2016 in spaceflight

Overview

Russia inaugurated the far-Eastern Vostochny Cosmodrome on 28 April 2016 with a traditional Soyuz-2.1a flight, before expanding it for the Angara rocket family in the following years. The Chinese Long March 7 flew its maiden flight from the new Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island on 25 June, and the maiden flight of the Long March 5 took place on 3 November. Two years after its 2014 accident, the Antares rocket returned to flight on 17 October with its upgraded 230 version featuring the Russian RD-181 engine.

After many failed attempts, SpaceX began landing its Falcon 9 first stages on autonomous spaceport drone ships, edging closer to their long-stated goal of developing reusable launch vehicles. The company indicated that the recovered engines and structures did not suffer significant damage. One of the landed boosters, B1021, launched in April 2016, was flown again in March 2017; two others were converted to side boosters for the maiden flight of Falcon Heavy.

The ExoMars mission, a collaboration between the European and Russian space agencies, was launched on 14 March and reached Mars on 19 October. Dedicated to astrobiology investigations, this flight carried the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, which reached Mars orbit, and the Schiaparelli EDM lander, which crashed upon landing. A subsequent flight scheduled for 2020 will carry the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover along with four static surface instruments. Meanwhile, the Japanese space probe Akatsuki started its observations of Venus in May after spending five months gradually adjusting its orbit. Planetary exploration activities took center stage with the orbit insertion of NASA's Juno probe at Jupiter on 4 July, followed by the launch of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid 101955 Bennu on 8 September. Finally, on 30 September, the Rosetta probe executed a slow crash-landing on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

Human spaceflights included the return of Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko in March after a yearlong mission on the ISS, the longest-ever continuous stay by astronauts at the station. Kelly also set the record for the longest-duration stay of an American in orbit. Four ISS Expeditions numbered 47 to 50 were launched in 2016, the first one using the last Soyuz TMA-M spacecraft and the next three inaugurating the modernized Soyuz MS. Expedition 50 will continue into 2017. Several EVAs were performed to maintain the exterior of the ISS. The experimental BEAM inflatable habitat was attached to the ISS on 16 April and expanded on 28 May to begin two years of on-orbit tests. Meanwhile, China launched its new Tiangong-2 space laboratory in September, which was first visited by two astronauts for a month between 19 October and 17 November.

Orbital launches

January

|-

February

|-

|d-date = 30 June 2023

March

|-

|d-date = 17 October 2023

|d-date = 19 October 2016

|d-date = 7 September 2016 |d-time = 01:13

Cubesats deployed from the ISS and the Cygnus spacecraft at a later date. S.S. Rick Husband |d-date = 22 June 2016 |d-time = 13:29 |d-date = 6 April 2020 |d-time = First: 3 October 2017 Last: 10 November 2018 |d-date = First: 27 February 2017 Last: 7 April 2017

|d-date = 14 October 2016 |d-time = 13:39 |d-date = 20 October 2019

April

|- |d-date = 18 April 2016 |d-time = 08:30

|d-date = 11 May 2016 |d-time = 18:31

|d-date = 8 September 2023 |d-date = 9 May 2024 |d-date = 14 March 2024

|d-date = 16 December 2023 |d-date = 15 April 2024 |d-date = 4 March 2022

May

|-

(Aleph-1 constellation)

June

|-

|d-date = First: 20 October 2022 Last: 28 March 2023

Flight test |d-date = 26 June 2016 |d-time = 07:41 |d-date = 29 September 2016 |d-date = 27 August 2016 |d-date = 27 August 2016 |d-date = 24 August 2016

|d-date =

July

|- |d-date = 30 October 2016 |d-time = 03:58

|d-date = 1 February 2017 |d-time = 18:24

|d-date = 26 August |d-time = 15:47

August

|-

|d-date = 19 August 2016 |d-date = 18 December 2023

|d-date = 31 August 2016

September

|- |d-date = N/A

|d-date = 19 July 2019 |d-time = 13:06 |d-date = 15 July 2019

|d-date = 21 April 2022

October

|-

|d-date = 18 November 2016 |d-time = 06:15

|d-date = 27 November 2016 |d-time = 23:36

|d-date = 10 April 2017 |d-time = 11:20

November

|- |d-date =

|d-date = 30 November 2021 |d-time = 05:20

|d-date = 2 June 2017

December

|-

|d-date = 1 December

|d-date =

|d-date = 5 February 2017 |d-time = 15:06 |d-date = 15 May 2017 |d-date = 8 September 2017 |d-date = 1 November 2018 |d-date = 3 March 2018 |d-date = 5 February 2017 |d-date = 3 January 2019 |d-date = 6 October 2018 |d-date = 11 January 2018 |d-date = 18 October 2017 |d-date = 29 July 2017 |d-date = First: 15 April 2018 Last: 5 December 2018

|d-date =

Operational Operational Successful |d-date = 18 February 2017

|}

Suborbital flights

|d-date = 15 January

|d-date = 22 January

|d-date = 23 January

|d-date = 28 January

|d-date = 28 January

|d-date = 2 February

|d-date= 21 February

|d-date = 22 February

|d-date= 26 February

|d-date = 1 March

|d-date = 7 March |d-date = 7 March |d-date = 7 March

|d-date = 7 March

|d-date = 8 March

|d-date= 14 March

|d-date = 14 March

|d-date = 15 March

|d-date = 16 March

|d-date = 31 March

|d-date = 2 April |d-date = 2 April |d-date = 2 April

|d-date = 19 April

|d-date = 26 April

|d-date = 18 May

|d-date = 18 May

|d-date = 25 May

|d-date = 26 May

|d-date = 1 June

|d-date = 19 June |d-date = 19 June |d-date = 19 June |d-date = 19 June |d-date = 21 June |d-date = 24 June

|d-time = 30 June

|d-date = ? June

|d-date = 1 July

|d-time = 8 July

|d-date = 11 July

|d-date = 19 July

|d-date = 27 July

|d-date = 17 August |d-date = 23 August |d-date = 25 August

|d-date = 31 August |d-date = 5 September |d-date = 5 September |d-date = 5 September |d-date= 5 September

|d-date = 9 September

|d-date = 27 September

|d-date = 27 September

|d-date = 5 October

|d-date = 12 October

|d-date = 12 October

|d-date = 12 October

|d-date = 25 October

|d-date= 22 November

|d-date = 6 December

|d-date = 8 December

|d-date = 8 December

|d-date = 15 December

|d-date = 15 December

|d-date = 26 December

|}

Deep space rendezvous

Extra-vehicular activities (EVAs)

Space debris events

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.

| [ {"value":220, "color":"#ff0000", "label": "China: 22 (25.88%)"}, {"value":220, "color":"#484785", "label": "United States: 22 (25.88%)"}, {"value":190, "color":"#a52a2a", "label": "Russia: 19 (22.35%)"}, {"value":70, "color":"#ff9933", "label": "India: 7 (8.24%)"}, {"value":70, "color":"#318ce7", "label": "France: 7 (8.24%)"}, {"value":40, "color":"#ffffff", "label": "Japan: 4 (4.70%)"}, {"value":20, "color":"#808000", "label": "Italy: 2 (2.35%)"}, {"value":10, "color":"#ffc0cb", "label": "North Korea: 1 (1.18%)"}, {"value":10, "color":"#008080", "label": "Israel: 1 (1.18%)"}, ]

By rocket

By family

By type

By configuration

By spaceport

By orbit

(transfer) : Inclined GSO : High Earth : Heliocentric

References

Notes Citations

References

1. . (14 October 2015). ["Путин разрешил перенести первый запуск с "Восточного""](https://tvrain.ru/news/putin_razreshil_perenes_pervyj_zapusk_s_vostochnogo-396247/). *Телеканал Дождь*.
2. Payer, Markus. (30 August 2016). "Leading satellite operator will be world's first company to launch a geostationary satellite on a reusable rocket in Q4 2016". [[SES S.A.]].
3. Graham, William. (30 March 2017). "SpaceX conducts historic Falcon 9 re-flight with SES-10 – Lands booster again". [[NASASpaceFlight.com]].
4. Bergin, Chris. (25 April 2017). "SpaceX Static Fire spy sat rocket and prepare to test Falcon Heavy core". [[NASASpaceFlight.com]].
5. Chang, Kenneth. (19 October 2016). "ExoMars Mission to Join Crowd of Spacecraft at Mars". [[The New York Times]].
6. Chang, Kenneth. (14 March 2016). "Mars Mission Blasts Off From Kazakhstan". [[The New York Times]].
7. Clark, Steven. (17 May 2016). "Japanese orbiter officially begins science mission at Venus". Spaceflight Now.
8. Clark, Stephen. (2 July 2016). "Scientists to land, and switch off, Rosetta comet probe in September". Spaceflight Now.
9. Gannon, Megan. (30 September 2016). "Goodbye, Rosetta! Spacecraft Crash-Lands on Comet in Epic Mission Finale". Space.com.
10. "Long March 3B/E - Belintersat 1". Next Spaceflight.
11. "Falcon 9 Block 2 (v1.1) - Jason-3". Next Spaceflight.
12. "SpaceX on Twitter: "After further data review, stage landed softly but leg 3 didn't lockout. Was within 1.3 meters of droneship center"". [[Twitter]].
13. "PSLV-XL - IRNSS-1E". Next Spaceflight.
14. "Ariane 5 ECA - Intelsat 29e". Next Spaceflight.
15. (2019-04-18). "Dianne VanBeber on Twitter: "Today at 4:00 Intelsat confirmed that Intelsat 29e is a total loss. We are still actively restoring customer services to Intelsat and third party capacity; implications not yet settled. Financial discussion in our 1Q (2019) earnings call"". [[Twitter]].
16. "Proton-M/Briz-M - Eutelsat 9B". Next Spaceflight.
17. "Long March 3C/E/YZ-1 - BeiDou-3 M3S". Next Spaceflight.
18. "Atlas V 401 - GPS IIF-12 (USA-266)". Next Spaceflight.
19. (2016-02-02). "North Korea plans satellite launch this month - World - CBC News".
20. (30 June 2023). "KMS-4". N2YO.com.
21. Krebs, Gunter. "NROL launches". Gunter's Space Page.
22. (28 April 2016). "Operation Plan of X-ray Astronomy Satellite ASTRO-H (Hitomi)". [[JAXA]].
23. (3 May 2016). "Japan abandons costly X-ray satellite lost in space". [[Pacific Daily News]].
24. Erwin, Sandra. (6 November 2023). "LeoLabs data shows on-orbit maneuvers by Russian satellites". [[SpaceNews]].
25. (17 October 2023). "RESURS P3". N2YO.com.
26. (31 March 2016). "Atlas V OA-6 Anomaly Status". [[United Launch Alliance]].
27. "DIWATA-1". N2YO.com.
28. (3 October 2017). "FLOCK 2EP 7". N2YO.com.
29. (10 November 2018). "FLOCK 2EP 15". N2YO.com.
30. (27 February 2017). "LEMUR 2 NATE". N2YO.com.
31. (7 April 2017). "LEMUR 2 KANE". N2YO.com.
32. (17 August 2017). "Russian Cosmonauts Deploy Satellites".
33. (20 October 2019). "TOMSK-TPU 120". N2YO.com.
34. (3 August 2022). "Mission ends for Copernicus Sentinel-1B satellite". ESA.
35. (8 September 2023). "AAUSAT-4". N2YO.com.
36. "E-ST@R-II". N2YO.com.
37. "OUFTI-1". N2YO.com.
38. (16 December 2023). "MVL 300". N2YO.com.
39. "AIST 2D". N2YO.com.
40. (4 March 2022). "SAMSAT 218D". N2YO.com.
41. (26 December 2020). "Новейший "Глонасс-К" сменит вышедший из строя аппарат, рассказал источник". [[RIA Novosti]].
42. Barbosa, Rui C.. (29 May 2016). "Chinese Long March 4B lofts satellites for Ziyuan-3 and Aleph-1 programs". NASASpaceflight.com.
43. "Launches of June 2016". N2YO.com.
44. Justin Ray. "Navy satellite claws its way to usable orbit after main engine failure – Spaceflight Now".
45. (25 June 2016). "长征七号首飞成功 携带多用途飞船缩比返回舱".
46. (30 July 2016). "NROL-61 satellite launched Thursday spotted in space by sky-watchers". Spaceflight Now.
47. (19 August 2016). "LX-1". N2YO.com.
48. (18 December 2023). "3CAT-2". N2YO.com.
49. Stephen Clark. "Intelsat satellite in service after overcoming engine trouble – Spaceflight Now".
50. Godwin, Curt. (1 September 2016). "SpaceX set to launch heaviest payload to date as Tropical Storm Hermine looms". SpaceFlight Insider.
51. Malik, Tariq. (1 September 2016). "Launchpad Explosion Destroys SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket, Satellite in Florida". [[Space.com]].
52. Graham, William. (13 September 2016). "Israel launches Ofek spy satellite – officials confirm malfunctions". nasaspaceflight.com.
53. Jones, Andrew. (19 July 2019). "China's Tiangong-2 space lab reenters over South Pacific". [[SpaceNews]].
54. "BANXING-2".
55. (2021). "OSI SAF ScatSat-1 OSCAT Wind Products". [[Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.
56. (21 April 2022). "CANX-7". N2YO.com.
57. Clark, Colin. (18 April 2018). "China Satellite SJ-17, Friendly Wanderer?". Breaking Defense.
58. Roberts, Thomas G.. (31 March 2021). "Unusual Behavior in GEO: SJ-17". [[Center for Strategic and International Studies]].
59. Barbosa, Rui C.. (9 November 2016). "Second launch for Long March 11 – lofts five satellites". [[NASASpaceFlight]].
60. Krebs, Gunter. "XPNAV 1". Gunter's Space Page.
61. Krebs, Gunter. "Xiaoxiang 1". Gunter's Space Page.
62. (7 January 2019). "DigitalGlobe loses WorldView-4 satellite to gyro failure". [[SpaceNews]].
63. (1 December 2021). "The Worldview-4 commercial imaging satellite reentered over New Zealand at about 0520 UTC Nov 30. It was launched in 2016 but its imager failed in early 2019.".
64. (16 January 2017). "Successful deployment of six CubeSats delivered by KOUNOTORI6". JAXA.
65. (20 January 2017). "TuPOD successfully deployed its two onboard TubeSats". GAUSS Srl.
66. (6 March 2017). "NanoRacks on Twitter: "Successful #cubesat deployment early this morning at 10:25:01 GMT of two @SpireGlobal #Lemurs from the #NRCSD on @Space_Station"". NanoRacks.
67. (7 March 2017). "NanoRacks on Twitter: "Another successful deployment! Two more @SpireGlobal #Lemurs deployed at 15:05:00 GMT from the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer on #ISS"". NanoRacks.
68. (7 March 2017). "NanoRacks on Twitter: "Deployment cycle complete! @NASAAmes #TechEdSat5 deployed from @Space_Station @ 18:20:00 GMT. Thanks to all who made this mission a success!"". NanoRacks.
69. "EGG". N2YO.com.
70. "TUPOD". N2YO.com.
71. "AOBA-VELOX 3". N2YO.com.
72. "STARS-C". N2YO.com.
73. "FREEDOM". N2YO.com.
74. link. Yui Project, University of Tsukuba. (6 January 2019)
75. "WASEDA-SAT3". N2YO.com.
76. "OSNSAT". N2YO.com.
77. "TANCREDO 1". N2YO.com.
78. "TECHEDSAT 5". N2YO.com.
79. "LEMUR 2 TRUTNA". N2YO.com.
80. "LEMUR 2 REDFERN-GOES". N2YO.com.
81. "About Epsilon Launch Vehicle". [[JAXA]].
82. "TanSat (Chinese Carbon Dioxide Observation Satellite Mission)". eoPortal.org.
83. Jeff Foust. (2016-12-30). "Chinese satellites raising orbits after launch anomaly".
84. "BY70-1". N2YO.com.
85. link. [[JAXA]]. (15 January 2016)
86. Berger, Brian. (23 January 2016). "Launch. Land. Repeat: Blue Origin posts video of New Shepard's Friday flight". Space News.
87. Koehler, Keith. (1 March 2016). "MUSIC Successfully Launched from NASA Wallops". NASA.
88. (9 April 2016). "Maiden Test of Undersea K-4 Missile From Arihant Submarine".
89. Foust, Jeff. (2 April 2016). "Blue Origin flies New Shepard on suborbital test flight". Space News.
90. "The CNS North Korea Missile Test Database".
91. (8 November 2016). "Flashback to the Past: North Korea's "New" Extended-Range Scud".
92. (2016-01-13). "Skimming Phobos | Mars Express".
93. "Cassini Solstice Mission: Saturn Tour Dates: 2016". [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]].
94. (16 December 2016). "The top 15 events that happened in space in 2016". TechCrunch.
95. (27 August 2016). "NASA's Juno Successfully Completes Jupiter Flyby". NASA.
96. William Harwood. (2016-10-20). "ESA Mars lander Schiaparelli failed in "soft landing" but data sent back may be worth it". [[CBS News]].
97. (21 October 2016). "Likely Schiaparelli crash site imaged by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter". [[The Planetary Society]].
98. Lakdawalla, Emily. (9 June 2016). "What to expect from JunoCam at Jupiter".
99. "Juno to delay planned burn | The Planetary Society".
100. (2016-07-04). "NASA's Juno Mission to Remain in Current Orbit at Jupiter | NASA".
101. Garcia, Mark. (2016-01-15). "Spacewalk Ends Early After Water Detected in Helmet | Space Station".
102. Garcia, Mark. (2016-02-03). "Second Spacewalk of Year Complete | Space Station".
103. (19 August 2016). "Spacewalk Concludes After Commercial Crew Port Installation". [[NASA]].
104. (19 August 2016). "First Commercial Crew Docking Port established aboard ISS in challenging Spacewalk". Spaceflight101.
105. (22 August 2016). "NASA TV to Air U.S. Spacewalk, Briefing | NASA".
106. Gruss, Mike. (29 March 2016). "U.S. Air Force: No evidence malfunctioning Japanese satellite was hit by debris". Space News.
107. (1 April 2016). "10 pieces from Astro-H break-up is posted on @SpaceTrackOrg. 41337 was amended to match the largest piece. The former 41337 is now 41442.".
108. (2 April 2016). "New Orbital Data & Observations Dim Hopes for Japanese Hitomi Spacecraft". Spaceflight101.
109. (28 April 2016). "Supplemental Handout on the Operation Plan of the X-ray Astronomy Satellite ASTRO-H (Hitomi)". [[JAXA]].
110. (18 April 2016). "Attitude control failures led to break-up of Japanese astronomy satellite". Pole Star Publications Ltd.
111. (13 April 2016). "ChubuSat Instrument Development Project / About ChubuSat-3 Satellite". [[Nagoya University]].
112. (2 June 2016). "Breakup Notification: SL-12 R/B (#33473) @ 0920-0930z on 1Jun16. 20+ associated pieces. No indication of collision. @SpaceTrackOrg.".
113. (4 June 2016). "Russian Ullage rocket engine explodes in space". Spaceflight Insider.