1972 in spaceflight

1972 in spaceflight
Launch of Saturn V with the final Apollo mission to the Moon
Orbital launches
First12 January
Last28 December
Total113
Successes105
Failures7
Partial failures1
Catalogued106
Rockets
Maiden flightsDelta 0100
Delta 1000
RetirementsDelta L
Delta N
M-4S
Thorad-Agena
1972 in spaceflight

1972 saw humanity's last crewed mission to the Moon of the 20th century, Apollo 17.

Launches

Date and time (UTC) Rocket Flight number Launch site LSP
Payload Operator Orbit Function Decay (UTC) Outcome
Remarks

January

January 12
09:59 		Voskhod Baikonur, LC-31/6 RVSN
Kosmos 471 (Zenit 4M/Rotor) GRU Low Earth orbit Reconnaissance January 25, 1972 Successful
January 20
18:36 		Titan IIID Vandenberg AFB, SLC-4E
KH-9 2 (Hexagon 2) USAF LEO Reconnaissance 29 February 1972 Successful
Mabeli (OPS 7719) USAF LEO ELINT 17 April 1979 Successful
January 23
00:12 		Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D AC-28 Cape Canaveral, LC-36B
Intelsat 4 F-4 Intelsat Geosynchronous Communications In orbit Successful
25 January
11:15 		Kosmos-2 Plesetsk, Site 133/1 RVSN
Kosmos 472 (DS-P1-Yu No. 52) RVSN LEO Radar calibration 18 August 1972 Successful
January 31
17:20 		Delta L D-87 Vandenberg AFB, SLC-2E
HEOS 2 ESRO High eccentricity LEO/HEO Particle and field research August 2, 1974 Successful
Final flight of Delta L

February

8 February
05:59[2] 		K63D Vladimirovka test range, near Kapustin Yar
BOR-2 No.104 Suborbital Re-entry test for Spiral program 8 February Successful
Subscale model of the Spiral spaceplane.[1] Apogee: 100 km
February 14
03:27 		Proton-K/Blok D (8K82K) Baikonur, LC-81/24 RVSN
Luna 20 Lunar Lunar sample return February 21, 1972 (at Moon) Successful

March

March 3
01:49 		Atlas SLV-3C Centaur/Star 37E AC-27 Cape Canaveral, LC-36A
Pioneer 10 NASA Heliocentric to Solar Escape Jupiter flyby In orbit Successful
First spacecraft to cross asteroid belt. First flyby of Jupiter. First probe to leave Solar System
March 12
01:55 		Delta N D-88 Vandenberg AFB, SLC-2E
TD-1A ESRO LEO Technology research January 9, 1980 Successful
Final flight of Delta N
March 24
08:46 		Thor-LV2F Burner-2A Vandenberg AFB, SLC-10W US Air Force
DMSP 5B F2 US Air Force LEO Weather satellite In orbit Successful
March 27
04:15 		Molniya-M/MVL Baikonur Cosmodrome, 31/6 Soviet Union
Venera 8 USSR Heliocentric to Venus Venus lander July 22, 1972 (on Venus) Successful

April

April 16
17:45 		Saturn V Kennedy, LC-39A NASA
Apollo 16 CSM "Casper" NASA Lunar Crewed lunar orbiter April 27, 1972 Successful
Apollo 16 lunar module "Orion" NASA Lunar Crewed lunar lander April 20, 1972
14:23 (at Moon)		 Successful
Apollo 16 Subsatellite NASA Lunar Lunar particles research May 29, 1972 (at Moon) Partial failure
Crewed spaceflight to the Moon with 3 astronauts. Subsatellite placed in wrong orbit, shorter lifespan than planned
April 19
21:43 		Thorad Agena-D SLV-2H Vandenberg AFB, SLC-3W US Air Force
KH-4B 1116 USAF LEO Reconnaissance May 12, 1972 Successful

May

May 25
18:41 		Thorad Agena-D SLV-2H Vandenberg AFB, SLC-3W US Air Force
KH-4B 1117 USAF LEO Reconnaissance June 4, 1972
Final flight of Thorad-Agena

June

June 13
21:53 		Atlas SLV-3C Centaur AC-29 Cape Canaveral, LC-36B
Intelsat 4 F-5 Intelsat Geosynchronous Communications In orbit Successful
June 26
14:53 		Soyuz (11A511) Baikonur, LC-1/5 RVSN
Kosmos 496 (Soyuz 7K-T) LEO Test redesigned Soyuz 7K-T spacecraft July 2, 1972 Successful

July

July 23
18:41 		Delta 0900 D-89 Vandenberg AFB, SLC-2W
Landsat 1 NASA LEO Earth resources satellite In orbit Successful
Maiden flight of Delta 0100 series

August

10 August
00:32 		Feng Bao 1 701-02 Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, LA-2B (Site 138)
Shiyan Peizhong Suborbital Test flight T+90 seconds Successful
First suborbital test flight of Feng Bao 1, apogee: 200 km.
13 August
15:10 		Scout D-1 Wallops Flight Facility, LA-3
Explorer 46 (MTS) NASA LEO Meteoroid research 2 November 1979 Successful
August 19
02:40 		M-4S Kagoshima Space Center, LP-M NASDA
Denpa (REXS) ISAS Highly elliptical orbit Magnetosphere research 19 May 1980 Spacecraft failure
Final flight of M-4S. The satellite stopped transmitting several days after launch, due to high voltage arcing
August 21
10:28 		Atlas SLV-3C Centaur AC-22 Cape Canaveral, LC-36B
OAO 3 NASA LEO Ultraviolet astronomy In orbit Successful
Final flight of Atlas SLV-3C Centaur

September

September 23
01:20 		Delta 1604 (1604) D-90 Cape Canaveral, LC-17B
Explorer 47 NASA HEO Magnetosphere research In orbit Successful
Maiden flight of Delta 1000 series. Maiden flight of Extended Long-Tank Thor stage

October

October 2
20:09 		Atlas F Burner II Vandenberg AFB, BMRS-A1 US Air Force
OPS 8180 (RADCAT) USAF LEO Radar calibration 2 August 2012 Successful
Radsat USAF LEO Gamma radiation research In orbit Successful
October 15
17:19 		Delta 0300 D-91 Vandenberg AFB, SLC-2W
NOAA 2 (ITOS-B) NOAA LEO Weather satellite In orbit Successful
AMSAT-OSCAR 6 AMSAT LEO Amateur radio In orbit Successful

November

November 9
03:23 		Thor Burner II Vandenberg AFB, SLC-10W US Air Force
DMSP 5B F3 USAF LEO Weather In orbit Successful
November 10
01:14 		Delta 1914 D-92 Cape Canaveral, LC-17B
Anik A1 Telesat Geosynchronous Communications In orbit Successful

December

December 7
05:33 		Saturn V Kennedy, LC-39A NASA
Apollo 17 CSM "America" NASA Lunar Crewed lunar orbiter December 19, 1971 Successful
Apollo 17 lunar module "Challenger" NASA Lunar Crewed lunar lander December 14, 1971 (at Moon) Successful
Crewed spaceflight to the Moon with 3 astronauts. Final flight of Apollo program.
December 11
07:56 		Delta 0900 D-93 Vandenberg AFB, SLC-2W
Nimbus 5 NASA LEO Environmental research In orbit Successful
December 16
11:24 		Scout D-1 Vandenberg AFB, SLC-5 NASA
Aeros 1 NASA/BMwF In orbit Successful
December 20
22:20 		Atlas SLV-3A Agena-D Cape Canaveral, LC-13 US Air Force
OPS 9390 Canyon 5 USAF Geosynchronous SIGINT In orbit Successful

Launches from the Moon

Date and time (UTC) Rocket Flight number Launch site LSP
Payload
(⚀ = CubeSat) 		Operator Orbit Function Decay (UTC) Outcome
Remarks
22 February
22:58 		Luna 20 Ascent stage Terra Apollonius (Luna)
Luna 20 Return capsule Highly elliptical Sample return 25 February Successful
Second uncrewed lunar sample return mission
24 April
01:25:47 		Lunar Module Ascent Stage Descartes Highlands (Luna) NASA
Apollo 16 LM NASA Selenocentric (CSM) Crewed Unknown Successful
Carrying two astronauts back to CSM after lunar landing
14 December
22:54:37 		Lunar Module Ascent Stage Taurus-Littrow (Luna) NASA
Apollo 17 LM NASA Selenocentric (CSM) Crewed 15 December
06:50		 Successful
Carrying two astronauts back to CSM after lunar landing

Deep space rendezvous in 1972

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 2009-10-05. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  • 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

  1. ^ Krebs, Gunter Dirk. "BOR-2". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
  2. ^ Wade, Mark. "K63D". www.astronautix.com. Retrieved 2024-08-12.


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