2001 in spaceflight

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

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

Launches

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Launch site		LSP
	Payload (⚀ = CubeSat)	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
	Remarks
9 January 17:00	Long March 2F		Jiuquan
	Shenzhou 2	CASC	Low Earth	Test spacecraft	16 January 11:22	Successful
	Shenzhou spacecraft orbital module	CASC	Low Earth	Test spacecraft	24 August 09:05	Successful
10 January 22:09	Ariane 4 44P		Kourou ELA-2		Arianespace
	Turksat 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
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
	Manned 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
8 March 11:42	Space Shuttle Discovery		Kennedy LC-39B		United Space Alliance
	STS-102	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS assembly	21 March 07:31	Successful
	Leonardo MPLM	ASI/NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	Logistics		Successful
	Manned orbital flight with 7 astronauts, ISS crew exchange (launched Expedition 2) Maiden flight of Multi-Purpose Logistics Module
8 March 22:51	Ariane 5G		Kourou ELA-3		Arianespace
	Eurobird	Eutelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
	BSAT-2A	BSAT	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
18 March 22:33	Zenit-3SL		Ocean Odyssey		Sea Launch
	XM-2 "Rock"	XM Satellite Radio	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Partial satellite failure
	Design fault with solar panels led to shorter operational life, deactivated November 2006
7 April 03:47	Proton-M/Briz-M		Baikonur Site 81/24
	Ekran-M 18	GPKS	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
	Maiden flight of Proton-M
7 April 15:02	Delta II 7925-9.5		Cape Canaveral SLC-17A		Boeing IDS
	2001 Mars Odyssey	NASA	Areocentric	Mars orbiter	In orbit	Operational
18 April 10:13	GSLV		Satish Dhawan		ISRO
	GSAT-1	ISRO	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Failure
	Payload placed in incorrect orbit due to underpowered upper stage of launch vehicle Maiden flight of GSLV
19 April 18:40	Space Shuttle Endeavour		Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
	STS-100	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS assembly	1 May 16:10	Successful
	Raffaello MPLM	ASI/NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	Logistics		Successful
	Canadarm2	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS component	In orbit	Operational
	Manned orbital flight with 7 astronauts
28 April 07:37	Soyuz-U		Baikonur Site 1/5		Roskosmos
	Soyuz TM-32	Roskosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS escape craft	31 October	Successful
	Manned orbital flight with three cosmonauts including the first space tourist, whose flight was arranged by the American company Space Adventures
8 May 22:10	Zenit-3SL		Ocean Odyssey		Sea Launch
	XM-1 "Roll"	XM Satellite Radio	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Partial satellite failure
	Design fault with solar panels led to shorter operational life, deactivated November 2006
15 May 01:11	Proton-K/DM-2M		Baikonur Site 81/23		International Launch Services
	Panamsat 10	PanAmSat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
18 May 17:45	Delta II 7925-9.5		Cape Canaveral SLC-17B		Boeing IDS
	GeoLITE (USA-158)	NRO	Geostationary	Experimental communications	In orbit	Operational
20 May 22:32	Soyuz-FG		Baikonur Site 1/5		Roskosmos
	Progress M1-6	Roskosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	Logistics	22 August	Successful
	Maiden flight of Soyuz-FG ISS flight 4P
29 May 17:55	Soyuz-U		Plesetsk Site 43/4		VKS
	Kosmos 2377	MO RF	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	10 October	Successful
8 June 15:08	Kosmos-3M		Plesetsk Site 132		VKS
	Kosmos 2378	MO RF	Low Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
9 June 06:45	Ariane 4 44L		Kourou ELA-2		Arianespace
	Intelsat 901	Intelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
16 June 01:49	Proton-K/DM-2M		Baikonur Site 81/23		International Launch Services
	Astra 2C	SES Astra	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
19 June 04:41	Atlas IIAS		Cape Canaveral SLC-36B		International Launch Services
	ICO F2	ICO	Medium Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational
30 June 17:45	Delta II 7425-10		Cape Canaveral SLC-17B		Boeing IDS
	WMAP	NASA	Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange Point	Astronomy	In orbit	Successful
	Ceased operations on 20 August 2010, subsequently manoeuvred into heliocentric orbit on 8 September[1]
12 July 09:03	Space Shuttle Atlantis		Kennedy LC-39B		United Space Alliance
	STS-104	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS assembly	25 July 03:38	Successful
	Quest	NASA	Low Earth	ISS component	In orbit	Operational
	Manned orbital flight with five astronauts
12 July 21:58	Ariane 5G		Kourou ELA-3		Arianespace
	Artemis	ESA	Geosynchronous	Navigation	In orbit	Partial launch failure Operational
	BSAT-2B	BSAT	Intended: Geosynchronous Achieved: Medium Earth	Communications	28 January 2014	Launch failure
	Premature cutoff of 2nd stage. Artemis reached correct orbit under own power, BSAT abandoned in useless orbit
20 July 00:17	Molniya-M		Plesetsk Site 43/4		VKS
	Molniya 3–51	MO RF	Molniya	Communications	In orbit	Operational
23 July 07:23	Atlas IIA		Cape Canaveral SLC-36A
	GOES-12 (GOES-M)	NOAA	Geosynchronous	Weather satellite	In orbit	Operational
31 July 08:00	Tsyklon-3		Plesetsk Site 32/2		VKS
	Koronas F	RAKA	Sun-synchronous	Solar observation	In orbit	Operational
6 August 07:28	Titan IVB (402)/IUS		Cape Canaveral SLC-40		Lockheed Martin
	DSP-21 (USA-159)	US Air Force	Geosynchronous	Missile early warning	In orbit	Operational
8 August 16:13	Delta II 7326-9.5		Cape Canaveral SLC-17A		Boeing IDS
	Genesis	NASA	Earth-Sun L1 Lagrange Point	Solar Wind sample return	8 September 2004	Partial failure
	Parachute failed to deploy upon return to Earth, some samples recovered from wreckage
10 August 21:10	Space Shuttle Discovery		Kennedy LC-39A		United Space Alliance
	STS-105	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS assembly	22 August 03:38	Successful
	Leonardo MPLM	ASI/NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	Logistics		Successful
	Simplesat	NASA	Low Earth	Astronomy	30 January 2002	Failure
	Manned orbital flight with seven astronauts ISS crew exchange (launched Expedition 3) Simplesat released 20 August 18:30 UTC, and failed to contact ground
21 August 09:23	Soyuz-U		Baikonur Site 1/5		Roskosmos
	Progress M-45	Roskosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	Logistics	22 November	Successful
	ISS flight 5P
24 August 20:35	Proton-K/DM-2		Baikonur Site 81/24		VKS
	Kosmos 2379	VKS	Geosynchronous	Early warning	In orbit	Operational
29 August 07:00	H-IIA 202		Tanegashima LA-Y1
	LRE	NASDA	Geostationary transfer	Orbit determination	In orbit	Successful
	VEP-2	NASDA	Geostationary transfer	Boilerplate spacecraft	In orbit	Successful
	Maiden flight of H-IIA
30 August 06:46	Ariane 4 44L		Kourou ELA-2		Arianespace
	Intelsat 902	Intelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
8 September 15:25	Atlas IIAS		Vandenberg SLC-3E
	NOSS C1-1 (USA-160)	NRO	Low Earth	SIGINT	In orbit	Operational
	NOSS C1-1 (USA-160-2)	NRO	Low Earth	SIGINT	In orbit	Operational
14 September 23:34	Soyuz-U		Baikonur Site 1/5		Roskosmos
	Progress M-SO1	Roskosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	Orbital tug	26 September	Successful
	Pirs	Roskosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS component	In orbit	Operational
	ISS flight 4R
21 September 18:49	Taurus 2110		Vandenberg LC-576E		Orbital Sciences
	Orbview-4	OrbImage	Intended: Low Earth	Earth observation	21 September	Launch failure
	QuikTOMS	NASA	Intended: Low Earth	Ozone observation
	SBD	Orbital Sciences		Boilerplate spacecraft
	Celestis-4	Celestis	Intended: Low Earth	Space burial
	Failed to reach orbit after control issues
25 September 23:21	Ariane 4 44P		Kourou ELA-2		Arianespace
	Atlantic Bird 2	Eutelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
	Final flight of Ariane 4 44P
30 September 02:40	Athena I		Kodiak LP-1		Lockheed Martin
	Starshine 3	NASA	Low Earth		21 January 2003	Successful
	Picosat 9	US Air Force	Low Earth	Electronic component testing	In orbit	Successful
	PCSat	US Air Force	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational
	Sapphire	Stanford University	Low Earth		In orbit	Operational
	Kodiak Star, Space Test Program mission. Final flight of Athena I, and at the time final flight of the Athena family, which was later reactivated. First orbital launch from Kodiak Island.
5 October 21:21	Titan IVB (404)		Vandenberg SLC-4E		Lockheed Martin
	EIS-2 (USA-161)	NRO	Sun-synchronous	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Operational
6 October 16:45	Proton-K/DM-2		Baikonur Site 81		VKS
	Raduga-1	VKS	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
11 October 02:32	Atlas IIAS		Cape Canaveral SLC-36B
	Aquila (USA-162)	NRO	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
18 October 18:51	Delta II 7320-10		Vandenberg SLC-2W		Boeing IDS
	QuickBird 2	DigitalGlobe	Low Earth	Earth imaging	In orbit	Operational
21 October 08:59	Soyuz-U		Baikonur Site 1/5		Roskosmos
	Soyuz TM-33	Roskosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS escape craft	5 May 2002 03:52	Successful
	Manned orbital flight with three cosmonauts
22 October 04:53	PSLV		Satish Dhawan		ISRO
	TES	ISRO	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Operational
	PROBA	ESA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
	BIRD		Low Earth	Earth imaging	In orbit	Operational
24 October	Sounding Rocket II		Jiu Peng Air Base		NSPO
		NSPO	Suborbital	Ionospheric research	24 October	Launch failure
25 October 11:34	Molniya-M		Plesetsk Site 43/3		VKS
	Molniya 3–52	VKS	Molniya	Communications	6 December 2011	Successful
26 November 18:24	Soyuz-FG		Baikonur Site 1/5		Roskosmos
	Progress M1-7	Roskosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	Logistics	20 March 2002	Successful
	Kolibri	RAKA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	4 May 2002	Successful
	ISS flight 6P Kolibri deployed from Progress on 19 March 2002
27 November 00:35	Ariane 4 44LP		Kourou ELA-2		Arianespace
	DirecTV-4S	DirecTV	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
	Final flight of Ariane 4 44LP
1 December 18:04	Proton-K/DM-2		Baikonur		VKS
	Kosmos 2382 (GLONASS)	KNITs	Medium Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
	Kosmos 2383 (GLONASS)	KNITs	Medium Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
	Kosmos 2384 (GLONASS)	KNITs	Medium Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
5 December 22:19	Space Shuttle Endeavour		Kennedy LC-39B		United Space Alliance
	STS-108	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS assembly	17 December 17:55	Successful
	Raffaello MPLM	ASI/NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	Logistics		Successful
	Starshine 2	NASA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	26 April 2002	Successful
	Manned orbital flight with seven astronauts ISS crew exchange (launched Expedition 4) Starshine 2 released 16 December, 15:02 UTC
7 December 15:07	Delta II 7920-10		Vandenberg SLC-2W		Boeing IDS
	Jason 1	CNES/NASA	Low Earth	Oceanography	In orbit	Operational
	TIMED	NASA	Low Earth	Solar research	In orbit	Operational
10 December 17:18	Zenit-2		Baikonur Site 45/1
	Meteor 3M-1	Rosaviakosmos	Low Earth	Weather satellite	In orbit	Operational
	Kompas	IZMIRAN	Low Earth	Earthquake prediction	In orbit	Operational
	Badr B		Low Earth	Earth imaging	In orbit	Operational
	Maroc-Tubsat	Centre Royal de Teledetection Spatiale	Low Earth	Earth imaging/Communications	In orbit	Operational
	Reflector	Rosaviakosmos/US Air Force	Low Earth	Space debris research	In orbit	Operational
21 December 04:00	Tsyklon-2		Baikonur Site 90/20
	Kosmos 2383	Russian Navy	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	20 March 2004	Successful
28 December 03:24	Tsyklon-3		Plesetsk Site 32/2		VKS
	Kosmos 2384 (Strela)	VKS	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational
	Kosmos 2385 (Strela)	VKS	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational
	Kosmos 2386 (Strela)	VKS	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational
	Gonets D1-10 (Gonets)	VKS	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational
	Gonets D1-11 (Gonets)	VKS	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational
	Gonets D1-12 (Gonets)	VKS	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational

Deep space rendezvous

EVAs

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.[2][3]
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.[4]
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.[5]	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.[6]	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.[7]
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.[8]	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.[9]
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.[10]	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.[11][12][13]
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.[11][13][14]
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.[13][15][16]	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.[17][18]
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.[17][18]
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.[19]	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.[19]
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.[19]
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.[19]
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.[20][21][22]

References