1990 in spaceflight
Encyclopedia
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Deep-space rendezvous
| Date (GMT Greenwich Mean Time Greenwich Mean Time is a term originally referring to mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. It is arguably the same as Coordinated Universal Time and when this is viewed as a time zone the name Greenwich Mean Time is especially used by bodies connected with the United... ) |
Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 February | Galileo | Flyby of Venus Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows... |
Gravity assist; Closest approach: 16000 kilometres (9,942 mi) |
| 19 March | Hiten Hiten The Hiten Spacecraft , given the English name Celestial Maiden and known before launch as MUSES-A , part of the MUSES Program, was built by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of Japan and launched on January 24, 1990... |
Flyby of the Moon Moon The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more... |
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| 19 March | Hagoromo Hiten The Hiten Spacecraft , given the English name Celestial Maiden and known before launch as MUSES-A , part of the MUSES Program, was built by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of Japan and launched on January 24, 1990... |
Selenocentric orbit injection | |
| 10 August | Magellan Magellan probe The Magellan spacecraft, also referred to as the Venus Radar Mapper, was a 1,035-kilogram robotic space probe launched by NASA on May 4, 1989, to map the surface of Venus using Synthetic Aperture Radar and measure the planetary gravity... |
Cytherean Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows... orbit injection |
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| 8 December | Galileo | 1st flyby of the Earth | Gravity assist; Closest approach: 960 kilometres (596.5 mi) |
EVAs
| Start Date/Time | Duration | End Time | Spacecraft | Crew | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 January 20:23 |
2 hours |
23:19 | Mir Mir Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the... EO-5 |
 Aleksandr SerebrovAleksandr Serebrov Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Serebrov is a former Soviet cosmonaut. He was born in Moscow, on February 15, 1944, graduated from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology , and was selected as a cosmonaut on December 1, 1978. He retired on May 10, 1995... |
Installed new star tracker sensors launched in the Kvant-2 Kvant-2 Kvant-2 was the third module and second major addition to the Mir space station. Its primary purpose was to deliver new science experiments, better life support systems, and an airlock to Mir. It was launched on November 26, 1989 on a Proton rocket. It docked to Mir on December 6... module onto Kvant-1 Kvant-1 Kvant-1 was the second module of the Soviet space station Mir. It was the first addition to the Mir base block and contained scientific instruments for astrophysical observations and materials science experiments.... . |
| 11 January 18:01 |
2 hours 54 minutes |
20:55 | Mir EO-5 | Alexander Viktorenko Aleksandr Serebrov |
Closed out experimental racks, either retrieving for return to earth, or discarding into space. Modified the docking node for the arrival of the Kristall Kristall The Kristall module was the fourth module and the third major addition to the Mir space station. As with previous modules, its configuration was based on the 77K module, and was originally named "Kvant 3". It was launched on May 31, 1990 on a Proton rocket... module. |
| 26 January 12:09 |
3 hours 2 minutes |
15:11 | Mir EO-5 Kvant-2 Kvant-2 Kvant-2 was the third module and second major addition to the Mir space station. Its primary purpose was to deliver new science experiments, better life support systems, and an airlock to Mir. It was launched on November 26, 1989 on a Proton rocket. It docked to Mir on December 6... |
Alexander Viktorenko Aleksandr Serebrov |
Tested the new Orlan-DMA spacesuit. This spacewalk team was the first use of the EVA airlock hatch on the Kvant-2 module. During the spacewalk a mooring post was attached outside the airlock, and a Kurs Kurs (docking system) Kurs is a radio telemetry system used by the Soviet and later Russian space program.Kurs was developed by the Research Institute of Precision Instruments before 1985 and manufactured by the Kiev Radio Factory .- History :... antenna was removed to enable future EVAs. |
| 1 February 08:15 |
4 hours 59 minutes |
13:14 | Mir EO-5 Kvant-2 |
Alexander Viktorenko Aleksandr Serebrov |
Tested the SPK "flying armchair", analogous to NASA's MMU Manned Maneuvering Unit The Manned Maneuvering Unit is an astronaut propulsion unit which was used by NASA on three space shuttle missions in 1984. The MMU allowed the astronauts to perform untethered EVA spacewalks at a distance from the shuttle. The MMU was used in practice to retrieve a pair of faulty communications... . The SPK did not fly free, but remained tethered to Kvant-2 during the tests. |
| 5 February 06:08 |
3 hours 45 minutes |
09:53 | Mir EO-5 Kvant-2 |
Alexander Viktorenko Aleksandr Serebrov |
Conducted more tests of the SPK. Viktorenko reached as far as 45 metres (147.6 ft) from Mir. |
| 17 July 13:06 |
7 hours 15 minutes |
20:22 | Mir EO-6 Kvant-2 |
Anatoly Solovyev Anatoly Solovyev Anatoly Yakovlevich Solovyev is a former Soviet pilot, cosmonaut, and Colonel. Solovyev holds the world record on the number of spacewalks performed , and accumulated time spent spacewalking .- Family :... Aleksandr Balandin |
At the start of their EVA to repair torn insulation on the Soyuz TM-9 Soyuz TM-9 -Mission highlights:During docking, cosmonauts aboard Mir noticed that three of the eight thermal blankets on the descent module of the approaching Soyuz-TM 9 spacecraft had come loose from their attachments near the heat shield, yet remained attached at their top ends... , Solovyev and Balandin damaged the hatch on Kvant-2 by opening it before the airlock was completely depressurized. The spacewalking team repaired the insulation on Soyuz, but time constraints required returning to Kvant-2 before they collected their tools and ladders. Unable to securely close the damaged hatch, they used the center section of Kvant-2 as a back-up airlock. |
| 26 July 11:15 |
3 hours 31 minutes |
14:46 | Mir EO-6 Kvant-2 |
Anatoly Solovyev Aleksandr Balandin |
Transmitted images of the damaged hatch to TsUP, recovered the ladders and tools left outside earlier and removed debris lodged in the hinge of the airlock hatch, allowing the hatch to close and seal for repressurization. |
| 29 October 21:45 |
2 hours 45 minutes |
00:30 |
Mir EO-7 Kvant-2 |
Gennadi Manakov Gennadi Manakov Gennadi Mikhailovich Manakov is a former cosmonaut that commanded two Soyuz flights.Mankov was born in Yefimovka, Orenburg Oblast, Russian SFSR on June 1, 1950. He was selected as a Fluffer on September 2, 1985 and flew as Commander on Soyuz TM-10 and Soyuz TM-16, retiring on December 20, 1996. He... Gennady StrekalovGennady Strekalov Gennadi Mikhailovich Strekalov was an Instructor-Test-Cosmonaut and Department Head at Russian aerospace firm RSC Energia. He has been decorated twice as Hero of the Soviet Union... |
After removing insulation around the damaged Kvant-2 hatch, they found the hatch to be more heavily damaged than previously understood. Although unable to completely repair the hatch, they added hardware to the hatch. |