2017 in spaceflight
The SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket is expected to make its debut launch in 2017
|
|
| Orbital launches | |
|---|---|
| First | 5 January |
| Last | 25 May |
| Total | 29 |
| Successes | 27 |
| Failures | 2 |
| Catalogued | 27 |
| National firsts | |
| Satellite | |
| Rockets | |
| Maiden flights | |
| Retirements | |
| Manned flights | |
| Orbital | 1 |
| Total travellers | 2 |
Notable spaceflight activities in 2017 will include the maiden flight of India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (also called LVM3) in the second quarter, followed by the much-delayed Falcon Heavy in the third quarter, from the refurbished Launch Complex 39 Pad A at Kennedy Space Center. China launched its new missile-derived Kaituozhe-2 variant on 2 March, and has scheduled another small-lift rocket, the Naga-L, for its maiden flight later this year. The first Japanese SS-520, a sounding rocket modified for orbital flight, failed in January. The venerable Russian Soyuz-U workhorse was retired after its 786th mission on 22 February. On 30 March, the SES-10 mission was launched with a previously-flown complete Falcon 9 first stage, achieving a key milestone in the SpaceX reusable launch system development program.
China plans to launch its Chang'e 5 lunar sample return mission in November, on top of its new heavy-lifting Long March 5, from the Wenchang launch facility on Hainan Island, inaugurated in 2016. The mission will be the first lunar sample return in over 40 years, since Luna 24 by the USSR in 1976.
After a record-breaking 13-year mission observing Saturn, its rings and moons, the Cassini space probe will be deliberately destroyed by plunging into Saturn's atmosphere, a maneuver scheduled for September 15, 2017.
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Wikipedia