| Year | 2012 |
|---|---|
| First | 9 January |
| Last | 19 December |
| Total | 77 |
| Success | 72 |
| Failed | 2 |
| Partial | 3 |
| Catalogued | 75 |
| Maidens | |
| Retired | |
| Orbital | 5 |
| Totalcrew | 15 |
| Evas | 5 |
| Programme | Timeline of spaceflight |
|---|---|
| Previous mission | 2011 |
| Next mission | 2013 |
The year 2012 saw a number of significant events in spaceflight. In May and October, the first Commercial Orbital Transportation Services resupply missions took place, during which the SpaceX Dragon became the first private spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (ISS). In June, China launched the crewed Shenzhou 9 orbital mission, and North Korea achieved its first successful orbital launch in December. 2012 also saw China's first successful asteroid exploration mission, and the landing of NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars. The Vega and Unha-3 rockets made their maiden flights in 2012, while the Proton-K made its last.
A total of 77 orbital launches were attempted in 2012, of which 72 were successful, three were partially successful and two were failures. Five crewed orbital missions were conducted over the course of the year, all successfully, carrying a total of 15 individuals into orbit. The year also saw five EVAs by ISS astronauts. The majority of the year's orbital launches were conducted by Russia, China and the United States, with 29, 19 and 13 launches respectively. A total of 139 payloads were launched during the year, including communication and navigation satellites, logistics spacecraft and scientific probes. Additionally, a large number of suborbital sounding rockets and ballistic missiles were launched by scientific and military organisations.
Overview of orbital spaceflight
A total of 77 orbital launches were attempted in 2012, with 72 being reported as successful, and a total of 139 payloads launched.[1] The three most prolific spacefaring nations were Russia, with 29 launches and 27 successes; China, with 19 launches, all of which succeeded; and the United States, with 13 launches, of which 12 succeeded and one was a partial failure.[1] European nations conducted eight orbital launches, all successfully, while India and Japan conducted two each, also successfully. Iran and North Korea both achieved one successful orbital launch during 2012, but Iran also suffered one launch failures, while North Korea suffered one.[2][3]
Crewed spaceflight
Five crewed orbital launches were conducted during 2012, all successfully, carrying a total of 15 astronauts into orbit. Four of these missions were flown using Russian Soyuz spacecraft, while the fifth was a Chinese Shenzhou launch.[4] All of the year's crewed missions rendezvoused with space stations – the four Soyuz missions docked with the International Space Station (ISS), while China's Shenzhou 9 docked with the Tiangong-1 orbital laboratory. Five spacewalks were also undertaken in 2012, all by ISS crewmembers.[5][6][7][8][9]
Robotic exploration
Numerous significant milestones in robotic spaceflight occurred in 2012, including the landing of NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars in August,[10] and the first commercial resupply missions to the ISS in May and October.[11][12] The latter also marked the first fully operational use of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. Elsewhere in the Solar System, NASA's Dawn spacecraft completed its mission to 4 Vesta in September 2012,[13] while China achieved its first asteroid flyby in December.
Orbital launches
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Suborbital flights
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Deep space rendezvous
| Date (UTC) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January | GRAIL-B | Lunar orbit insertion | Joined its twin, GRAIL-A, which entered lunar orbit on 31 December 2011.[14] |
| 2 January | Cassini | 80th flyby of Titan | Closest approach: 29,415 kilometres (18,278 mi).[15] |
| 30 January | Cassini | 81st flyby of Titan | Closest approach: 31,131 kilometres (19,344 mi).[15] |
| 19 February | Cassini | 82nd flyby of Titan | Closest approach: 3,803 kilometres (2,363 mi).[15] |
| 9 March | Cassini | Flyby of Enceladus | Closest approach: 9,000 kilometres (5,600 mi).[15] |
| 27 March | Cassini | 17th flyby of Enceladus | Closest approach: 74 kilometres (46 mi).[15] |
| 14 April | Cassini | 18th flyby of Enceladus Flyby of Tethys | Closest approach to Enceladus: 74 kilometres (46 mi).[15] Closest approach to Tethys: 9,000 kilometres (5,600 mi).[15] |
| 2 May | Cassini | 20th flyby of Enceladus Flyby of Dione | Closest approach to Enceladus: 74 kilometres (46 mi).[15] Closest approach to Dione: 8,000 kilometres (5,000 mi).[15] |
| 20 May | Cassini | Flyby of Methone Flyby of Telesto | Closest approach to Methone: 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi).[15] Closest approach to Telesto: 11,000 kilometres (6,800 mi).[15] |
| 21 May | Cassini | 83rd flyby of Titan | Closest approach: 955 kilometres (593 mi).[15] |
| 6 June | Cassini | 84th flyby of Titan | Closest approach: 959 kilometres (596 mi).[15] |
| 24 July | Cassini | 85th flyby of Titan | Closest approach: 1,012 kilometres (629 mi).[15] |
| 6 August | Curiosity | Landing on Mars in Gale Crater | Used the Sky Crane soft landing system. Successful landing at 05:14 UTC at coordinates 4.5895°S 137.4417°E.[10] |
| 5 September[13][16] | Dawn | Leaving Vestiocentric orbit | Headed for Ceres, which it reached on 6 March 2015.[17] |
| 26 September | Cassini | 86th flyby of Titan | Closest approach: 956 kilometres (594 mi).[15] |
| 13 November | Cassini | 87th flyby of Titan | Closest approach: 973 kilometres (605 mi).[15] |
| 29 November | Cassini | 88th flyby of Titan | Closest approach to Titan: 1,014 kilometres (630 mi).[15] |
| 13 December | Chang'e 2 | Flyby of 4179 Toutatis | First Chinese asteroid flyby. Closest approach to 4179 Toutatis: less than 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) (770 metres).[18] |
| 17 December | GRAIL | Lunar impact at "Sally K. Ride" site | Both GRAIL satellites concluded their mission by impacting the Moon's surface.[19][20] |
| 22 December | Cassini | Distant flyby of Titan Flyby of Rhea | Closest approach to Titan: 715,000 kilometres (444,000 mi).[15] Closest approach to Rhea: 23,000 kilometres (14,000 mi).[15] |
EVAs
| Start Date/Time | Duration | End Time | Spacecraft | Crew | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 February 14:31[5] | 6 hours 15 minutes | 20:46 | Expedition 29/30 ISS Pirs | Oleg Kononenko Anton Shkaplerov | Moved Strela 1 crane from ISS Pirs module to Poisk module, installed four materials experiments on the exterior of the ISS, and installed supporting struts on the EVA ladder on Pirs. |
| 20 August 16:37[6] | 5 hours 51 minutes | 22:28 | Expedition 31/32 ISS Pirs | Gennady Padalka Yuri Malenchenko | Relocated Strela 2 telescoping boom from Pirs docking compartment to Zarya control module, in preparation for undocking of Pirs, which will pave the way for arrival of the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module in 2013. Also installed micrometeoroid debris shields on Zvezda service module, retrieved two experiments from Pirs' exterior, installed two support struts for hatch ladder and deployed two small tracking satellites.[21] |
| 30 August 12:16 | 8 hours 17 minutes | 20:33 | Expedition 31/32 ISS Quest | Sunita Williams Akihiko Hoshide | Connected two power cables between the US and Russian orbital segments; removed and replaced Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) 1. The crew had difficulty in removing connecting bolts of the old MBSU, and were unable to tighten up the bolts for the new unit. The new MBSU was tied down for future trouble-shooting, with all other tasks deferred to a future EVA. Third-longest EVA in history.[7] |
| 5 September 11:06 | 6 hours 28 minutes | 17:34 | Expedition 31/32 ISS Quest | Sunita Williams Akihiko Hoshide | Installed the new MBSU unit, working around difficulty with one of the bolts; replaced one of the cameras mounted on the Canadarm2. During this spacewalk, Sunita Williams broke Peggy Whitson's 2007 record for most total time spacewalking by a woman.[8][22] |
| 1 November 12:29 | 6 hours 38 minutes | 19:07 | Expedition 32/33 ISS Quest | Sunita Williams Akihiko Hoshide | Reconfigured and isolated a leak in the ammonia cooling system of power channel 2B on the P6 truss by bypassing a leaking cooling loop and re-connecting jumpers to an unused loop of the Early External Thermal Control System (EETCS), and by redeploying the trailing Thermal Control Radiator of the system.[9][23] |
Orbital launch statistics
By country
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 because Soyuz-2 is a Russian rocket.
| Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 19 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 1[a] | 1 | 0 | ||
| 26[b] | 24 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 3[c] | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 13 | 12 | 0 | 1 | ||
| World | |||||
By rocket
By family
| Family | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ariane | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Atlas | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Delta | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Falcon | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 October rocket failure only affected one of two payloads[24] | |
| H-II | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Long March | 19 | 19 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Pegasus | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| PSLV | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| R-7 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Safir | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Unha | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | First successful launch | |
| Universal Rocket | 12 | 10 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Vega | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight | |
| Zenit | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
By type
| Rocket | Country | Family | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ariane 5 | Ariane | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Atlas V | Atlas | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Delta IV | Delta | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Falcon 9 | Falcon | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Failure only affected one of two payloads | |
| H-IIA | H-II | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| H-IIB | H-II | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Long March 2 | Long March | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Long March 3 | Long March | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Long March 4 | Long March | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Pegasus | Pegasus | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| PSLV | PSLV | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Proton | Universal Rocket | 11 | 9 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Safir | Safir | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Soyuz | R-7 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Soyuz-2 | R-7 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Unha | Unha | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | First successful launch | |
| UR-100 | Universal Rocket | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Vega | Vega | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight | |
| Zenit | Zenit | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
By configuration
| Rocket | Country | Type | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ariane 5 ECA | Ariane 5 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Ariane 5 ES | Ariane 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Atlas V 401 | Atlas V | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Atlas V 501 | Atlas V | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Atlas V 531 | Atlas V | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Atlas V 551 | Atlas V | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Delta IV Medium+ (4,2) | Delta IV | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Delta IV Medium+ (5,2) | Delta IV | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight[25] | |
| Delta IV Medium+ (5,4) | Delta IV | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Delta IV Heavy | Delta IV | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Falcon 9 v1.0 | Falcon 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Failure only affected one of two payloads | |
| H-IIA 202 | H-IIA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| H-IIB | H-IIB | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Long March 2C | Long March 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Long March 2D | Long March 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Long March 2F | Long March 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Long March 3A | Long March 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Long March 3B | Long March 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Final flight | |
| Long March 3B/E | Long March 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Long March 3C | Long March 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Final flight | |
| Long March 4B | Long March 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Long March 4C | Long March 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Pegasus XL | Pegasus | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| PSLV-CA | PSLV | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| PSLV-XL | PSLV | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Proton-K / Block DM-2 | Proton | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Final flight[26] | |
| Proton-M / Briz-M | Proton | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Rokot / Briz-KM | UR-100 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Safir-1B | Safir | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Soyuz-2.1a / Fregat-M | Soyuz-2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Soyuz ST-A / Fregat | Soyuz-2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Soyuz ST-B / Fregat-MT | Soyuz-2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Soyuz-FG | Soyuz | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Soyuz-FG / Fregat | Soyuz | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Soyuz-U | Soyuz | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Unha-3 | Unha | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Maiden flight | |
| Vega | Vega | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Maiden flight | |
| Zenit-3SL | Zenit | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
By spaceport
| Site | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baikonur | 21 | 19 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Cape Canaveral | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Kourou | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Jiuquan | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Kwajalein | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Ocean Odyssey | International waters | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Plesetsk | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Satish Dhawan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Semnan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Sohae | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Tanegashima | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Taiyuan | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Vandenberg | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Xichang | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 77 | 72 | 3 | 2 | ||
By orbit
| Orbital regime | Launches | Successes | Failures | Accidentally achieved | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transatmospheric | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Low Earth | 39 | 37 | 2 | 0 | 12 to ISS, 1 to Tiangong-1 |
| Medium Earth / Molniya | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | |
| Geosynchronous / GTO | 32 | 31 | 1 | 0 | |
| High Earth / Lunar transfer | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Heliocentric / Planetary transfer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 77 | 74 | 3 | 1 |
Notes
- ^ First successful orbital launch
- ^ Includes two European Soyuz launches from Kourou, French Guiana by Arianespace
- ^ Includes three Zenit from Sea Launch
See also
References
Footnotes
- ^ "Space Year Review 2012: Launch vehicles – Falcon 9, Delta IV and Soyuz show robustness in mishaps but not so for Safir or Proton". Flightglobal. 3 January 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
- ^ Hansen, Nick (1 October 2012). "Rocket science - Iran's rocket programme". Jane's Intelligence Review. 24 (10). Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
- ^ "North Korea's rocket launch fails as world condemns action". The Guardian. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
- ^ "China's Shenzhou 9 spacecraft returns to earth". The Guardian. 29 June 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
- ^ Pete Harding (16 February 2012). "Cosmonaut duo complete Russian spacewalk outside ISS". NASASpaceflight.com. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
- ^ "Russian cosmonauts perform six-hour spacewalk outside International Space Station". The Daily Telegraph. 21 August 2012. Archived from the original on 23 August 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
- ^ Pete Harding (30 August 2012). "Astronaut duo complete challenging first post-Shuttle US spacewalk on ISS". NASASpaceflight. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
- ^ "Williams sets record in spacewalk". The Peninsula Qatar. 20 November 2012. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
- ^ "Astronauts take spacewalk to find ammonia leak". AP via USA TODAY. 1 November 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ^ "Nasa's Curiosity rover successfully lands on Mars". BBC. 6 August 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
- ^ "SpaceX Launches Private Capsule on Historic Trip to Space Station". Space.com. 22 May 2012. Archived 3 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
- ^ "SpaceX's Dragon returns to Earth with precious cargo from ISS". NASASpaceflight.com. 28 October 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
- ^ "NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Hits Snag on Trip to 2 Asteroids". Space.com. 15 August 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
- ^ "NASA's Twin Grail Spacecraft Reunite in Lunar Orbit". NASA.gov. 1 January 2012. Archived from the original on 2 January 2012. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
- ^ "Cassini Saturn Tour Dates: 2012". NASA. 2012. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
- ^ "Dawn departs Vesta to become first asteroid hopper". New Scientist. 6 September 2012. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
- ^ "Spacecraft Dawn has arrived at Ceres, one of solar system's last unexplored planets". Washington Post. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
- ^ "Chinese space probe flies by asteroid Toutatis". Xinhua. 15 December 2012. Archived from the original on 17 December 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
- ^ "NASA's Grail Lunar Impact Site Named for Astronaut Sally Ride" Archived 19 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine. NASA. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
- ^ "GRAIL orbiters make DEATH DIVE into lunar mountain". The Register. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
- ^ "Sfera-53". Gunter's Space Page. 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
- ^ "Spacewalk Success as second EVA installs troublesome MBSU-1". NASASpaceflight. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
- ^ "ISS Managers Mull Spacewalks To Address Power, Cooling Issues". Aviation Week. 10 October 2012. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
- ^ "Falcon 9 Drops Orbcomm Satellite in Wrong Orbit". Aviation Week. 8 October 2012. Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
- ^ "First Delta IV Medium in 5/2 configuration launches from Vandenberg". US Air Force Space Command. 4 April 2012. Archived from the original on 30 January 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
- ^ "Russian Proton-K completes 45 years of service with US-KMO satellite launch". NASASpaceflight.com. 29 March 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
External links
- "Forecasts 2012: Spaceflight". Flightglobal. 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
- "The 12 Most Anticipated Space Missions of 2012". Space.com. 26 December 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
- "2012 Human Spaceflight: A Look Ahead". Discovery News. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2013.