1988 in spaceflight
![]() Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-26R, the first US crewed spaceflight after the Challenger accident  | |
| Orbital launches | |
|---|---|
| First | 6 January 1988 | 
| Last | 29 December 1988 | 
| Total | 121 | 
| Catalogued | 116 | 
| National firsts | |
| Satellite | |
| Orbital launch | |
| Space traveller | |
| Rockets | |
| Maiden flights | Ariane 4 Long March 4A Shavit  | 
| Retirements | Energia Titan 34D  | 
| Crewed flights | |
| Orbital | 5 | 
| Total travellers | 19 | 
The following is an outline of 1988 in spaceflight.
Shuttle return to flight
 Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Launch Complex 39B, Kennedy Space Center, at 11:37:00 a.m. EDT on September 29, 1988, 975 days after the Challenger disaster.
Launches
| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payload (⚀ = CubeSat)  |  Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | ||
| Remarks | |||||||
| 25 March | |||||||
| ASI | Low Earth | Atmospheric research | In orbit | Successful | |||
| 7 June 21:38:16  |  |||||||
| Low Earth (Mir) | Mir EP-2 | 7 September 00:48:38  |  Successful | ||||
| Crewed flight launching three cosmonauts and landing two, computer problems during deorbit nearly resulted in loss of crew, and delayed landing by one day | |||||||
| 15 June 11:19  |  |||||||
| EUMETSAT | GTO | Meteorology | In orbit | Successful | |||
| PanAmSat | GTO | Communications | In orbit | Successful | |||
| AMSAT | Low Earth | Amateur radio | 6 December 1996 | Successful | |||
| Maiden flight of the Ariane 4 rocket | |||||||
| 7 July 17:38  |  |||||||
| Intended: Areocentric Actual: Heliocentric  |  Mars orbiter | In orbit | Spacecraft failure | ||||
| stationary lander | Phobos lander | In orbit | Never deployed | ||||
| Loss of communication 2 September 1988 en route to Mars | |||||||
| 12 July 17:01  |  |||||||
| Areocentric | Mars orbiter | In orbit | Spacecraft failure | ||||
| stationary lander | Phobos lander | In orbit | Never deployed | ||||
| "hopping" lander | Phobos lander | In orbit | Never deployed | ||||
| Loss of communication 27 March 1989 near Phobos | |||||||
| 29 August 04:23:11  |  |||||||
| Low Earth (Mir) | Mir EP-3 | 21 December 09:57:00  |  Successful | ||||
| Crewed flight with three cosmonauts, one remained on Mir as part of EO-3, first Afghan space traveller | |||||||
| 29 September 15:37:00  |  |||||||
| NASA | Low Earth | Satellite deployment | 3 October 16:37:11  |  Successful | |||
| NASA | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| Crewed flight with five astronauts, first US crewed spaceflight after the Challenger accident in 1986, TDRS deployed using Inertial Upper Stage | |||||||
| 15 November 03:00:02  |  |||||||
| Low Earth | Test flight | 06:26 | Successful | ||||
| Low Earth (Buran) | Test flight | Successful | |||||
| Uncrewed test, only flight of Buran and final flight of Energia | |||||||
| 26 November 14:49:34  |  |||||||
| Low Earth (Mir) | Mir EO-4/EP-4 | 27 April 1989 02:57:58  |  Successful | ||||
| Crewed flight with three cosmonauts | |||||||
| 2 December 14:30:34  |  |||||||
| NASA/NRO | Low Earth | Satellite deployment | 6 December 23:30:39  |  Successful | |||
| NRO/CIA | Low Earth | Radar imaging | 25 March 1997 | Successful | |||
| Crewed flight with five astronauts | |||||||
| 11 December 00:33  |  |||||||
| UK Ministry of Defence | GTO | Communications | In orbit | Successful | |||
| SES Astra | GTO | Communications | In orbit | Successful | |||
Deep-space rendezvous
There were no deep-space rendezvous in 1988.
References
- Bergin, Chris. "NASASpaceFlight.com".
 - Clark, Stephen. "Spaceflight Now".
 - Kelso, T.S. "Satellite Catalog (SATCAT)". CelesTrak.
 - Krebs, Gunter. "Chronology of Space Launches".
 - Kyle, Ed. "Space Launch Report". Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
 - McDowell, Jonathan. "GCAT Orbital Launch Log".
 - Pietrobon, Steven. "Steven Pietrobon's Space Archive".
 - Wade, Mark. "Encyclopedia Astronautica".
 - Webb, Brian. "Southwest Space Archive".
 - Zak, Anatoly. "Russian Space Web".
 - "ISS Calendar". Spaceflight 101.
 - "NSSDCA Master Catalog". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
 - "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).
 - "Rocket Launch Manifest". Next Spaceflight.
 - "Space Launch Plans". Novosti Kosmonavtiki.
 
