1974 in spaceflight

On 29 March 1974 Mariner 10 became the first spacecraft to fly by Mercury, that saw a spacecraft for the first and last time in the 20th century.

1974 in spaceflight

Soyuz-U launch vehicle
Orbital launches
First	5 January
Last	2 December
v t e

1974 in spaceflight

Timeline of spaceflight ← 1973 1975 →

Orbital launches

← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec →

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload (⚀ = CubeSat)	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
January
17 January 10:07[1]	Kosmos 3M			Plesetsk (LC-132/2)		VKS
		Kosmos 628 (Tsiklon)	MOM	LEO	Navigation	In orbit	Successful
19 January 01:39[2]	Delta 2313			CCAFS (LC-17B)		UK Ministry of Defence
		Skynet 2A	UK MOD	Intended: GEO Achieved: LEO	Comms	25 January 1974	Failure
		Placed in incorrect orbit due to carrier rocket malfunction
24 January 15:00	Voskhod			Plesetsk		MOM
		Kosmos 629 (Zenit-2M)	MOM	LEO	Recon	5 February 1974	Success
30 January 11:00	Voskhod			Plesetsk		MOM
		Kosmos 630 (Zenit-4MK)	MOM	LEO	Aurora research	13 February 1974	Success
February
6 February 00:34	Kosmos-3M			LC-132/2, Plesetsk		VKS
		Kosmos 631 (Tselina-O)	VKS	LEO	ELINT	3 October 1980	Successful
11 February 13:48	Titan IIIE/Centaur			LC-41, CCAFS		NASA
		Boilerplate	NASA	Intended: GSO	Test carrier rocket	12 February 1974	Failure
		Sphinx	NASA	Intended: GSO	Plasma research	12 February 1974	Failure
		Upper stage turbopump malfunction
16 February 05:00	M-3C			Kagoshima Space Center LP-M		ISAS
		MS T2 (Tansei 2)	ISAS	Highly elliptical orbit	Technology test	22 January 1983	Successful
		First flight of M-3C
18 February	Scout D-1			San Marco mobile range, Kenya		CRS
		San Marco 4	CRS / NASA	Low Earth	Atmospheric	In orbit	Successful
March
April
May
June
July
3 July	Soyuz (11A511)			LC-1/5, Baikonur
		Soyuz 14		LEO, docked to Salyut 3	Crewed orbital flight	19 July 1974	Successful
12 July 13:55	Feng Bao 1			Jiquan Satellite Launch Center, LA-2B (Site 138)
		JSSW		Intended: Low Earth	Unknown	12 July	Failure
		Carrier rocket lost attitude control.
16 July	Scout			Western Space and Missile Center at Vandenberg AFB		NASA
		Aeros 2	NASA
August
28 August 10:08	Soyuz (11A511)			LC-1/5, Baikonur
		Soyuz 15		LEO Plan: Dock to Salyut 3	Crewed orbital flight	28 August 1974	Failure
		Failed to dock with Salyut 3
September
October
15 October 07:47	Scout B-1			San Marco mobile range, Kenya		CRS
		Ariel 5	SERC / NASA	Low Earth	X-ray astronomy	14 March 1980	Successful
November
December
2 December 15:00	Soyuz-U (11A511U)			LC-1/5, Baikonur
		Soyuz 16		LEO	Crewed orbital flight	8 December 1974	Successful
		First successful crewed use of Soyuz-U launch vehicle
10 December 07:11:01	Titan IIIE/Star-37			Cape Canaveral SLC-41		NASA
		Helios-A	NASA / DFVLR	Heliocentric	Solar probe	In orbit	Successful
		Achieved a closest approach to the Sun of 46.5 million km (0.31 AU) in February 1975, the closest approach achieved by an artificial satellite at that point; it was succeeded later by Helios-B.

← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec →

Suborbital launches

← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec →

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
January-March
12 January 19:12[3]	Skylark			El Arenosillo		NASA
		H-GR-58	DFVLR	Sub-orbital	Astronomy	12 Jan 1974	Successful
5 January 01:45[4]	Aerobee 200A			White Sands		NASA
			NASA	Sub-orbital	Aeronomy/Ultraviolet astronomy	5 January 1974	Successful
8 January 01:40[5]	Aerobee 200A			White Sands		NASA
			NASA/NRL	Sub-orbital	Aeronomy/Ultraviolet astronomy	8 January 1974	Successful
11 January 22:00[6]	R-36			Baikonur (LC-162/36)		RVSN
		Dkh	RVSN	Sub-orbital	ICBM test	12 January 1974	Successful
15 January 20:00[7]	Black Brant VC			White Sands (LC-36)		NASA
			NASA	Sub-orbital	Solar research	15 January 1974	Successful
16 January 02:00[8]	Kappa 9M			Kagoshima (LC-36)		ISAS
			ISAS	Sub-orbital	Ionosphere & Solar research	16 January 1974	Successful
16 January 17:40[5]	Nike Apache			Wallops Island		NASA
			NASA	Sub-orbital	Aeronomy	16 January 1974	Successful
16 January 18:13[9]	Super Arcas			Wallops Island		NASA
			NASA	Sub-orbital	Ionosphere research	16 January 1974	Successful
16 January[5] 01:40	Aerobee 200A			White Sands		NASA
			NASA	Sub-orbital	Solar research	16 January 1974	Successful
17 January 02:37[5]	Nike Tomahawk			Poker Flat		NASA
			NASA/NRL	Sub-orbital	Plasma research	17 January 1974	Successful
19 January 11:34	Skua			El Arenosillo		RAE
			RAE	Sub-orbital	Ionosphere research	19 January 1974	Success
19 January	R-36M			LC-103, Baikonur		RVSN
		POR	RVSN	Sub-orbital	ICBM Test	20 January 1974	Success
21 January 02:39	Nike Tomahawk			Poker Flat		NASA
			NASA	Sub-orbital	Plasma research	21 January 1974	Success
21 January 11:30	Skua 4			El Arenosillo		RAE
			RAE	Sub-orbital	Ionosphere research	21 January 1974	Success
22 January 02:41	Nike Tomahawk			Poker Flat		NASA
			NASA	Sub-orbital	Plasma research	22 January 1974	Success
22 January 11:00	Lambda 3H			Area 3L, Kagoshima		ISAS
			ISAS	Sub-orbital	X-ray astronomy	22 January 1974	Success
22 January 01:40	Aerobee 200A			White Sands		NASA
			NASA/NRL	Sub-orbital	Solar research	22 January 1974	Successful
22 January 01:40	Minuteman I			LF-06, Vandenberg AFB		USAF
			USAF	Sub-orbital	ICBM test	22 January 1974	Successful
23 January 11:30	Skua			El Arenosillo		RAE
			RAE	Sub-orbital	Ionosphere research	23 January 1974	Success
23 January 12:50	Black Brant VB			Churchill		NRC
			NRC	Sub-orbital	Aeronomy/Ionosphere/Aurora research	23 January 1974	Success
25 January 11:30	Skua			El Arenosillo		RAE
			RAE	Sub-orbital	Ionosphere research	25 January 1974	Success
25 January	UR-100N			Baikonur Cosmodrome		RVSN
			RVSN	Sub-orbital	ICBM test	25 January 1974	Success
26 January	Minuteman III			LF-25, Vandenberg AFB		USAF
		GT-24GB-1	USAF	Sub-orbital	ICBM test	26 January 1974	Success
26 January	UR-100N			Baikonur Cosmodrome		RVSN
		GT-24GB-1	RVSN	Sub-orbital	ICBM test	26 January 1974	Success
27 January 19:08	Nike Tomahawk			Andøya		NASA
		Ferdinand 35 (Polar 3)	NDRE	Sub-orbital	Aurora research	27 January 1974	Success
30 January	SSBS S2			BLB, Biscarosse		DMA
			DMA	Sub-orbital	Missile test	30 January 1974	Success
1 February 06:30	JCR			Area T, Tanegashima		NASDA
			NASDA	Sub-orbital	Test flight	1 February 1974	Successful
4 February 14:40	Skylark 6AC			LA-2SL, Woomera		BAC
			BAC	Sub-orbital	Astronomy	4 February 1974	Successful
4 February	MR-UR-100			LC-177, Baikonur		RVSN
			RVSN	Sub-orbital	ICBM test	4 February 1974	Successful
6 February 22:48	Black Brant IVB			Andoya		DLR
			DLR	Sub-orbital	Aurora research (DLR A-BB4-63 Auroral mission)	6 February 1974	Successful
6 February	Polaris A3			Submarine, WTR		US Navy
			US Navy	Sub-orbital	SLBM test	6 February 1974	Successful
6 February	Polaris A3			Submarine, WTR		US Navy
			US Navy	Sub-orbital	SLBM test	6 February 1974	Successful
9 February 02:10	Aerobee 200A			White Sands		NASA
			NASA	Sub-orbital	Astronomy	9 February 1974	Successful
9 February 06:30	LS-C			Area T, Tanegashima		NASDA
			NASDA	Sub-orbital	Test flight	9 February 1974	Successful
April-June
July-September
11 July 05:01[10]	K63D			Vladimirovka test range, near Kapustin Yar
		BOR-3 No.302		Suborbital	Re-entry test for Spiral program	11 July	Partial success
		Subscale model of the Spiral spaceplane.[11] After nominal flight, parachute system failed and the craft crashed. Apogee: 100 km
October-December

← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec →

Deep Space Rendezvous

Date (GMT)	Spacecraft	Event	Remarks
5 February	Mariner 10	Flyby of Venus	Gravity assist; Closest approach: 5,768 kilometres (3,584 mi)
10 February	Mars 4	Flyby of Mars	Closest approach: 2,200 kilometres (1,400 mi) (orbiter mission)
12 February	Mars 5	Areocentric orbit injection
9 March	Mars 7	Lander missed mars by 1,300 kilometres (810 mi)
12 March	Mars 6	Lander lost a few seconds before anticipated landing
29 March	Mariner 10	1st flyby of Mercury	Closest approach: 703 kilometres (437 mi)
2 June	Luna 22	Selenocentric orbit injection	Photographic mission
21 September	Mariner 10	2nd flyby of Mercury	Closest approach: 48,069 kilometres (29,869 mi)
2 November	Luna 23	Landed rough at Mare Crisium, the Moon	Sample return mission
3 December	Pioneer 11	Flyby of Jupiter	Gravity assist; Closest approach: 42,960 kilometres (26,690 mi)

EVAs

Start Date/Time	Duration	End Time	Spacecraft	Crew	Remarks
3 February 15:19	5 hours 19 minutes	20:38	Skylab SLM-3	Gerald P. Carr Edward Gibson	Retrieved the final film from the solar observatory and photographed Kohoutek using an electronographic camera.