1983 in spaceflight

The following is an outline of 1983 in spaceflight.

1983 in spaceflight

Rockets
Maiden flights	Atlas H Space Shuttle Challenger
Retirements	Atlas-Centaur SLV-3D
Crewed flights
Orbital	6
Total travellers	25
v t e

1983 in spaceflight

Timeline of spaceflight ← 1982 1984 →

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
20 January 17:26	Vostok-2M			Plesetsk Site 16/2
		Kosmos 1437 (Tselina-D 39)		Low Earth	ELINT	4 January 2022 00:04	Successful
February
9 February 13:47	Atlas H			Vandenberg SLC-3E
		OPS-0252 (NOSS 5)	US Navy	Low Earth	SIGINT	In orbit	Successful
		Maiden flight of Atlas H
March
2 March 09:37	Proton-K			Baikonur Site 200/39
		Kosmos 1443 (TKS-3) FGB		Low Earth (Salyut 7)	Logistics	19 September 00:28	Successful
		Kosmos-1443 (TKS-3) VA		Low Earth (Salyut 7)	Sample return	23 August	Successful
28 March 15:52	Atlas E/Star-37S-ISS			Vandenberg SLC-3W
		NOAA-8 (NOAA-E)	NOAA	Sun-synchronous	Meteorology	In orbit	Spacecraft failure
		Spacecraft failed in June 1984[1]
April
4 April 18:30	Space Shuttle Challenger			Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
		STS-6	NASA	Low Earth	Satellite deployment	9 April 18:53	Successful
		TDRS-1 (TDRS-A)	NASA	Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Crewed orbital flight with four astronauts; Maiden flight of Space Shuttle Challenger
15 April 18:45	Titan 24B			Vandenberg SLC-4W
		OPS-2925 (KH-8-53)	NRO	Sun-synchronous	Reconnaissance	21 August	Successful
20 April 13:10	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5
		Soyuz T-8		Low Earth Planned: Docked to Salyut 7	Salyut 7 EO-2	22 April 13:28	Docking failure
		Crewed orbital flight with three cosmonauts; Failed to dock with Salyut 7
May
19 May 22:26	Atlas-Centaur SLV-3D			Cape Canaveral LC-36A
		Intelsat 506	Intelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Final flight of Atlas-Centaur SLV-3D
June
9 June 23:23	Atlas H			Vandenberg SLC-3E
		OPS-6432 (NOSS 6)	US Navy	Low Earth	SIGINT	In orbit	Successful
16 June 11:59	Ariane 1			Kourou ELA		CNES
		Eutelsat 1F1	Eutelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Oscar 10	AMSAT	Geosynchronous transfer	Amateur radio	In orbit	Successful
		Eutelsat 1F1 retired in 1996
18 June 11:33	Space Shuttle Challenger			Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
		STS-7	NASA	Low Earth	Satellite deployment	24 June 14:56	Successful
		Anik C2	Telesat Canada	Current: Graveyard Operational: Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Palapa B1	Telkom Indonesia	Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		SPAS-I	NASA	Low Earth (Challenger)	Microgravity research	24 June 14:56	Successful
		OSTA-2	NASA	Low Earth (Challenger)	Scientific experiments	24 June 14:56	Successful
		Crewed orbital flight with five astronauts; including the first female American astronaut, Sally Ride Anik C2 retired 7 January 1998
20 June 18:45	Titan 34D			Vandenberg SLC-4E
		OPS-0721 (KH-9-18)	NRO	Sun-synchronous	Reconnaissance	21 March 1984	Successful
		OPS-3899 (SSF-C-7)	NRO	Sun-synchronous	ELINT	In orbit	Successful
27 June 09:12	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5
		Soyuz T-9		Low Earth (Salyut 7)	Salyut 7 EO-2	23 November 19:58	Successful
		Crewed orbital flight with two cosmonauts
July
14 July 10:21	Atlas E/SGS-2			Vandenberg SLC-3W
		GPS-8	US Air Force	Medium Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Successful
31 July 15:41	Titan 34B			Vandenberg SLC-4W
		OPS-7304 (Jumpseat 7)	NRO	Molniya	SIGINT	In orbit	Successful
August
17 August 12:08	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5
		Progress 17		Low Earth (Salyut 7)	Logistics	17 September 23:43	Successful
30 August 06:32	Space Shuttle Challenger			Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
		STS-8	NASA	Low Earth	Satellite deployment	5 September 07:40	Successful
		INSAT 1B	ISRO	Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Successful
		Payload Flight Test Article	NASA	Low Earth (Challenger)	Payload compatibility testing	5 September 07:40	Successful
		Crewed orbital flight with five astronauts
October
19 October 00:45	Ariane 1			Kourou ELA		CNES
		Intelsat 507	Intelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Successful
20 October 09:59	Soyuz-U			Baikonur
		Progress 18		Low Earth (Salyut 7)	Logistics	16 November 04:18	Successful
November
18 November 06:32	Atlas E/Star-37S-ISS			Vandenberg SLC-3W
		DMSP 5D-2 F7	US Air Force	Sun-synchronous	Meteorology	In orbit	Successful
28 November 16:00	Space Shuttle Columbia			Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
		STS-9	NASA	Low Earth	Microgravity research	8 December 23:47	Successful
		Spacelab Long Module 1	NASA/ESRO	Low Earth (Columbia)	Microgravity research
		Crewed orbital flight with six astronauts; Maiden flight of Spacelab Long Module

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

Suborbital launches

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
January-March
7 February 08:44	Minuteman 1B			Vandenberg AFB, LF-06		US Air Force
		Reentry vehicle	USAF	Suborbital	ABM target	7 February	Successful
		Target for HOE 1, was not intercepted.
7 February 09:10	HOE		HOE 1	Meck Island, Kwajalein Missile Range		US Air Force
		HOE 1	USAF	Suborbital	ABM test	7 February	Spacecraft failure
		Failed to intercept the target.
April-June
28 May	Minuteman 1B			Vandenberg AFB, LF-03		US Air Force
		Reentry vehicle	USAF	Suborbital	ABM target	28 May	Successful
		Target for HOE 2, was not intercepted.
28 May	HOE		HOE 2	Meck Island, Kwajalein Missile Range		US Air Force
		HOE 2	USAF	Suborbital	ABM test	28 May	Spacecraft failure
		Failed to intercept the target.
July-September
October-December
15 December	Minuteman 1B			Vandenberg AFB, LF-03		US Air Force
		Reentry vehicle	USAF	Suborbital	ABM target	15 December	Successful
		Target for HOE, was not intercepted.
15 December	HOE		HOE 3	Meck Island, Kwajalein Missile Range		US Air Force
		HOE 3	USAF	Suborbital	ABM test	15 December	Spacecraft failure
		Failed to intercept the target.

Deep-space rendezvous

Date (GMT)	Spacecraft	Event	Remarks
10 October	Venera 15	Entered Cytherean orbit	Radar mapper mission
14 October	Venera 16	Entered Cytherean orbit	Radar mapper mission
21 October	ISEE-3/ICE	4th flyby of the Moon	Closest approach: 17,440 kilometres (10,840 mi)
22 December	ISEE-3/ICE	5th flyby of the Moon	Closest approach: 120 kilometres (75 mi)

EVAs

Start Date/Time	Duration	End Time	Spacecraft	Crew	Remarks
7 April 21:05	4 hours 10 minutes	8 April 01:15	STS-6 ( Challenger)	Story Musgrave Donald H. Peterson	Test spacesuits and tools for future space construction.[2] First spacewalk from a Space Shuttle.[3]
1 November 04:47	2 hours 50 minutes	07:36	Salyut 7 EO-2	Vladimir Lyakhov Aleksandr Aleksandrov	Installed a new solar panel to increase the station's electrical output.
3 November 03:47	2 hours 55 minutes	06:42	Salyut 7 EO-2	Vladimir Lyakhov Aleksandr Aleksandrov	Installed a second new solar panel, increasing electrical output by 50%.