2001 in spaceflight

2001 in spaceflight
	The Mir space station, which was deorbited on 23 March
Orbital launches
First	9 January
Last	28 December
Total	59
Successes	58
Failures	1
Catalogued	58
Rockets
Maiden flights	GSLV; H-IIA 202; Proton-M; Soyuz-FG
Retirements	Ariane 4 44P; Ariane 4 44LP; Athena I
Crewed flights
Orbital	8
Total travellers	44
	v; t; e;

This article outlines notable events occurring in 2001 in spaceflight, including major launches and EVAs.

Quick Facts Orbital launches, First ...

Quick Facts

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
January-March
17 January 04:31	Agni 2			Integrated Test Range		DRDO

		Reentry Vehicle Mk 2	DRDO	Suborbital	Missile test	17 January	Successful
26 January 03:57	Aries			Kauai Test Facility		US Navy

		Aegis TTV-2	USN	Suborbital	ABM target	26 January	Intercepted
		Target for FTR-1A. Apogee: ~300 km
26 January 04:03	RIM-161 SM-3		FTR-1A "Stellar Gemini"	USS Lake Erie (CG-70), Pacific Ocean launch area, off Kauai		US Navy

		LEAP	USN	Suborbital	Missile test	26 January	Successful
		Intercepted Aries target missile. Apogee: 100 km
7 February 09:28	LGM-30G Minuteman III		GT175GM	Vandenberg AFB, LF-10		US Air Force

		Mk 12 reentry vehicle ×3	USAF	Suborbital	Missile test	7 February	Successful
9 February 04:00:06	Black Brant 9CM1			White Sands		NASA

		JHU FOT 16	NASA, JHU	Suborbital	UV astronomy	9 February	Successful
12 February 16:28	Black Brant IX			White Sands		NASA

		NASA 36.187NM	NASA	Suborbital	Microgravity research	12 February	Successful
16 February 10:28	R-29RM Shtil			K-407 Novomoskovsk, Barents Sea		Russian Navy

		Reentry vehicle ×4	Russian Navy	Suborbital	Missile test	16 February	Successful
16 February 10:43	RT-2PM Topol			Plesetsk Site 169		RVSN

		Reentry vehicles	RVSN	Suborbital	Missile test	16 February	Successful
19 February	RH-200SV			Satish Dhawan Space Centre		ISRO

			ISRO	Suborbital	Test flight	19 February	Successful
20 February 18:58	SR19/SR19			Wake Island		SMDC

		TCMP-3B	SMDC	Suborbital	Test flight	20 February	Successful
22 February 04:55	Black Brant IX			White Sands		NASA

		J-PEX 2	NRL, Leicester University	Suborbital	UV astronomy	22 February	Successful
22 March 22:15	Aries			Kodiak Launch Complex, LP-2		US Air Force

		QRLV-1	USAF, USN	Suborbital	Target	22 March	Successful
31 March	Hera			Fort Wingate, LC-96		SMDC

		MBRV-3	SMDC	Suborbital	Target for PAC-3	31 March	Successful
31 March 06:00	Prithvi			Integrated Test Range		DRDO

			DRDO	Suborbital	Missile test	31 March	Successful
April-June
17 April 22:00	MSBS M45			L'Inflexible (S615), Bay of Biscay		French Navy

		Reentry vehicle ×6	French Navy	Suborbital	Missile test	17 April	Successful
18 April	Shahab 1			Kermanshah Air Base

		Warhead		Suborbital	Missile strike	18 April	Successful
		Missile strikes on MKO militant camps, many launches.
29 April 11:28	Maxus			Esrange		SSC

		MAXUS 4	ESA	Suborbital	Microgravity research	29 April	Successful
8 May 09:55	Skylark 7			Esrange, Skylark launch tower		Sounding Rocket Services

		TEXUS 39	DLR	Suborbital	Microgravity research	8 May	Successful
		Apogee: 248 km
14 May	Trident D5		FCET-24	USS Kentucky (SSBN-737), Eastern Test Range		US Navy

		Reentry vehicles	USN	Suborbital	Missile test	14 May	Successful
15 May 01:57	Improved Orion			Andøya Rocket Range		NDRE

		HiN-2	NDRE	Suborbital	Test flight	15 May	Successful
31 May	RH-200SV			Satish Dhawan Space Centre		ISRO

			ISRO	Suborbital	Test flight	31 May	Successful
5 June 11:32	R-29RM Shtil			K-51 Verkhoturye, Barents Sea		Russian Navy

		Reentry vehicle ×4	Russian Navy	Suborbital	Missile test	5 June	Successful
21 June 17:32	Black Brant IX			White Sands, LC-36		NASA

		TXI	NASA/GSFC	Suborbital	Solar radiation research	21 June	Successful
25 June 23:16	Trident D5		FCET-25	USS Louisiana (SSBN-743), Eastern Test Range		US Navy

		Reentry vehicles	USN	Suborbital	Missile test	25 June	Successful
25 June 23:16	Trident D5		FCET-25	USS Louisiana, Eastern Test Range		US Navy

		Reentry vehicles	USN	Suborbital	Missile test	25 June	Successful
26 June 01:13	Trident D5		FCET-25	USS Louisiana, Eastern Test Range		US Navy

		Reentry vehicles	USN	Suborbital	Missile test	26 June	Successful
27 June	Jericho II			Palmachim Airbase		Israeli Air Force

			IAF	Suborbital	Missile test	27 June	Successful
27 June 04:35	UR-100NU			Baikonur, Site 132/30		RVSN

			RVSN	Suborbital	Missile test	27 June	Successful
29 June 04:44:01	Black Brant VC			Wallops Flight Facility		NASA

		NASA 21.125GE	NASA	Suborbital	Ionospheric research	29 June	Successful
July-September
31 August 20:00	GBI BV		BV-2	Vandenberg AFB, LF-21		US Air Force

		Dummy EKV	BMDO	Suborbital	Missile test	31 August	Successful
		Maiden flight of the Boeing Boost Vehicle. Apogee: ~200 km
October-December
24 October 2001 16:00	Taiwan Sounding Rocket		Sounding Rocket II	Jiu Peng Air Base		NSPO

		TMA release experiment	NSPO	Suborbital	Ionosphere research	24 October	Failure
		Second stage failed to ignite at T+20 seconds.^[8]
13 December 18:15	GBI BV		BV-3	Vandenberg AFB, LF-21		US Air Force

		Dummy EKV	BMDO	Suborbital	Missile test	13 December	Failure
		Missile steered off course 30 seconds after launch, flight was terminated by range safety

Date (GMT)	Spacecraft	Event	Remarks
15 January	Stardust	1st flyby of the Earth
12 February	NEAR	Landed on 433 Eros	First-ever asteroid landing
25 May	Galileo	8th flyby of Callisto
6 August	Galileo	4th flyby of Io
22 September	Deep Space 1	Flyby of 19P/Borrelly
24 October	Mars Odyssey	Areocentric orbit injection

Start Date/Time	Duration	End Time	Spacecraft	Crew	Function	Remarks
10 February 15:50	7 hours 34 minutes	23:24	STS-98 ISS Atlantis	Thomas D. Jones Robert Curbeam	Removed protective launch covers and disconnected power and cooling cables between Destiny and Atlantis, while crewmembers inside moved the 3,800-cubic-foot (110 m³) laboratory from the payload bay to its home on the Unity node. Curbeam and Jones then connected electrical, data and cooling lines to the lab, during which a small amount of ammonia crystals leaked from one of the hoses, prompting a decontamination procedure.^[9]^[10]
12 February 15:59	6 hours 50 minutes	22:49	STS-98 ISS Atlantis	Thomas D. Jones Robert Curbeam	Installed the shuttle docking adapter onto Destiny, installed insulating covers over the pins that held Destiny in place during launch, attached a vent to the lab's air system, installed handrails and sockets on the exterior of Destiny, and attached a base for the future space station robotic arm.^[11]
14 February 14:48	5 hours 25 minutes	20:13	STS-98 ISS Atlantis	Thomas D. Jones Robert Curbeam	Attached a spare communications antenna to the station, double-checked connections between the Destiny lab and its docking port, released a cooling radiator on the station, inspected solar array connections at the top of the station, and tested the ability of a spacewalker to carry an immobile crew member back to the shuttle airlock.^[12]	100th American spacewalk.
11 March 05:12	8 hours 56 minutes	14:08	STS-102 ISS Discovery	James S. Voss Susan J. Helms	Prepared PMA-3 for repositioning from Unity's Earth-facing berth to the port-side berth to make room for the Leonardo MPLM. Removed a Lab Cradle Assembly from the shuttle's cargo bay and installed it on the side of Destiny, and installed a cable tray to Destiny for later use by the station's robot arm. After re-entering the shuttle's airlock, the spacewalkers remained ready to assist if any troubles were encountered by the crew inside the shuttle.^[13]	Longest-duration EVA in history.
13 March 05:23	6 hours 21 minutes	11:44	STS-102 ISS Discovery	/Andy Thomas Paul W. Richards	Installed an External Stowage Platform for spare station parts, attached a spare ammonia coolant pump to the platform, finished connecting several cables put in place on the first EVA for the station's robotic arm. Inspected a Unity node heater connection, and inspected of an exterior experiment, the Floating Potential Probe.^[14]
22 April 11:45	7 hours 10 minutes	18:55	STS-100 ISS Endeavour	Chris Hadfield Scott E. Parazynski	Installed the station's UHF antenna, and the Canadian Space Agency made Canadarm2. Connected cables to give the arm power and allow it to accept computer commands from inside the lab.^[15]	Hadfield became the first Canadian spacewalker.
24 April 12:34	7 hours 40 minutes	20:14	STS-100 ISS Endeavour	Chris Hadfield Scott E. Parazynski	Connected the Power Data Grapple Fixture circuits for Canadarm2 onto Destiny, removed an early communications antenna, transferred a spare Direct Current Switching Unit from the shuttle's payload bay to an equipment storage rack on the outside of Destiny.^[16]
8 June 14:21	19 minutes	14:40	Expedition 2 ISS Zvezda	Yury Usachyov James S. Voss	Installed the docking cone onto the Zvezda module, in preparation for the arrival of the Russian Pirs docking compartment.^[17]	Conducted from the transfer compartment of the Zvezda Service Module.
15 July 03:10	5 hours 59 minutes	09:09	STS-104 ISS Atlantis	Michael L. Gernhardt James F. Reilly	Installed the Quest Joint Airlock onto the Unity node.^[18]^[19]^[20]
18 July 03:04	6 hours 29 minutes	09:33	STS-104 ISS Atlantis	Michael L. Gernhardt James F. Reilly	Installed one of two high-pressure nitrogen tanks, and one of two high-pressure oxygen tanks onto Quest, and installed grapple fixture and trunion covers.^[18]^[20]^[21]
21 July 04:35	4 hours 2 minutes	08:37	STS-104 ISS Quest	Michael L. Gernhardt James F. Reilly	Installed the second high-pressure nitrogen tank, and the second oxygen tank onto the Quest airlock.^[20]^[22]^[23]	First EVA conducted from the Quest airlock.
16 August 13:58	6 hours 16 minutes	20:14	STS-105 ISS Discovery	Daniel T. Barry Patrick G. Forrester	Installed an Early Ammonia Servicer onto the station's P6 truss, co-location of the foot restraint in a stowed location, and installed the MISSE-1 and 2 containers onto the Quest airlock.^[24]^[25]
18 August 13:42	5 hours 29 minutes	19:11	STS-105 ISS Discovery	Daniel T. Barry Patrick G. Forrester	Installed heater cables and handrails onto the Destiny laboratory.^[24]^[25]
8 October 14:24	4 hours 58 minutes	19:22	Expedition 3 ISS Pirs	Vladimir Dezhurov Mikhail Tyurin	Installed cables between Pirs, and Zvezda to allow spacewalk radio communications between the two sections. Installed handrails onto Pirs, and installed an exterior ladder to assist spacewalkers leaving Pirs. Installed a Strela cargo crane.^[26]	First EVA conducted from the Pirs docking compartment.
15 October 09:17	5 hours 51 minutes	15:08	Expedition 3 ISS Pirs	Vladimir Dezhurov Mikhail Tyurin	Installed Russian commercial experiments (MPAC-SEEDS) onto the exterior of the Pirs docking compartment.^[26]
12 November 21:41	5 hours 5 minutes	13 November 02:46	Expedition 3 ISS Pirs	Vladimir Dezhurov Frank L. Culbertson	Connected cables on the exterior of Pirs for the Kurs automated docking system, completed checks of the Strela cargo crane, and inspected and photographed a panel of a solar array on Zvezda that had a portion of a panel not fully unfolded.^[26]
3 December 13:20	2 hours 46 minutes	16:06	Expedition 3 ISS Pirs	Vladimir Dezhurov Mikhail Tyurin	Removed an obstruction that prevented a Progress resupply ship from firmly docking with the station, and took pictures of the debris and of the docking interface.^[26]
10 December 17:52	4 hours 12 minutes	22:04	STS-108 ISS Endeavour	Linda M. Godwin Daniel M. Tani	Installed insulating blankets around two Beta Gimbal Assemblies that rotate the station's solar array wings, and performed get-ahead tasks in preparation for STS-110's spacewalks.^[27]^[28]^[29]

Country		Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures
	China	1	1	0	0
	France	8	7	0	1
	India	2	1	1	0
	Japan	1	1	0	0
	Russia	19	19	0	0
	Ukraine	6	6	0	0
	United States	22	21	1	0
World		59	56	2	1

Family	Country	Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures	Remarks
Ariane	Europe	8	7	0	1
Athena	United States	1	1	0	0	Final flight
Atlas	United States	4	4	0	0
Delta	United States	7	7	0	0
GSLV	India	1	0	1	0	Maiden flight
H-II	Japan	1	1	0	0
Long March	China	1	1	0	0
Minotaur	United States	1	0	1	0
PSLV	India	1	1	0	0
R-7	Russia	11	11	0	0
R-14	Russia	1	1	0	0
R-36	Ukraine	3	3	0	0
RT-2PM	Russia	1	1	0	0
Space Shuttle	United States	6	6	0	0
Titan	United States	3	3	0	0
Universal Rocket	Russia	6	6	0	0
Zenit	Ukraine	3	3	0	0

2001 in spaceflight

Deorbit of Mir

Launches

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Suborbital launches

January-March

April-June

July-September

October-December

Deep space rendezvous

EVAs

Orbital launch statistics

By country

By rocket

By family

By type

By configuration

By spaceport

By orbit

References

Wikiwand - on

2001 in spaceflight

Timeline of spaceflight ← 2000 2002 →

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload (⚀ = CubeSat)	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
January
9 January 17:00	Long March 2F			Jiuquan

		Shenzhou 2	CMSA	Low Earth	Test spacecraft	16 January 11:22	Successful
		Shenzhou spacecraft orbital module	CMSA	Low Earth	Test spacecraft	24 August 09:05	Successful
10 January 22:09	Ariane 4 44P			Kourou ELA-2		Arianespace

		Türksat 2A	Eurasiasat SAM	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
24 January 04:28	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5		Roskosmos

		Progress M1-5	Roskosmos	Low Earth (Mir)	Deorbit Mir	23 March 05:50	Successful
		Final spacecraft to dock with the Mir space station. Remained docked during re-entry.
30 January 07:55	Delta II 7925-9.5			Cape Canaveral SLC-17A		Boeing IDS

		GPS IIR-7 (USA-156)	US Air Force	Medium Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
February
7 February 23:05	Ariane 4 44L			Kourou ELA-2		Arianespace

		Sicral		Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Skynet 4F	MoD (UK)	Geostationary	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Skynet 4F is the final ECS-class satellite.
7 February 23:13	Space Shuttle Atlantis			Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance

		STS-98	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS assembly	20 February 20:33	Successful
		Destiny	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS component	In orbit	Operational
		Crewed orbital flight with 5 astronauts
20 February 08:48	Start-1			Svobodniy Site 5

		Odin	SSC	Low Earth	Infrared astronomy	In orbit	Operational
26 February 08:09	Soyuz-U			Baikonur Site 1/5		Roskosmos

		Progress M-44	Roskosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	Logistics	16 April 13:23	Successful
		ISS flight 3P
27 February 21:20	Titan IVB (401)/Centaur			Cape Canaveral SLC-40		Lockheed Martin

		Milstar 2 (USA-157)	US Air Force	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
March
8 March 11:42	Space Shuttle Discovery			Kennedy LC-39B		United Space Alliance

Orbital regime	Launches	Achieved	Not achieved	Accidentally achieved	Remarks
Low Earth / Sun-synchronous	29	28	1	0	Including flights to ISS and Mir
Geosynchronous /GTO	22	21	1	0	GSLV launch failure left satellite in useless transfer orbit
Medium Earth / Molniya	5	5	0	1	Ariane 5 partial failure left payloads in a useless medium earth orbit. One satellite was able to correct itself to the intended geostationary transfer orbit.
Heliocentric orbit / Planetary transfer	3	3	0	0
Total	59	57	2	1