1975 in spaceflight

1975 in spaceflight

Artist's impression of the ASTP docking
Orbital launches
First	10 January
Last	27 December
Total	132
Catalogued	125
National firsts
Satellite	India
Rockets
Maiden flights	Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1AR Delta 3000 Diamant-BP4 Long March 2C N-I Scout F-1 Titan III(34)B
Retirements	Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1A Delta 1000 Diamant-BP4 Saturn IB Scout F-1
Manned flights
Orbital	4
Suborbital	1
Total travellers	9

In 1975 several notable events happened in spaceflight such as the launch to Mars of the Viking orbiter/landers missions, the joint Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, and the Venera 9 Venus mission.

• Viking 1 was launched on 20 August 1975 and Viking 2 was launched 9 September 1975. This orbiter/lander mission was to photograph Mars in detail and to find water and life on the surface.
• The Apollo-Soyuz saw an end to the space race with the USA and USSR. The mission was launched between 15 July 1975 and 17 July 1975.
• The Venera 9 mission was launched 8 June 1975 was another successful orbiter/lander mission.

Launches

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Launch site		LSP
	Payload	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
	Remarks
10 January 21:43:37	Soyuz		Baikonur Site 1/5
	Soyuz 17		Low Earth (Salyut 4)	Salyut expedition	19 February 11:03	Successful
	Manned flight with two cosmonauts, first mission to Salyut 4
5 April 11:04:54	Soyuz		Baikonur Site 1/5
	Soyuz 7K-T #39		Intended: Low Earth (Salyut 4)	Salyut expedition	11:26	Launch failure
	Manned flight with two cosmonauts, first and second core stages failed to separate, flight aborted and crew returned on suborbital trajectory
9 April 23:58:02	Delta 1410		Vandenberg SLC-2W		NASA
	GEOS-3	NASA	Low Earth	Geodesy	In orbit	Successful
19 April	Kosmos-3M		Kapustin Yar		Soviet Interkosmos programme
	Aryabhata	ISRO	Low Earth	X-ray astronomy, aeronomics, and solar physics studies	11 February 1992	Launch success, payload partial failure
	First Indian satellite; payload failed 4-5 days after launch
24 May 14:58:10	Soyuz		Baikonur Site 1/5
	Soyuz 18		Low Earth (Salyut 4)	Salyut expedition	26 July 14:18	Successful
	Manned flight with two cosmonauts, final mission to Salyut 4
15 July 14:58:10	Soyuz-U		Baikonur Site 1/5
	Soyuz 19		Low Earth (Apollo)	International docking	21 July 10:50	Successful
	Manned flight with two cosmonauts, Soviet contribution to the Apollo Soyuz Test Project
15 July 19:50:01	Saturn IB		Kennedy LC-39B		NASA
	Apollo	NASA	Low Earth (Soyuz 19)	International docking	24 July 21:18	Successful
	DM-2	NASA	Low Earth (Apollo)	Docking adaptor	2 August	Successful
	Manned flight with three astronauts, American contribution to the Apollo Soyuz Test Project, final flight of the Apollo programme and the Saturn rocket
20 August 21:22:00	Titan IIIE		Cape Canaveral LC-41
	Viking 1 Orbiter	NASA	Areocentric	Mars orbiter	In orbit	Successful
	Viking 1 Lander	NASA	Areocentric	Mars lander	20 July 1976 11:53:06	Successful
	Lander landed in Chryse Planitia, becoming the first US spacecraft to land on Mars. It operated until 11 November 1982 when communications were lost due to an erroneous command being sent to the spacecraft. Orbiter was deactivated on 17 August 1980.
9 September 18:39:00	Titan IIIE		Cape Canaveral LC-41
	Viking 2 Orbiter	NASA	Areocentric	Mars orbiter	In orbit	Successful
	Viking 2 Lander	NASA	Areocentric	Mars lander	3 September 1976 22:58:20	Successful
	Lander landed in Utopia Planitia and operated until its batteries failed on 11 April 1980. Orbiter was deactivated on 25 July 1978.

Deep space rendezvous

Date	Spacecraft	Event	Remarks
16 March	Mariner 10	3rd flyby of Mercury	Closest approach: 327 kilometres (203 mi)
20 October	Venera 9	Cytherocentric orbit insertion	First orbiter of Venus
22 October	Venera 9 lander	Venerian landing	Landed at 05:13 UTC; ; first images from Venus surface
23 October	Venera 10	Cytherocentric orbit insertion
25 October	Venera 10 lander	Venerian landing	Landed at 05:17 UTC

References

Krebs, Gunter. "Chronology of Space Launches". Kyle, Ed. "Space Launch Report". McDowell, Jonathan. "Jonathan's Space Report". Pietrobon, Steven. "Steven Pietrobon's Space Archive". Wade, Mark. "Encyclopedia Astronautica". Webb, Brian. "Southwest Space Archive". "NASASpaceFlight.com". "Spaceflight Now". "Space Information Center". JAXA. "Space Calendar". NASA JPL. "ISS Calendar". Spaceflight 101. "Launch Forecast". Space.com. Clark, Stephen. "Launch Schedule". Spaceflight Now. "U.S. Space Objects Registry". "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. Cosmoworld.ru (in Russian).

Generic references:

Footnotes