSLV

H-II

Long March

PSLV

R-7

Vega

Others

* Antares 200
* Ariane 5
* Atlas V
* Delta II
* Delta IV
* Delta IV Heavy
* Electron
* Falcon 9 new
* Falcon 9 reused
* Falcon Heavy
* GSLV Mk II
* H-IIA
* H-IIB
* Long March 2
* Long March 3
* Long March 4
* Long March 11
* PSLV
* Soyuz-FG
* Soyuz-2 (Russia)
* Soyuz-ST (Europe)
* Proton-M
* Rokot
* Vega
* Others

#### By family

[edit]

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

#### By type

[edit]

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

#### By configuration

[edit]

Rocket  | Country  | Type  | Launches  | Successes  | Failures  | Partial failures  | Remarks

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Antares 230 |  United States | Antares 200 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Ariane 5 ECA |  France | Ariane 5 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
Ariane 5 ES |  France | Ariane 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Final flight
Atlas V 401 |  United States | Atlas V | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Atlas V 411 |  United States | Atlas V | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Atlas V 541 |  United States | Atlas V | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Atlas V 551 |  United States | Atlas V | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Delta II 7420 |  United States | Delta II | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Final flight
Delta IV Medium+ (5,2) |  United States | Delta IV | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Final flight
Delta IV Heavy |  United States | Delta IV | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Epsilon |  Japan | Epsilon | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Electron |  United States | Electron | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Falcon 9 Full Thrust |  United States | Falcon 9 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | Final flight
Falcon 9 Block 5 |  United States | Falcon 9 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight
Falcon Heavy |  United States | Falcon 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight
GSLV Mk II |  India | GSLV | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
GSLV Mk III |  India | GSLV Mk III | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
H-IIA 202 |  Japan | H-IIA | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
H-IIA 204 |  Japan | H-IIA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
H-IIB |  Japan | H-IIB | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Kuaizhou 1A |  China | Kuaizhou | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Long March 2C |  China | Long March 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
Long March 2D |  China | Long March 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
Long March 3A |  China | Long March 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Long March 3B/E |  China | Long March 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Long March 3B/E / YZ-1 |  China | Long March 3 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
Long March 3C/E |  China | Long March 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Long March 4B |  China | Long March 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Long March 4C |  China | Long March 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Long March 11 |  China | Long March 11 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Proton-M / Briz-M |  Russia | Proton | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
PSLV-CA |  India | PSLV | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
PLSV-XL |  India | PSLV | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Rokot / Briz-KM |  Russia | UR-100 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Soyuz-FG |  Russia | Soyuz | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
Soyuz-2.1a or ST-A |  Russia | Soyuz-2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Soyuz-2.1a or ST-A / Fregat-M |  Russia | Soyuz-2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Soyuz-2.1b or ST-B |  Russia | Soyuz-2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Soyuz-2.1b or ST-B / Fregat-M |  Russia | Soyuz-2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Soyuz-2.1b or ST-B / Fregat-MT |  Russia | Soyuz-2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Soyuz-2-1v / Volga |  Russia | Soyuz-2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
SS-520-5 |  Japan | SS-520 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Final orbital flight
Vega |  Italy | Vega | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Zhuque-1 |  China | Zhuque-1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Only flight

### By spaceport

[edit]

China

France

India

Japan

Kazakhstan

New Zealand

Russia

United States

* Jiuquan
* Taiyuan
* Xichang
* Kourou
* Satish Dhawan
* Tanegashima
* Uchinoura
* Baikonur
* Mahia
* Plesetsk
* Vostochny
* Cape Canaveral
* Kennedy
* MARS
* Vandenberg

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 |

### By orbit

[edit]

Low Earth

Medium Earth

Geosynchronous / transfer

High Earth

Heliocentric orbit

* Low Earth
* Low Earth (ISS)
* Low Earth (SSO)
* Low Earth (retrograde)
* Medium Earth
* Geosychronous (transfer)
* High Earth
* Heliocentric

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 and Zhuque-1 lost
Geosynchronous / GTO | 27 | 26 | 0 | 1 | Ariane VA241 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 |

## References

[edit]

Notes

1. ^ Clockwise from top

* Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster, with "Starman" aboard, is launched from the Earth into heliocentric orbit following the successful maiden test flight of the Falcon Heavy.
* Animation of photographs of 101955 Bennu taken by the PolyCam instrument aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.
* Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko inspects the exterior of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, after the discovery of a 2 mm hole in the spacecraft that caused a temporary air leakage aboard the International Space Station.
* First light of the Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC) aboard the InSight spacecraft, with the plains of Elysium Planitia in the background.

2. ^ China surpassed its previous record of 22 launches in 2016
3. ^ The only failure was the maiden flight of private rocket Zhuque-1.
4. ^ During Ariane 5 flight VA241 in January, two launched satellites were placed on an off-nominal orbit.
5. ^ GSAT-6A launch was a success, but the satellite failed.
6. ^ Includes three European Soyuz launches from Kourou, French Guiana by Arianespace.
7. ^ Crewed Soyuz MS-10 launch failure, two cosmonauts landed safely.
8. ^ Includes three Electron launches from Mahia.
9. ^ In January, Zuma launch was a success, satellite was reported lost but actual status is classified.

Citations

1. ^ a b Clark, Stephen (28 June 2018). "Japanese spacecraft reaches asteroid after three-and-a-half-year journey". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
2. ^ a b Davenport, Justin (3 December 2018). "OSIRIS-REx Arrives at Asteroid Bennu". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
3. ^ Lyons, Kate. "Chang'e 4 landing: China probe makes historic touchdown on far side of the moon". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
4. ^ "China successfully lands Chang'e-4 on far side of Moon". Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
5. ^ "Google Lunar X Prize to end without winner - SpaceNews.com". 23 January 2018.
6. ^ "NASA Astronaut Nick Hague Set for New Space Station Mission After Abort". 4 December 2018.
7. ^ Dunn, Marcia (5 August 2018). "Astronauts chosen for SpaceX, Boeing capsule flights in 2019". The Palm Beach Post. Cape Canaveral, Florida: Gannett. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 20 May 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021 - via Newspapers.com.
8. ^ Grush, Loren (14 April 2015). "A 3D-Printed, Battery-Powered Rocket Engine". Popular Science. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
9. ^ "Japanese sounding rocket claims record-breaking orbital launch – NASASpaceFlight.com". www.nasaspaceflight.com. 3 February 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
10. ^ Gebhardt, Chris (5 February 2018). "SpaceX successfully debuts Falcon Heavy in demonstration launch from KSC". NASASpaceflight. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
11. ^ Joe Pappalardo (5 February 2018). "Elon Musk's Space Tesla Isn't Going to Mars. It's Going Somewhere More Important". Popular Mechanics.
12. ^ Barnett, Amanda; Wattles, Jackie. "SpaceX Falcon Heavy: How the biggest rockets in history stack up". CNNMoney. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
13. ^ Barbosa, Rui C. (27 October 2018). "Chinese commercial provider LandSpace launches Weilai-1 on a Zhuque-1 rockets – fails to make orbit". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
14. ^ Jones, Andrew (12 July 2023). "China's Landspace reaches orbit with methane-powered Zhuque-2 rocket". SpaceNews. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
15. ^ Clyde Hughes (13 December 2018). "Virgin Galactic reaches edge of space in historic flight". UPI.
16. ^ Christian Davenport (19 November 2018). "Virgin Galactic's quest for space". Washington Post.
17. ^ Gebhardt, Chris (3 December 2018). "100th orbital launch of 2018: International trio launch to Space Station". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
18. ^ Jones, Andrew (1 June 2018). "Queqiao Chang'e-4 satellite performs Moon flyby, makes successful braking manoeuvre". GBTimes. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
19. ^ Jones, Andrew (28 May 2018). "Chang'e-4: Lunar microsatellite may be lost, Queqiao continues toward Lagrange point beyond Moon". GBTimes. Archived from the original on 29 May 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
20. ^ @planet4589 (27 May 2018). "So it looks like Longjiang-2 (DSLWP-B) is in a 350 x 13800 km x 21 deg lunar orbit. Longjiang-1 seems to have failed on May 21 and presumably remains in distant Earth orbit following its lunar flyby" (Tweet) - via Twitter.
21. ^ Genhardt, Chris (26 November 2018). "NASA, international InSight mission nail PERFECT landing on Mars". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
22. ^ Jones, Andrew [@AJ_FI] (12 December 2018). "Chang'e-4 has just successfully entered a 100 x 400km lunar orbit, achieved at 08:39 UTC (16:39 Beijing time), following a four-and-a-half day voyage to Moon" (Tweet) - via Twitter.
23. ^ Harwood, William (14 June 2018). "Station astronauts install new cameras on successful spacewalk". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
24. ^ Clark, Stephen (15 August 2018). "Spacewalkers toss nanosatellites into orbit, hook up bird migration monitor". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
25. ^ Bergin, Chris (11 December 2018). "Russian EVA examines hole repair area on Soyuz MS-09". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
26. ^ "#18SPCS confirmed breakup of ORBCOMM OG1 sat FM 16, #25417, on 22 Dec @ 0712 UTC - tracking 34 pieces - no indication caused by collision". twitter.com. 1 January 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2019.

## External links

[edit]

* 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.

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← 2017

Orbital launches in 2018

2019 →

January|

* USA-280 / Zuma
* BeiDou-3 M7, BeiDou-3 M8
* Cartosat-2F, ICEYE-X1, Microsat-TD, Arkyd-6A, Carbonite-2, Flock-3p' × 4, Fox-1D, Landmapper BC 3 v2, Lemur-2 × 4, PicSat, SpaceBEE × 4
* USA-281 / Topaz-5
* Jilin-1 Video-07, Jilin-1 Video-08, Kepler 0 KIPP
* USA-282 / SBIRS-GEO-4
* Humanity Star, Dove Pioneer, Lemur-2 × 2
* Yaogan 30-04 (3 satellites)
* SES-14, Al Yah 3
* GovSat-1 / SES-16

February|

* Kanopus-V No. 3, No. 4, S-Net × 4 , Lemur-2 × 4
* CSES, ÑuSat 4, 5
* TRICOM-1R
* Falcon Heavy test flight (Tesla Roadster)
* BeiDou-3 M3, M4
* Progress MS-08
* Paz, Tintin A & B
* IGS-Optical 6

March|

* GOES-17
* Hispasat 30W-6
* O3b × 4 (FM13 to FM16)
* Soyuz MS-08
* GSAT-6A
* EMKA / Kosmos 2525
* BeiDou-3 M9, M10
* Iridium NEXT 41–50
* Gaofen-1-02, 03, 04

April|

* Dragon CRS-14, 1KUNS-PF, Irazú, UBAKUSAT
* Superbird-B3, HYLAS-4
* Yaogan 31A, 31B, 31C, Weina 1B
* IRNSS-1I
* AFSPC-11, EAGLE
* Blagovest-12L / Kosmos 2526
* TESS
* Sentinel-3B
* Zhuhai-1 × 5

May|

* Apstar 6C
* InSight, MarCO A, MarCO B
* Gaofen 5
* Bangabandhu-1
* Chang'e 4 Relay, Longjiang 1, Longjiang 2
* Cygnus CRS OA-9E (EnduroSat One, EQUiSat, Lemur-2 × 4, RaInCube)
* Iridium NEXT 51–55, GRACE-FO 1, GRACE-FO 2

June|

* Gaofen-6
* SES-12
* Fengyun-2H
* Soyuz MS-09
* IGS-Radar 6
* GLONASS-M 756 / Kosmos 2527
* XJSS A, B
* Dragon CRS-15 (Biarri-Squad × 3, BHUTAN-1, Maya-1, UiTMSAT-1)

July|

* PRSS-1, PakTES-1A
* BeiDou IGSO-7
* Progress MS-09
* Telstar 19V
* Galileo FOC 19–22
* Iridium NEXT 56–65
* BeiDou-3 M5, M6
* Gaofen 11

August|

* Telkom-4 / Merah Putih
* Parker Solar Probe
* ADM-Aeolus
* BeiDou-3 M11, BeiDou-3 M12

September|

* HY-1C
* Telstar 18V
* ICESat-2 — SSTL S1-4, NovaSAR-1
* BeiDou-3 M13, M14
* Kounotori 7
* Azerspace-2 / Intelsat 38, Horizons-3e
* CentiSpace-1-S1

October|

* SAOCOM 1A
* Yaogan 32A, 32B
* Soyuz MS-10
* BeiDou-3 M15, M16
* AEHF-4
* BepiColombo
* HY 2B
* Lotos-S1 No. 3 / Kosmos 2528
* Weilai-1
* CFOSAT
* GOSAT-2, KhalifaSat, Diwata-2B, Stars-AO, AUTcube2

November|

* BeiDou-3 G1Q
* Kosmos 2529 / GLONASS-M 757
* MetOp-C
* IRVINE01, Lemur-2 × 2
* GSAT-29
* Es'hail 2
* Progress MS-10
* Cygnus NG-10
* BeiDou-3 M17, BeiDou-3 M18
* Shiyan 6-01
* Mohammed VI-B
* HySIS, Blacksky Global 1, FACSAT-1, Flock-3r × 16, Kepler 1 CASE, Lemur-2 × 4
* Kosmos 2530 / Strela-3M 16, Kosmos 2531 / Strela-3M 17, Kosmos 2532 / Strela-3M 18

December|

* Soyuz MS-11
* SHERPA, Blacksky Global 2, Capella 1, ESEO, Eu:CROPIS, FalconSAT 6, ICEYE X2, SkySat 14, SkySat 15, STPSat 5, ENOCH, Flock-3s × 3, IRVINE02, Landmapper BC 4, MinXSS-2, Orbital Reflector, PW-Sat 2, SpaceBEE × 3
* GSAT-11, Chollian-2A
* SpaceX CRS-16 (TechEdSat 8, UNITE)
* Chang'e 4 (Yutu-2)
* CubeSail, RSat-P, STF-1
* GSAT-7A
* CSO-1
* Kosmos 2533 / Blagovest-13L
* USA-289 / GPS IIIA-01
* Kanopus-V No. 5, No. 6, Flock-3k × 12, Lemur-2 × 8, Lume-1
* Yunhai-2 01 (6 satellites)

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).

* v
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2018 in space

* « 2017

2019 »

Space probe
launches |

* TESS (lunar flyby; Apr 2018)
* Queqiao (mission to the Moon; May 2018)
* InSight / Mars Cube One (mission to Mars; May 2018)
* Parker Solar Probe (solar space mission; Aug 2018)
* BepiColombo (mission to Mercury; Oct 2018)
* Chang'e 4 / Yutu-2 (mission to the Moon; Dec 2018)

Impact events|

* 2018 LA
* Kamchatka meteor

Selected NEOs|

* Asteroid close approaches
* 2010 WC9
* 2017 VR12
* 2017 YE5
* (585310) 2017 YZ1
* 2018 AH
* 2018 BD
* 2018 BF3
* 2018 CB
* 2018 CC
* (276033) 2002 AJ129
* (505657) 2014 SR339
* 2018 CF2
* 2018 CL
* 2018 CN2
* 2018 CY2
* 2018 DV1
* 2018 GE3
* 2018 PD20
* 2018 LF16
* 2018 WV1
* (163899) 2003 SD220

Exoplanets |

* Gliese 1132 c
* possible exomoon Kepler-1625b I
* K2-141b
* K2-146b
* K2-148b
* K2-155d
* K2-229b
* K2-239b
* K2-239c
* K2-239d
* K2-288Bb
* EPIC 211945201 b
* HD 89345 b
* KELT-21b
* NGTS-3Ab

Discoveries|

* LSPM J0207+3331
* VVV-WIT-07
* MACS J1149 Lensed Star 1
* 10 moons of Jupiter
* 541132 Leleākūhonua (announced)
* Hyperion proto-supercluster
* 2MASS J18082002−5104378
* Farout (2018 VG18)
* FarFarOut (2018 AG37 first imaged)
* AT2018hyz
* SN 2018cow

Novae|

* V357 Muscae (Nova Muscae)
* V906 Carinae (Nova Carinae)
* V392 Persei (Nova Persei)

Comets |

* C/2017 T1 (Heinze)
* C/2017 U7
* C/2018 C2 (Lemmon)
* 37P/Forbes
* 66P/du Toit
* 64P/Swift–Gehrels
* 38P/Stephan–Oterma
* C/2018 F4 (PanSTARRS)
* C/2018 V1 (Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto)
* 46P/Wirtanen

Space exploration|

* Hayabusa2 (asteroid Ryugu arrival; Jun 2018)
* Kepler retirement (Oct 2018)
* InSight (Mars landing; Oct 2018)
* Dawn retirement (Nov 2018)
* OSIRIS-REx (asteroid Bennu arrival; Dec 2018)
* Voyager 2 (enters interstellar space; Dec 2018)
* New Horizons (encounter with 486958 Arrokoth; Dec 2018 / Jan 2019)

* Outer space portal
* 2017 in outer space — 2018 in outer space — 2019 in outer space

Portal:

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