An Air Force Thor/Able IV booster launched the NASA Pioneer V spacecraft on its journey to Venus. The satellite measured radiation and magnetic fields between Earth and Venus. The last scientific measurements were transmitted back to Earth on 26 June, three and one-half months after launch, from almost 22.5 million miles in space. Pioneer V was by far the most successful space probe yet launched. AFBMD and Space Technology Laboratories managed the Pioneer V satellite, payload, and booster for NASA and provided launch services at Cape Canaveral. Solar research. Solar Orbit (Heliocentric). Spacecraft engaged in research and exploration of the upper atmosphere or outer space (US Cat B).

The first launch of the Proton launch vehicle was not without problems. A leak in the oxidiser pipeline resulted in nitrogen tetroxide spilling on electrical wires. The question was: proceed with the launch or abort? Chelomei decided to go ahead, and on 16 July 1965 the first UR-500 successfully launched the Proton 1 satellite. In the first hours after launch specialists from OKB-52 could only receive signals in the first hours that indicated the satellite was 'alive'. However it later functioned normally and provided physics data on ultra-high-energy cosmic particles for 45 days.

At the first launch the rocket was called 'Gerkules' (other sources say 'Atlantis'), as indicated by the large symbol on the second stage skin. This name was however was not taken up.

The primary objective of GEOS-A was to provide global geodetic measurements for determining the positions of fiducial control points on the Earth to an accuracy of 10 meters in an Earth centre of mass co-ordinate system, and to determine the structure of the Earth's gravity field to 5 parts in 10 million. Instrumentation included (1) four optical beacons, (2) laser reflectors, (3) a radio range transponder, (4) Doppler beacons, and (5) a range and range rate transponder. These were designed to operate simultaneously to fulfil the objectives of locating observation points (geodetic control stations) in a three dimensional earth centre-of-mass co-ordinate system within 10 m of accuracy, of defining the structure of the earth's irregular gravitational field and refining the locations and magnitudes of the large gravity anomalies, and of comparing results of the various systems onboard the spacecraft to determine the most accurate and reliable system. In January 1967, a failure in the satellite's command system rendered several geodetic systems inoperable. Radio doppler measurements and the passive laser reflector experiment could continue indefinitely, however. Additional Details: here....

The geodetic instrumentation systems included (1) four optical beacons, (2) two C-band radar transponders, (3) a passive radar reflector, (4) a sequential collation of range radio range transponder, (5) a Goddard range and range rate transponder, (6) laser reflectors, and (7) Doppler beacons. Non-geodetic systems included a laser detector and a Minitrack interferometer beacon. The objectives of the spacecraft were to optimise optical station visibility periods and to provide complementary data for inclination-dependent terms established by the Explorer 29 (GEOS 1) gravimetric studies. The spacecraft was placed into a retrograde orbit to accomplish these objectives. Operational problems occurred in the main power system, optical beacon flash system, and the spacecraft clock, and adjustments in scheduling resulted in nominal operations.

Orbiting Astronomical Observatory; carried 11 telescopes; performed X-ray, UV, IR observations of stars. Spacecraft engaged in research and exploration of the upper atmosphere or outer space (US Cat B). Launch vehicle put payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit

A Titan IIIE/Centaur launched from Cape Canaveral boosted the United States-West German HELIOS spacecraft into heliocentric orbit as a solar probe to investigate the properties and processes of solar/terrestrial relationships. This was the first completely successful flight of the Titan IIIE/Centaur booster combination. Solar probe. Solar Orbit (Heliocentric). Launched by the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany. Helios A (Helios I). Heliocentric orbit 190 days, 0.309 x 0.985 AU x 0 deg. Exploration of the interplanetary space between the earth and the sun and study of solar influences on that area.

Geodynamics Experimental Ocean Satellite. The mission of GEOS 3 (Geodynamics Experimental Ocean Satellite) was to provide the stepping stone between the National Geodetic Satellite Program (NGSP) and the Earth and Ocean Physics Application Program. It provided data to refine the geodetic and geophysical results of the NGSP and served as a test for new systems. A major achievment was the flight of a radar altimeter. Further mission objectives: intercomparison of tracking systems, investigation of solid-earth dynamic phenomena through precision laser tracking, refinement of orbit determination techniques, determination of interdatum ties and gravity models, and support of the calibration and position determination of NASA Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (STDN) S-band tracking stations.

A Titan HIE carrying a West German Helios payload was successfully launched from LC-41, Eastern Test Range. Solar probe. Solar Orbit (Heliocentric). Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).

International Ultraviolet Explorer. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). Positioned in geosynchronous orbit over the Atlantic Ocean at 30 deg W in-60 deg W in 1978-1996 As of 3 September 2001 located at 35.66 deg E drifting at 0.773 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 8 located at 14.14W drifting at 0.700W degrees per day.

X-ray experiments. Astro-B (Tenma). Launch 0510 GMT. Launching organization: ISAS (Institute of Space and Astronautical Science). X-ray observation of X-ray stars in our galaxy as well as X-ray galaxies using a scintillating proportional counter, a transient X-ray source mo nitor, an X-ray foucsing collector, a radiation belt monitor, a gamma ray burst detector and a star sensor.

X-ray experiments. Launch time 1518 UT. Launching agency ESA. EXOSAT is a space research satellite of the European Space Agency. The scientific objectives of the EXOSAT mission are to measure the position, structural features, spectral and temporal characteristics of cosmic X-ray sources in the energy range from less than 0.1 keV to greater than 50 keV.

Spacecraft mission was research in the field of high-energy (gamma/x-ray) astrophysics conducted jointly with France and Poland. The satellite was based on the Soyuz manned spacecraft and had an extremely long gestation - conceived in 1965, authorised in 1976, scheduled originally for launch in 1984, but further severe technical delays resulted in a 1990 launch.

Deployed from STS 41 10/6/90; solar research. Ulysses is a scientific spacecraft, within the framework of the international solar/polar mission. It will be the first spacecraft to fly over the poles of the sun. Frequency 2111.6073/2293.1481 MHz, 8408.2099 MHz., interplanetary trajectory i nto a polar flyby over the sun. Designator ESA/90/01. Also registered by the United States in ST/SG/SER.E/250, orbital data are taken from that document.

Astrophysical laboratory for gamma ray observations; deployed from STS-37 4/7/91; renamed Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory was intentionally deorbited on by NASA over the objections of the scientific community on June 3, 2000. NASA decided to end the mission after several orientation gyroscope failures. They felt that if another gyroscope was lost, the heavy spacecraft might eventually reenter out of control.

Extreme Ultra-Violet Explorer; mapped galactic EUV sources. The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer was switched off on February 2, 2001. NASA decided to terminate funding for the mission, even though the spacecraft was still operating well. The sky survey was completed in January 1993 and after that the EUVE was used by guest astronomers for observations of specific targets. The final observations were made on January 26, 2001. After end-of-life tests of the never-used backup high voltage supplies and checking the remaining battery capacity, EUVE was stabilized pointing away from the Sun and sent into safehold at 2359 GMT on January 31. The transmitters were commanded off on February 2.

The High Energy Transient Experiment (HETE) was an international mission led by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Its prime objective was to carry out the first multiwavelength study of gamma ray bursts (GRBs) with UV, X-ray, and gamma ray instruments. A unique feature of the mission was its capability to localise bursts with several arcsecond accuracy, in near real-time aboard the spacecraft. These positions were to be transmitted to the ground, and picked up by a global network of primary and secondary ground stations (SGS), enabling sensitive follow-up studies. However the satellite was never released from its payload fitting. Although signals were received, the solar panels could not deploy, and it went silent after a few days when its batteries ran down. Air dropped in Wallops Island DZ.

NASA's third Small Explorer, the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE), was successfully launched by an Orbital Pegasus XL. The L-1011 carrier aircraft took off from Vandenberg and dropped the Pegasus over the Pacific Ocean. TRACE, a project led by Lockheed's solar physics group, carried a 30-cm extreme ultraviolet imaging telescope which will study the Sun. The telescope mirrors were made by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. TRACE had an 8.5 arcmin field of view and 1 arcsecond resolution. Air dropped in Point Arguello WADZ.

On December 3 the Orbital Sciences L-1011 Stargazer took off from Vandenberg AFB Runway 30/12 carrying a Pegasus XL launch vehicle with the SWAS satellite aboard. It reached the drop box at 36.0N 123.0W over the Pacific, but due to a software-related problem the range ordered the launch scrubbed and the L-1011 returned to base. After a further delay due to weather, the L-1011 took off at 23:58 GMT on December 5 and SWAS reached orbit and separated from the third stage at 01:09 GMT. SWAS, the Sub-millimetre Wave Astronomy Satellite, had a 0.6m telescope with a 490 to 550 GHz sub-millimetre receiver and an acousto-optical spectrometer. SWAS was used to study the cooling of molecular cloud cores, the sites of star formation in our galaxy, by measuring lines from molecular oxygen and water. Air dropped in Point Arguello WADZ.

NASA's long-delayed WIRE (Wide Field Infrared Explorer) astronomy satellite was the fifth Small Explorer (SMEX) mission managed by NASA-Goddard. The L-1011 Stargazer launch aircraft took off from Vandenberg's runway 30/12 at 01:55 GMT on March 2 for the first launch attempt. The planned 02:56 GMT launch was cancelled at T-46 seconds due to a problem with the tail fin release mechanism of the Pegasus XL launch vehicle. The second attempt was successful, with the Pegaus XL being dropped at 36 degrees N x 123 degrees W over the Pacific Ocean at 02:56 GMT. However the WIRE ran into serious trouble shortly after orbit injection. The cover of the solid hydrogen telescope ejected prematurely, and the cryogenic coolant evaporated and vented, spinning the satellite out of control. WIRE was going to make an infrared photometry survey, generating a large catalog of galaxies and quasars. Air dropped in Point Arguello WADZ.

The Delta 3-m payload fairing was successfully jettisoned and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer was placed in a 754 km x 769 km x 25.0 degree initial orbit. After separation the Delta second stage then a depletion burn and was left in a 182 x 915 km x 19.1 degree orbit from which it would quickly decay out of orbit. Checkout of FUSE in orbit was proceeding well as of July 1.

The Chandra Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility was one of NASA's four Great Observatories (along with Hubble Space Telescope, Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, and the SIRTF). Chandra will study the composition and nature of galaxies, stellar objects and interstellar phenomena as well as basic issues in theoretical physics using the most sensitive X-ray telescope ever built. The IUS under-performed and placed Chandra in an orbit about 900 km lower than planned. Therefore Chandra's own IPS propulsion system had to be used to make up the difference. The first such manoeuvre was at 01:11 GMT on July 25 when the IPS engines fired for 5 minutes to raise perigee to 1192 km. Further perigee burns on July 31, August 4, and August 7 raised the orbit to its final 10,000 km x 140.000 km. Additional Details: here....

Spacecraft was injected in very low perigee orbit and reentered. X-ray astronomy satellite. Stage 1 lost control, and separated with the rocket off-course at 75 seconds in the flight. Stage 2 burned correctly and separated at 218 seconds, followed by the third stage burn at 621 seconds. Last signals were received at 20 minutes after launch. ASTRO-E was to have separated from the third stage at 23 minutes, but ended in an orbit with a perigee of only 80 km and an apogee of 410 km. It probably reentered on the first orbit at around 0230 - 0300 GMT somewhere between East Africa and western China.

First orbital launch from Kwajalein. Second High Energy Transient Explorer; built by MIT using leftover parts from the first HETE. This failed to operate because of a Pegasus adapter failure during launch in November 1996. MIT operates the satellite, while the program is managed by NASA GSFC as an Explorer mission of opportunity. HETE's main instrument is FREGATE, the French Gamma Telescope, a hard X-ray spectrometer operating in the 6 to 400 keV energy range. This gamma ray burst detector, together with a Wide Field X-ray Monitor hard X-ray coded mask telescope, is used to trigger searches with the two Soft X-ray Imagers which have 33-arcsecond spatial resolution. This will let astronomers get precise locations for gamma-ray bursts, allowing detailed follow-up with optical instruments. The satellite is in a 595 x 636 km x 2.0 deg equatorial orbit, and sends data to a network of small ground terminals spaced around the equator. Air dropped in Kwajalein DZ.

Sweden's Odin scientific satellite carried a submillimeter wave astronomy instrument and a radiometer for atmospheric studies. The 1.1-meter reflector fed 500 GHz and 119 GHz radiometers and was used to study galactic molecular clouds, complementing NASA's SWAS satellite. The Odin satellite was designed and built by the Swedish Space Corporation (Svenska Rymdbolaget or Rymdaktiebolaget). SSC does most of its satellite design and construction in-house, although Saab made the antenna and carried out satellite final assembly. SSC was a goverment-owned company and a contractor for the Rymdstyrelsen (Swedish National Space Board).

NASA's Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) was placed in a 167 x 204 km x 28.8 deg parking orbit at 1958 GMT. At 2104 GMT the second stage ignited again for a 4 second burn, raising the orbit to around 181 x 308 km; the third stage spun up and ignited at 2108 GMT, accelerating MAP to a highly elliptical orbit of 182 x 292,492 km x 28.7 deg. MAP used on-board fuel to tweak the orbit and make a lunar flyby at fourth apogee on July 30, arriving at the L2 Earth-Moon Lagrangian point 1.5 million km from Earth three months later. From L2, MAP was to measure fluctuations in the cosmic 3 Kelvin microwave background with the degree of precision required to answer questions about the big bang and the total mass and fate of the universe. By July 22 the MAP probe was in a 4055 x 355,935 km x 28.0 deg orbit. It flew past the Moon on July 30 at 1639 GMT at an altitude of 5200 km above the lunar surface.

Launch delayed from July 25. Koronas-F was a Russian solar observatory that pointed toward Sun within 10 arc-minutes to conduct a variety of observations. In broad categories, it carried X-ray monitors to locate sources within 1 arc-sec, radio receivers to measure flux and polarization, and particle counters. Additional Details: here....

Launch delayed from February 10 and July 30. The Genesis probe flew to the Earth-Sun L1 Lagrangian point and spend two years collecting samples of the solar wind. The collected samples were to be physically returned to Earth in a sample return capsule (air-snatch recovery was planned over Utah) and analysed in ground-based laboratories. The first burn of the Delta second stage put Genesis in a 185 x 197 km x 28.5 deg parking orbit at 1624 GMT. At 1712 GMT a second burn raised the orbit to 182 x 3811 km, and at 1713 GMT the third stage fired to put Genesis on its trajectory to L1 with a nominal apogee of around 1.2 million km. By the first week of November 2001 Genesis arrived at the Earth-Sun L1 point. A malfunctioning thermal radiator caused some concern for the health of the sample return capsule's critical battery, which was overheating, but Genesis began collecting solar wind samples on schedule.

On September 8, 2004, the Genesis space probe became the first spacecraft to return from beyond lunar orbit to the Earth's surface. The Genesis Sample Return Capsule separated from the spacecraft on September 8, 66,000 km above the Earth. The capsule successfully re-entered the atmosphere over Oregon at 11 km/s, but a wiring error resulted in the drogue parachute release mortar failing to fire at 33 km altitude. The capsule crashed to earth at 90 m/s in the Dugway Proving Ground at 40 07 40 N 113 30 29 W. Although the vehicle was smashed, some of the samples could be retrieved.

TIMED was the first NASA Solar Terrestrial Probe, operated by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab to study the thermosphere, mesosphere and lower ionosphere. TIMED was built in-house at APL and had a mass of 587 kg; the project was managed at NASA-Goddard. It measured solar and auroral energy input, atmospheric cooling rates, and atmospheric composition, temperature and wind profiles.

Five minutes after deploying the JASON satellite, the DPAF adapter atop the Delta upper stage separated to reveal the TIMED satellite inside it. Burn 3 at 1614 GMT put Delta/TIMED in a descending 636 x 1330 km x 71.3 deg orbit; at perigee at 1706 GMT a fourth burn circularized the orbit at 627 x 640 km x 74.1 deg and TIMED was ejected six minutes later. A final depletion burn left the Delta stage in a low perigee orbit.

HESSI, the sixth Small Explorer, carried a rotating modulation collimator transform telescope, imaging solar flares in the hard X-ray spectrum. The launch marked the return to flight of Pegasus after the Hyper-X failure. The launch was originally to have occurred on 28 March 2001. The L-1011 launch aircraft took off at 19:29 GMT from the Cape Canaveral Skid Strip RW30/12, and headed out to the drop area at 28.0 N 78.5 W over the Atlantic. Drop of the Pegasus in the Atlantic Drop Zone at 28.0 N 78.5 W was at 20:58 GMT, with ignition 5 seconds later. The Pegasus reached orbit at 21:07 GMT. On the first pass it was confirmed that the solar panels had opened.

The satellite rotated at 15 rpm, imaging by reconstructing the Fourier components from the time modulation of the solar x-ray flux through a set of 9 grids each 9 cm in diameter. It was expected to make images with a resolution of 2 arcseconds at 40 keV energies and 36 arcseconds at 1 MeV energies. The launch delays meant that HESSI missed some of the best flares at solar max. Air dropped in Mayport DZ.

NASA awarded TRW a $824 million contract to build the Next Generation Space Telescope, redesignated the James Webb Space Telescope. TRW beat out Lockheed Martin, builder of the Hubble Space Telescope which the Webb was to replace. Launch of the 6-metre aperture telescope was not expected until 2010 at the earliest.

Ultraviolet space telescope. Much delayed launch (from January 19, May 19, July 16, 21 and 30, August 14 and October 17, 2002; January 27, March 25 and 30, April 15 and 26 2003). It was finally switched off on 28 June 2013, following an extra tenth year of observing funded by Caltech. Air dropped in Mayport DZ.

MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars) was a Canadian Space Agency project with a 0.15m telescope which would make photometric observations of stars down to mag 6 with 1 part per million accuracy in the 3500-7000 Angstrom band. Canada's tiny "humble space telescope", celebrated its tenth anniversary of operations in 2013.

Originally to have launched January 9, 2003. Delayed six times. The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) was the last of NASA's 'Great Observatories'. It had a 0.85-meter infrared telescope, with a liquid-helium cooled focal plane carrying the three main instruments. SIRTF was launched by the second Delta II Heavy. The second stage entered a 166 x 167 km x 31.5 deg Earth parking orbit, and after about 33 minutes of coast, passing south of Madagascar, restarted at 0613 UTC to enter a hyperbolic orbit with a perigee of 170 km, an eccentricity of 1.0061, and a velocity of 11.05 km/s. This placed it in a solar orbit of 0.996 x 1.019 AU x 1.14 deg with a year about 4 days longer than Earth's.

Gravity Probe B's mission was to confirm a prediction of Einstein's theory of relativity. The physics experiment, developed by Stanford University and Lockheed Martin, was to observe the magnitude 5 star IM Pegasi for over a year, attempting to measure the tiny shifts in the spacecraft gyroscopes' orientation caused by the Lense-Thirring gravitomagnetic (or `frame-dragging') effect. To accomplish this the spacecraft carried four gyroscopes kept at 1.8 deg Kelvin by a liquid helium dewar, laser retroreflectors and two GPS receivers for orbit determination, a drag compensation system, and a 14 cm aperture quartz telescope. The satellite was also to make an accurate measurement of the already-established gravitostatic warping of spacetime due to the Earth's mass.

Delayed from February, June 26, July 6 and 8, 2005. CUTE-1.7 nanosat mistakenly reported on this flight. Astro-E2 was renamed Suzaku (after a legendary red bird) after launch. It replaced the Astro-E, which never reached orbit due to an M-V-4 launch failure in 2000. The satellite had five 0.4-meter diameter X-ray telescopes, one with an XRS microcalorimeter and the other four with X-ray CCD cameras. However it was revealed that the XRS failed on 9 August due to leaking of helium coolant.

The booster was used to put the twin spacecraft in a 182 km x 403,810 km x 28.5 deg lunar transfer orbit. They would use a series of lunar flybys to eventually place themselves in two different solar orbits: Stereo Ahead in a 0.95 AU x 0.97 AU x 0.12 Deg / 344 day orbit around the Sun leading the Earth, and Stereo Behind in a 0.99 AU x 1.09 AU x 0.03 deg / 389 day orbit trailing the Earth. The satellites were equipped with optical, ultraviolet, radio, and particle sensors that would allow them to form a three-dimensional image of the sun's corona using identical sensors from two vantage points at the same moment.

Communications with the STEREO-B science craft in solar orbit had been lost on 2014 Oct 1 for unknown reasons; by 2016 it was assumed the mission had been lost, but on Aug 21 the big DSS-14 dish at Goldstone picked up a signal from it. This was great news for the heliophysics community, but attempts to recover full communications with the tumbling and underpowered spacecraft have met with mixed success, and as of Oct 11 recovery attempts were scaled back until STEREO-B drifts into a more favorable attitude and orbital position.

European COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits satellite, designed to detect transits of planets down to earth size as they pass in front of their stars, and convection currents on stellar surfaces. The satellite was to use its 27-cm-diameter telescope to scan 120,000 stars during its 30-month mission. This was the first flight of the Soyuz-2 booster with the improved RD-0124 third stage engine.

The PSLV-C8 launch vehicle flew for the first time in a light configuration with no strap-on motors and a Dual Launch Adapter. The Italian gamma-ray observatory satellite (Astrorivelatore Gamma ad Imagini Leggero) carried the GRID 0.3-200 MeV wide-field gamma ray camera and the Super-AGILE 15-45 keV detector hard X-ray detector.

Carried ten instruments to study in the sun throughout the electromagnetic spectrum, primarily Russian: Natalya-2M spectrometer; RT-2 gamma-telescope (India); Pingvin-M polarimeter; Konus-RF x-ray and gamma spectrometer; BRM x-ray detector; FOKA UV-detector; TESIS telescope/spectrometer with SphinX soft X-ray spectrophotometer (Poland); Electron-M-Peska charged particles analyser; STEP-F Electron and proton detector(Ukraine); SM-8M magnetometer. Follow-up to 2001 Koronas-F launch.

Used a 0.95-meter aperture differential photometer with a 105 deg2 field of view to constantly view 145,000 main-sequence stars, detecting planets orbiting around those stars when the planets passed in front of them, dimming them during transit. In its first three years of operation, Kepler detected over 2,000 possible planets, and it was determined that 5.4% of all stars host Earth-size planet candidates, and that 17% of all stars had planets.

Carried Far Infra Red and Submillimeter Telescope. After completing a successful mission, the spacecraft was sent into solar orbit and was deactivated. Herschel departed L2 on 1 April 2013 and was turned off on 17 June in a 1.04 AU x 1.06 AU x 0.19 deg inclination solar orbit.

Cosmic background radiation anisotropy satellite, carried a telescope with a primary mirror of 1.5 meter in size. Mission was to measure the fine structure of the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation over the whole sky, leading to a better understanding of conditions at the time of the big bang. After completing a successful mission, the spacecraft was sent into solar orbit and was deactivated. Planck departed L2 on 14 August 2013 and was turned off on 23 October in a 1.00 AU x 1.10 AU x 0.1 deg inclination solar orbit.

Wide Field Infrared Explorer astronomy satellite, designed to conduct an all-sky survey at infrared frequencies of 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 microns, detecting objects 100 times fainter than the earlier IRAS and Akari satellites. Primary instrument is a 40 cm telescope cooled to 12 K by a cryostat filled with solid hydrogen. The survey was expected to detect tens of thousands of new asteroids, brown dwarf stars, and planets orbiting nearby stars.

Solar Dynamics Observatory. The Centaur AV-021 upper stage moved from an initial 175 km x 3706 km x 28.7 deg parking orbit to a 2480 km x 35369 km x 28.6 deg transfer orbitand then released the satellite, which used its own R4D thruster to reach geosynchronous orbit.

NASA Small Explorer program; the IRIS Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph was designed to obtain high resolution (0.3 arcseconds) high cadence (1 second intervals) imaging and spectra of the sun with its 20-cm telescope, in two far-UV bands (1332-1358A, 1380-1406A) and one near-UV band (2785-2835A). Air dropped in Point Mugu Drop Zone.

Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognition of Interaction of Atmosphere; carryied a 0.20-meter silicon carbide mirror with an extreme ultraviolet spectrometer observing in the 550 to 1450 Angstrom range, used to study the exospheres of planets in our solar system. First launch of Japan's Epsilon solid propellant launch vehicle.

Satellite built by KAIST of South Korea, with the MIRIS infrared astronomy experiment (an 8 cm telescope operating at 0.9-2 microns with a 4 degree field of view for spectroscopy of diffuse extended emission), as well as earth imaging and technology payloads.

European Space Agency Gaia spacecraft to measure the three-dimensional positions and velocities of galactic stars, placed in Lagrangian Point 2. As Gaia rotated, a gigapixel detector array consisting of a complex arrangement of mirrors, CCD's, and photometers measured stellar positions, brightness and color; and Doppler shifts of stars with unprecedented accuracy. The Gaia catalog, when it is available in the 2020's, was expected to put the whole field of astrophysics on a firmer footing. Soyuz ST-B with upper stage Fregat-MT No. 1039 from Kourou-Sinnamary. The Fregat upper stage separated from the Soyuz booster at suborbital velocity. It then made a first burn to a 175 x 175 km parking orbit, then reignited for a 16-minute burn from 09:33 GMT to propel Gaia to a 344 km x 962,690 km x 15.0 deg orbit, on its way to the Sun-Earth L2 point. Gaia fired its own propulsion system of 6 10-N thrusters to raise apogee to around 1.5 million km towards midnight; after a few weeks it entered a Lissajous orbit around the L2 point and began observations. Gaia's data will take years to process and was to result in the best yet catalog of galactic stars.

The spacecraft was intended to rendezvous with asteroid 1999 JU3, survey it from orbit, touch down briefly to sample the surface, and return samples to Earth. Launched into a 0.915 AU x 1.089 AU x 6.8 deg solar orbit. Five small, beanbag-like 'target markers' could be ejected onto the surface in advance to help guide the vehicle. Hayabusa-2 also carried three 1 kg class lander/hopper devices, Minerva II-1a, II-1b and II-2, which were to be ejected onto the surface, together with a 10 kg German-built lander called MASCOT. Hayabusa-2 was also to eject a 'Self-Contained Impactor' (SCI) device onto the surface. As the parent spacecraft moved off to the side it would further eject the DCAM-3 camera subsatellite, which would monitor detonation of SCI's high explosive, intended to ram the SCI's body into the asteroid and generate an artificial crater.

Small spacecraft experiment to test interplanetary navigation with an ion engine. As of May 2015 the mission plan to perform an Earth swingby followed by flyby of asteroid 2000 DP107 had been abandoned following malfunction of its ion engine. The probe, in solar orbit, continued to make scientific measurements with its ultraviolet camera. Procyon was originally in a 0.9 x 1.1 AU x 6.8 deg solar orbit.

India's first space astronomy observatory. The satellite carried near and far ultraviolet telescopes, a large X-ray proportional counter array, a soft-X-ray imaging telescope, a hard X-ray coded mask telescope, and a monitor to detect flaring X-ray sources.

China launched the Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE), given the postlaunch name Wukong ('Monkey King'). DAMPE was a Chinese Academy of Sciences particle physics experiment with a bismuth-germanium oxide calorimeter, and will study electrons, gamma rays and cosmic rays in the GeV to TeV energy range. The satellite has a mass of 1900 kg.

ASTRO-H X-ray astronomy observatory rode H2A No. 30 to a low Earth orbit. It carried an array of five X-ray telescopes. Hitomi suffered a major anomaly on Mar 25 while observing the quasar Markarian 205. At 1910 UTC the satellite started tumbling and then at 0140 UTC Mar 26 the spacecraft partly disintegrated. US tracking found eleven debris objects in orbit. During the next scheduled pass at 0740 UTC, JAXA received only a short burst from the radio beacon and nothing more; three more such beacon detections were obtained up to Mar 28, when the spacecraft fell silent. Ground-based optical observations showed that at least two of the debris objects, 2016-012A and 012L, were bright and tumbling several times a minute. 2016-012A was probably the main spacecraft bus. It's possible that 2016-012L was the extensible optical bench with the HXI cameras, or part of the solar panels.

Lomonosov (Mikhailo-Lomonosov-300) science satellite was orbited from the new Vostochniy spaceport. The old GIK-2 (2nd State Test Cosmodrome) at Svobodniy was shut down in 2007; its reopening as Vostochniy marks a planned shift away from the Kazakhstan launch site of Baikonur. Lomonosov's main experiment, TUS, was an ultraviolet camera to observe the flashes from cosmic rays hitting the Earth's upper atmosphere. 2314LT SSO.

Asteroid sample return mission launched by a ULA Atlas V. The model 411 vehicle, serial AV-067, injected O-REx on a hyperbolic trajectory; the probe entered a 0.77 x 1.17 AU heliocentric orbit on Sep 12. OSIRIS-REx had a mass of 834 kg, and carried 1230 kg of propellant and a 46 kg sample return capsule identical to the one used by the Stardust mission. OSIRIS-REx was to make an Earth flyby in Sep 2017 to change its orbit to 0.90 x 1.35 AU x 6.4 deg, allowing it to rendezvous with asteroid (101955) Bennu in Aug 2018. The spacecraft was to sample the asteroid and return to Earth in 2023.

Second launch of the small solid-fuel CZ-11 launch vehicle from Jiuquan. It carried the 240 kg Maichong Xing Shiyan Weixing (Pulse Star Experimental Satellite) which will test the concept of navigation using the signals from X-ray millisecond pulsars. These compact stars spin hundreds of times a second and the X-ray flashes from their magnetic poles swishing past us at that high rate can be used as a very accurate clock, the key component of a GPS-like navigation system. The concept was developed some years ago by the NRL team and it was hoped to use it in future US space systems. The launch also carried four cubesat-class payloads.