This article documents notable spaceflight events during the year 2019.
Overview
Astronomy and astrophysics
The Russian-German X-ray observing satellite Spektr-RG was launched on 13 July.
Lunar exploration
The Chinese probe Chang'e 4 made humanity's first soft landing on the far side of the Moon on 3 January and released its Yutu 2 rover to explore the lunar surface on the far side for the first time in human history.
The first panorama from the far side of the Moon, captured by Chang'e 4 lander
Israel's SpaceIL, one of the participants in the expired Google Lunar X Prize,[1] launched the first private mission to the Moon in February. The Beresheet lander from SpaceIL made the landing attempt in April, but crashed onto the Moon.[2] India launched the delayed Chandrayaan-2 lunar orbiter/lander/rover in July; the orbiter reached lunar orbit in September, but the Vikram lander crashed onto the lunar surface.[3]
Exploration of the Solar System
The probe New Horizons encountered the Kuiper belt object 486958 Arrokoth on 1 January. This is the farthest object from the Sun ever to have a close encounter with a spacecraft.[4] The Japanese asteroid exploration mission Hayabusa2 made a second touchdown with 162173 Ryugu to collect samples,[5] and departed for Earth on 12 November.[6] NASA declared the Mars rover Opportunity's mission over on 13 February.[7] The InSight lander observed the first recorded Marsquake in April.[8]
At the beginning of the year, around 100 small satellite launchers were in active use, in development, or were recently cancelled or stalled.[11] Three Chinese manufacturers launched their first orbital rocket in 2019: The maiden flight of OS-M1 in March failed to reach orbit,[12] the maiden flights of Hyperbola-1 in July[13] and of Jielong 1 in August[14] were successful. The PSLV-DL and PSLV-QL variants of the Indian PSLV first flew in January and April respectively.
SpaceX began testing of the SpaceX Starship in 2019, with an uncrewed prototype "Starhopper" flying 150m in the air in a suborbital test flight on 27 August.[15] The heavy-liftLong March 5 made its return to flight in December, more than two years after the July 2017 launch failure that grounded the vehicle and forced an engine redesign.[16]
The "single stick" Delta IV was retired in August,[17] and the analog-controlled Soyuz-FG was retired in September.[18] Due to Ukraine banning control system exports to Russia, Rokot was retired after a final flight in December.[19]
installed a handrail to connect Zarya to Poisk and re-positioned the Plume Measuring Unit.
moved to the Zvesda Service Module and removed and jettisoned the Plasma Monitoring Units.
wished happy birthday to Alexei Leonov who is the first spacewalker and is celebrating his 85th birthday on 30 May. Also brought a picture of Leonov into space with them.
Hague and Morgan installed the final International Docking Adapter on the Harmony Module. The task for this spacewalk was identical to Spacewalk 194 and required work by both spacewalkers and Dextre to get the docking port installed in preparation for the Boeing CST-100 Starliner orbital flight test, which will occur by the end of December. The crew also routed cables and installed Wi-Firouters for upcoming experiments.[28]
This spacewalk was the second of Expedition 61 and the second in a series of five to replace and improve ISS batteries on the P6 truss. Before they went out to the hatch, Mission Control Moscow relayed to the crew that Alexei Leonov had died and that this spacewalk was dedicated to him. As the crew came in and took off their suits, each gave a few words in memory of Leonov before station commander Luca Parmitano said "Farewell Alexei, and ad astra."[30][31]
This spacewalk was the third of Expedition 61 and the third in a series of five to replace and improve ISS batteries on the P6 truss. Some of the battery swaps were delayed to EVA 222 due to a power failure in a Battery Charge Discharge Unit in slots 5 and 6 on the P6 Truss taking the 4B battery channel offline. Koch and Meir replaced the failed unit and brought it back inside. The battery swap was moved to EVA 222 to save time and Meir and Koch wrapped up the spacewalk by installing a stanchion on the Columbus Module and tightening the bolts on the S0 Truss, which had come loose. This spacewalk was the first all-female spacewalk. During the spacewalk, President Trump called the station and congratulated Koch and Meir on this milestone.[32]
First of a series of four spacewalks to repair the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer which suffered a power failure last year in one of its four cooling pumps limiting the operation of the experiment. Parmitano and Morgan went outside and removed a cover plate from AMS and jettisoned it into space to make way for a cryo pump that they will assemble between spacewalks. Some of the bolts put up a fight but Parmitano got them all out. The highlight of the spacewalk is when Andrew Morgan threw the cover plate overboard and it drifted off aft of the station into the vacuum of space. The plate will stay in orbit for a few days until the end of December when it enters the atmosphere and burns up. The crew also removed several carbon fiber strips around fluid lines and installed handrails and grapple bars as get-ahead task. This spacewalk marks Parmitano's return to spacewalking after the Water in the Helmet Incident during EVA 171.[33]
The second in a series of four spacewalks to repair the AMS. Parmitano and Morgan cut fluid lines and installed a vent on the AMS Experiment to prep the old cooling pump for removal on the third spacewalk. Parmitano and Morgan also routed cables and installed a new power supply to power the pumps when they are installed on the third spacewalk.[34]
The third in a series of four spacewalks to repair the AMS. Parmitano and Morgan went out on the third spacewalk and installed the cryo pump and routed fluid and electrical lines to power the pump. Flight controllers in Houston, Huntsville, and at CERN activated the experiment and radioed to the crew that AMS passed with flying colors. The crew finished the spacewalk by doing a get-ahead task by covering AMS with thermal blanket.[35]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a successful test of an anti-satellite weapon. The test was believed to have destroyed the Microsat-R satellite launched in January.[37][38]
For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of orbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. For example, Soyuz launches by Arianespace in Kourou are counted under Russia because Soyuz-2 is a Russian rocket.
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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