1972 in spaceflight
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Details
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1972 saw humanity's last crewed mission to the Moon of the 20th century, Apollo 17 .
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Launches
This is a list of spaceflights launched in 1972.
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Launch date/time | Rocket |
Launch
site |
Launch contractor | Payload | Operator | Orbit |
Mission/
function |
Reentry/
destruction |
Outcome | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
January 23
00:12 GMT |
Atlas SLV-3C Centaur | LC-36B , Cape Canaveral | Intelsat 4 F-4 | Intelsat | Geosynchronous | Comsat | Still in orbit | Successful | ||
January 31
17:20 GMT |
Thor Delta L | SLC-2E , Vandenberg AFB | HEOS 2 | ESRO | High eccentricity LEO / HEO | Particle and field research | August 2, 1974 | Successful | Final flight of Thor Delta L | |
February 14
03:27 GMT |
Proton 8K82K | LC-81 , Baikonur | RVSN | Luna 20 | RVSN | Lunar | Lunar sample return | February 21, 1972 (at Moon) | Successful | |
March 3
01:49 GMT |
Atlas SLV-3C Centaur | LC-36A , Cape Canaveral | Pioneer 10 | NASA | Heliocentric to Solar Escape | Jupiter flyby | N/A | Successful |
First spacecraft to cross
asteroid belt
First flyby of Jupiter First probe to leave Solar System |
|
March 12
01:55 GMT |
Thor Delta N | SLC-2E , Vandenberg AFB | TD-1A | ESRO | LEO | Technology research | January 9, 1980 | Successful | Final flight of Thor Delta N | |
March 24
08:46 GMT |
Thor Burner II | SLC-10W , Vandenberg AFB | US Air Force | DMSP 5B F2 | US Air Force | LEO | Weather satellite | Still in orbit | Successful | |
April 16
17:45 GMT |
Saturn V | LC-39A , Kennedy | NASA |
Apollo 16
CSM
"Casper"
3 astronauts |
NASA | Lunar | Crewed Lunar orbiter | April 27, 1972 | Successful | Penultimate Moonshot |
Apollo 16 lunar module "Orion" | NASA | Lunar | Crewed Lunar landing |
April 20, 1972
14:23 GMT (at Moon) |
Successful | |||||
Apollo 16 Subsatellite | NASA | Lunar | Study lunar particles | May 29, 1972 (at Moon) | Partial Failure |
Deployed on April 24
Placed in wrong orbit, shorter lifespan than planned |
||||
April 19
21:43 GMT |
Thorad Agena-D SLV-2H | SLC-3W , Vandenberg AFB | US Air Force | KH-4B 1116 | US Air Force | LEO | Surveillance satellite | May 12, 1972 | ||
May 25
18:41 GMT |
Thorad Agena-D SLV-2H | SLC-3W , Vandenberg AFB | US Air Force | KH-4B 1117 | US Air Force | LEO | Surveillance satellite | June 4, 1972 | Successful | Final flight of Thorad Agena-D SLV-2H |
June 13
21:53 GMT |
Atlas SLV-3C Centaur | LC-36B , Cape Canaveral | Intelsat 4 F-5 | Intelsat | Geosynchronous | Comsat | Still in orbit | Successful | ||
June 26
14:53 GMT |
R-7 11A511 (Soyuz/A-2) | LC-1/5 , Baikonur | RVSN | Kosmos 496 ( Soyuz 7K-T ) | RVSN | LEO | Test redesigned Soyuz 7K-T spacecraft | July 2, 1972 | Successful | |
July 23
18:41 GMT |
Delta 0100 (0900) | SLC-2W , Vandenberg AFB | Landsat 1 | NASA | LEO | Earth resources satellite | Still in orbit | Successful | Maiden flight of Delta 0100 | |
August 21
10:28 GMT |
Atlas SLV-3C Centaur | LC-36B , Cape Canaveral | OAO 3 | NASA | LEO | Ultraviolet astronomy | Still in orbit | Successful | Final flight of Atlas SLV-3C Centaur | |
September 23
01:20 GMT |
Delta 1000 (1604) | LC-17B , Cape Canaveral | Explorer 47 | NASA | HEO | Magnetosphere research satellite | Still in orbit | Successful |
Maiden flight of
Delta 1000
Maiden flight of Extended Long-Tank Thor |
|
October 2
20:09 GMT |
Atlas F | BMRS-A1 , Vandenberg AFB | US Air Force | OPS 8180 (RADCAT) | US Air Force | LEO | Technology research | 2 August 2012 | Successful | |
Radsat | US Air Force | LEO | Technology research | Still in orbit | Successful | |||||
October 15
17:19 GMT |
Delta 0100 (0300) | SLC-2W , Vandenberg AFB | NOAA 2 (ITOS-B) | NOAA | LEO | Weather satellite | Still in orbit | Successful | ||
Amsat-Oscar 6 | Amsat | LEO | Amateur comsat | Still in orbit | Successful | |||||
November 9
03:23 GMT |
Thor Burner II | SLC-10W , Vandenberg AFB | US Air Force | DMSP 5B F3 | US Air Force | LEO | Weather satellite | Still in orbit | Successful | |
November 10
01:14 GMT |
Delta 1000 (1914) | LC-17B , Cape Canaveral | Anik A1 | Telesat | Geosynchronous | Comsat | Still in orbit | Successful | ||
December 7
05:33 GMT |
Saturn V | LC-39A , Kennedy | NASA |
Apollo 17
CSM
"America"
3 astronauts |
NASA | Lunar | Crewed Lunar orbiter | December 19, 1971 | Successful |
Final Moonshot
Final flight of Saturn V |
Apollo 17 lunar module "Challenger" | NASA | Lunar | Crewed Lunar landing |
December 14, 1971
GMT (at Moon) |
Successful | |||||
December 11
07:56 GMT |
Delta 0100 (0900) | SLC-2W , Vandenberg AFB | Nimbus 5 | NASA | LEO | Environmental research satellite | Still in orbit | Successful | ||
December 16
|
Scout | Western Space and Missile Center at Vandenberg AFB | NASA | Aeros 1 | NASA | Successful | ||||
December 20
22:20 GMT |
Atlas- Agena SLV-3A | LC-13 , Cape Canaveral | US Air Force | OPS 9390 Canyon 5 | US Air Force | Geosynchronous | Military Comsat | Still 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 |
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Terra Apollonius ( Luna ) | ||||
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Highly elliptical | Sample return | 25 February | Successful | |
Second uncrewed lunar sample return mission | ||||||
24 April
01:25:47 |
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Descartes Highlands ( Luna ) |
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|||
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NASA | Selenocentric (CSM) | Crewed | Unknown | Successful | |
Carrying two astronauts back to CSM after lunar landing | ||||||
14 December
22:54:37 |
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Taurus-Littrow ( Luna ) |
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|||
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NASA | Selenocentric (CSM) | Crewed |
15 December
06:50 |
Successful | |
Carrying two astronauts back to CSM after lunar landing | ||||||
Deep space rendezvous in 1972
- February 21 – Luna 20 , 55g from Apollonius Crater (sample return mission)
- April 21 – Apollo 16 , 95 kg from Descartes Highlands (sample return mission)
- July 22 – Venera 8 atmospheric probe worked for 50 min on the Venerian surface
- December 11 – Apollo 17 , 111 kg from Taurus–Littrow (sample return mission)
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. "Jonathan's Space Report" .
- 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).
Footnotes
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