2008 in spaceflight

2008 in spaceflight

The first Automated Transfer Vehicle, Jules Verne approaches the ISS
Orbital launches
First	15 January
Last	25 December
Total	69
Successes	66
Failures	2
Partial failures	1
Catalogued	67
National firsts
Satellite	Venezuela  Vietnam
Space traveller	South Korea
Rockets
Maiden flights	Ariane 5ES Long March 3C PSLV-XL Safir Zenit-3SLB
Retirements	H-IIA 2024
Manned flights
Orbital	7
Total travellers	37

The year 2008 contained several significant events in spaceflight, including the first flyby of Mercury by a spacecraft since 1975, the discovery of water ice on Mars by the Phoenix spacecraft, which landed in May, the first Chinese spacewalk in September, and the launch of the first Indian Lunar probe in October.

The internationally accepted definition of a spaceflight is any flight which crosses the Kármán line, 100 kilometres above sea level. The first recorded spaceflight launch of the year occurred on 11 January, when a Black Brant was launched on a suborbital trajectory from White Sands, with the LIDOS ultraviolet astronomy payload. This was followed by the first orbital launch of the year on 15 January, by a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL, with the Thuraya 3 communications satellite. The launch marked the return to flight for Sea Launch following the explosion of a Zenit-3SL on the launch pad the previous January during an attempt to launch the NSS-8 satellite.

Five carrier rockets made their maiden flights in 2008; the Ariane 5ES, Long March 3C, Zenit-3SLB, PSLV-XL, and the operational version of the Falcon 1, with an uprated Merlin-1C engine. These were all derived from existing systems. The Blue Sparrow and Sejjil missiles also conducted their maiden flights, and the ATK Launch Vehicle made its only flight, but was destroyed by range safety after it went off course. In November, the baseline Proton-M was retired in favour of the Enhanced variant, first launched in 2007.