1978 in spaceflight

1978 saw the launch of the Pioneer Venus missions launched by the United States, on 20 May and 8 August. The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe landed four spacecraft on the planet, one of which transmitted data for 67 minutes before being destroyed by atmospheric pressure. ISEE-C, which was launched on 8 December, flew past comet 21P/Giacobini–Zinner in 1985, and Halley's Comet in 1986.

1978 in spaceflight

The Pioneer Venus Orbiter atop an Atlas-Centaur before launch
Orbital launches
First	6 January
Last	28 December
Total	128
Catalogued	124
National firsts
Space traveller	Czechoslovakia Poland East Germany DDR
Rockets
Retirements	Atlas-Agena Mu-3H
Crewed flights
Orbital	5
Total travellers	10

Launches

← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec →

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload (⚀ = CubeSat)	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
January
10 January 12:26:00	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5
		Soyuz 27		Low Earth (Salyut 6)	Salyut 6 EP-1	16 March 11:18	Successful
		Crewed flight with two cosmonauts
20 January 08:25	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Progress 1		Low Earth (Salyut 6)	Salyut 6 logistics	8 February 02:00	Successful
		Maiden flight of Progress spacecraft. First in-orbit refuel, from Progress to Salyut 6, 2nd Feb.
26 January 04:58	Long March 2A			Jiuquan, LA-2/138
		FSW-0 3		Low Earth	Reconnaissance	30 January	Successful
		Re-entry capsule recovered on 30 January.
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → February
4 February 07:00	M-3H			Kagoshima Space Center LP-M		ISAS
		EXOS-A (Kyokko)	ISAS	Highly elliptical orbit	Magnetosphere research	In orbit	Successful
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → March
2 March 15:28:10	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5
		Soyuz 28		Low Earth (Salyut 6)	Salyut 6 EP-2	10 March 11:24	Successful
		Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, first Czechoslovakian in space
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → May
20 May 13:13:00	Atlas SLV-3D Centaur			Cape Canaveral LC-36A
		Pioneer Venus Orbiter	NASA/ARC	Cytherocentric	Venus orbiter	22 October 1992	Successful
		Entered 181.6 x 66,360-km orbit around Venus on 4 December 1978.
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → June
15 June 20:16:45	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5
		Soyuz 29		Low Earth (Salyut 6)	Salyut 6 EO-2	31 September 11:40	Successful
		Crewed flight with two cosmonauts
16 June 10:49	Delta 2914			Cape Canaveral LC-17B
		GOES 3	NOAA	Geostationary	Weather	In orbit	Successful
		Decommissioned on 29 June 2016.
27 June 15:27:21	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5
		Soyuz 30		Low Earth (Salyut 6)	Salyut 6 EP-3	5 July 13:30	Successful
		Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, first Pole in space
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → August
8 August 07:33	Atlas SLV-3D Centaur			Cape Canaveral LC-36A
		Pioneer Venus Multiprobe Bus	NASA/ARC	Heliocentric	Venus atmospheric probe	9 December 1978 20:22:55	Successful
		Pioneer Venus Large Probe	NASA/ARC	Heliocentric	Venus atmospheric probe	9 December 1978 19:39:53	Successful
		Pioneer Venus North Probe	NASA/ARC	Heliocentric	Venus atmospheric probe	9 December 1978 19:42:40	Successful
		Pioneer Venus Night Probe	NASA/ARC	Heliocentric	Venus atmospheric probe	9 December 1978 19:52:07	Successful
		Pioneer Venus Day Probe	NASA/ARC	Heliocentric	Venus atmospheric probe	9 December 1978 20:55:34	Successful
		Day Probe survived landing, sent data for an additional 67 minutes afterward. First American probe to send data from the surface of Venus.
12 August 14:12:00	Delta 2914			Cape Canaveral LC-17B
		First probe stationed at Sun/Earth L1 Lagrangian point. Later entered heliocentric orbit, encountering Comet Giacobini–Zinner on 11 September 1985. It would also study Halley's Comet from a distance in 1986.
		26 August 14:51:30	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5
	Soyuz 31			Low Earth (Salyut 6)	Salyut 6 EP-4	2 November 11:04	Successful
	Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, first East German in space
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → September
16 September 05:00	M-3H			Kagoshima Space Center LP-M		ISAS
		EXOS-B (Jikiken)	ISAS	Highly elliptical orbit	Magnetosphere research	23 April 2018	Successful
October
3 October 23:09:30	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 31/6
		Progress 4		Low Earth (Salyut 6)	Salyut 6 logistics	26 October 16:28	Successful

Deep Space Rendezvous

Date (GMT)	Spacecraft	Event	Remarks
4 December	Pioneer Venus Orbiter	Cytherocentric orbit insertion
9 December	Pioneer Venus Multiprobe	Venerian atmospheric entry	The bus, one large and three small subprobes
21 December	Venera 12	Venerian landing
25 December	Venera 11	Venerian landing

EVAs

Start Date/Time	Duration	End Time	Spacecraft	Crew	Remarks
29 July 04:00	2 hours 20 minutes	06:20	Salyut 6 PE-2	Vladimir Kovalyonok Aleksandr Ivanchenkov	Ivanchenkov retrieved samples and experiments attached to the outside of Salyut. Kovalyonok assisted with the retrievals and used a color television camera to transmit EVA images to the ground controllers.

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.
• "Space Calendar". NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
• "Space Information Center". JAXA.
• "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).

Generic references:
Spaceflight portal