2006 in spaceflight
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[edit] Launches
This is a list of spacecraft which were launched into space during the year 2006.
| Date and time of launch (GMT) | Rocket | Launch site | Spacecraft | Owner of spacecraft | Mission | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 January 19:00 | Atlas V | Cape Canaveral | New Horizons | NASA | Interplanetry | Flyby of Pluto in 2015 | |
| 24 January 01:33 | H-IIA | Tanegashima | Daichi | JAXA | Earth observation | ||
| 15 February 23:35 | Zenit-3 | Pacific Ocean | EchoStar 10 | EchoStar | Communication | ||
| 16 February 08:01 | Minuteman | Vandenberg Air Force Base | Dummy bomb | US Air Force | ICBM test | ||
| 18 February 06:27 | H-IIA | Tanegashima | MTSAT-2 | Japanese government | Air Traffic Control and weather | ||
| 21 February 21:28 | M-V | Uchinoura | Akari | JAXA | Astronomy | ||
| CUTE-1.7+APD | Nanosat (Very small satellite) | ||||||
| 28 February 20:10 | Proton | Baikonur | ARABSAT 4A | Arab Satellite Communications Organisation | Communications | Did not reach correct orbit after problems with rocket | |
| 11 March 22:33 | Ariane 5 | Kourou | SPAINSAT | Spanish government | Communications | ||
| Hot Bird 7A | Eutelsat | Communications | |||||
| 22 March 14:03 | Pegasus | Aircraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base | Space Technology 5 (Forward) | NASA | Study Earth | ||
| Space Technology 5 (Middle) | NASA | Study Earth | |||||
| Space Technology 5 (Aft) | NASA | Study Earth | |||||
| 24 March 22:30 | Falcon 1 | Omelek Island | FalconSat 2 | US Air Force | Study plasma | First flight of Falcon 1 rocket Engine failed 23 seconds after launch and the rocket crashed into the Pacific Ocean | |
| 30 March 02:30 | Soyuz | Baikonur | Soyuz TMA-8 | Russian Space Agency | Manned mission to International Space Station | Crew of 3 ISS Expedition 13 | |
| 7 April 13:00 | Minuteman | Vandenberg Air Force Base | Dummy bomb | US Air Force | ICBM test | ||
| 12 April 23:30 | Zenit-3 | Pacific Ocean | JCSAT-9 | JCSAT | Communication | ||
| 14 April 01:40 | Minotaur | Vandenberg Air Force Base | COSMIC-1 | COSMIC | Study Atmosphere | ||
| COSMIC-2 | COSMIC | Study Atmosphere | |||||
| COSMIC-3 | COSMIC | Study Atmosphere | |||||
| COSMIC-4 | COSMIC | Study Atmosphere | |||||
| COSMIC-5 | COSMIC | Study Atmosphere | |||||
| COSMIC-6 | COSMIC | Study Atmosphere | |||||
| 20 April 20:27 | Atlas V | Cape Canaveral | Astra 1KR | SES Astra | Communication | ||
| 24 April 16:03 | Soyuz | Baikonur | Progress | Russian Space Agency | Deliver supplies to International Space Station | ||
| 25 April 16:47 | Start-1 | Svobodniy | EROS-B | ImageSat | Earth imaging | ||
| 26 April 22:48 | Long March 4 | Taiyuan | Yaogan 1 | Spy satellite | |||
| 28 April 10:02 | Delta II | Vandenberg Air Force Base | CALIPSO | NASA | Study aerosols | ||
| CloudSat | NASA | Study clouds | |||||
| 3 May 17:38 | Soyuz | Baikonur | Kosmos-2420 | Russian government | Spy satellite | ||
| 24 May 22:11 | Delta IV | Cape Canaveral | GOES-13 | NASA/NOAA | Weather | ||
| 26 May 18:50 | Shtil' | Barents Sea | Kompass 2 | Izmiran | Earthquake detection | ||
| 27 May 21:09 | Ariane 5 | Kourou | SATMEX 6 | Satellites Mexicanas | Communication | ||
| THAICOM 5 | Shin Satellite | Communication | |||||
| 14 June 14:08 | Minuteman | Vandenberg Air Force Base | Dummy bomb | US Air Force | ICBM test | ||
| 15 June 08:00 | Soyuz | Baikonur | Resurs | Russian Space Agency | Earth observation | ||
| 18 June 07:50 | Zenit-3 | Pacific Ocean | Galaxy 16 | PanAmSat | Communication | ||
| 18 June 22:44 | Proton | Baikonur | KazSat | Government of Kazakhstan | Communication | ||
| 21 June 22:15 | Delta II | Cape Canaveral | MITEX-A | US Air Force | Technology test | ||
| MITEX-B | US Air Force | Technology test | |||||
| MITEX-Carrier | US Air Force | Technology test | |||||
| 24 June 15:08 | Soyuz | Baikonur | Progress | Russian Space Agency | Deliver supplies to International Space Station | ||
| 25 June 04:00 | Tsyklon-2 | Baikonur | Kosmos-2421 | Russian Navy | Spy satellite | Solar panels did not work | |
| 27 June 03:30 | Delta IV | Vandenberg Air Force Base | NRO L-22 | NRO | Spy satellite | ||
| 4 July 18:38 | Space Shuttle Discovery | Kennedy Space Center | STS-121 | NASA | Manned mission to International Space Station | Crew of 7 | |
| Leonardo MPLM | NASA | Deliver supplies to International Space Station | |||||
| 10 July 12:38 | GSLV | Satish Dhawan Space Centre | INSAT 4C | ISRO | Communications | Rocket destroyed after engine failure | |
| 12 July 15:53 | Dnepr | Dombarovskiy | Genesis-1 | Bigelow Aerospace | Space Station | Prototype (no crew) | |
| 20 July 10:14 | Minuteman | Vandenberg Air Force Base | Dummy bomb | US Air Force | ICBM test | ||
| 26 July 19:43 | Dnepr | Baikonur | BelKA | National Academy of Sciences of Republic of Belarus | Earth imaging | Crashed back to Earth after engine failure | |
| Unisat-4 | Universita di Roma | Technology test | |||||
| Baumanets | Moskovskiy Gosudarstvenniy Tekhnicheskiy Universitet | Earth imaging and radio | |||||
| PICPOT | Politecnico di Torino | Earth imaging | |||||
| SACRED | University of Arizona | CubeSat | |||||
| ION | University of Illinois | Double CubeSat | |||||
| Rincon 1 | University of Arizona | CubeSat | |||||
| ICECube-1 | Cornell | CubeSat | |||||
| KUTESat Pathfinder | University of Kansas | CubeSat | |||||
| SEEDS | Nihon University | CubeSat | |||||
| nCube | Government of Norway | CubeSat | |||||
| HAUSAT-1 | Government of South Korea | CubeSat | |||||
| MEROPE | University of Montana | CubeSat | |||||
| CP-2 | CalPoly | CubeSat | |||||
| AeroCube-1 | AerospaceCorp | CubeSat | |||||
| CP-1 | CalPoly | CubeSat | |||||
| Voyager | University of Hawaii | CubeSat | |||||
| ICECube2 | Cornell | CubeSat | |||||
| 28 July 07:05 | Rokot | Baikonur | KOMPSAT 2 | Earth imaging | |||
| 4 August 21:48 | Proton | Baikonur | Hot Bird 8 | Eutelsat | Communication | ||
| 11 August 22:15 | Ariane 5 | Kourou | JCSat-10 | Communication | |||
| Syracuse 3B | Communication | ||||||
| 22 August 03:27 | Zenit-3 | Pacific Ocean | Koreasat 5 | KT Corporation | Communication | ||
| 9 September 07:00 | Long March 2 | Jiuquan | Shi Jian 8 | CASC | Grow seeds in space | ||
| 9 September 15:15 | Space Shuttle Atlantis | Kennedy Space Center | STS-115 | NASA | Manned flight to International Space Station | Crew of 6 | |
| ISS P3/4 Truss | NASA | Part of the International Space Station | |||||
| 11 September 04:35 | H-IIA | Tanegashima | Information Gathering Satellite | Japanese government | Spy satellite | ||
| 12 September 16:02 | Long March 3 | Taiyuan | Zhongxing 22A | ||||
| 14 September 13:41 | Soyuz | Baikonur | Kosmos-2423 | Spy satellite | |||
| 18 September 04:09 | Soyuz | Baikonur | Soyuz TMA-9 | Russian Space Agency | Manned mission to International Space Station | Crew of 3 ISS Expedition 14 | |
| 22 September 21:36 | M-V | Uchinoura | Hinode | JAXA | Observe the Sun | Last flight of the M-V rocket SSSat did not work | |
| HIT-SAT | Hokkaido Institute of Technology | Technology test | |||||
| SSSat | JAXA | Solar sail | |||||
| 25 September 18:50 | Delta II | Cape Canaveral | GPS 2R-M2 | US Air Force | Navigation | ||
| 25 September 20:14 | SpaceLoft | Spaceport America | Various | UP Aerospace | Scientific experiments | First flight of SpaceLoft First flight from Spaceport America Lost control and crashed | |
| 13 October 20:56 | Ariane 5 | Kourou | DirecTV-9S | Communication | |||
| Optus D1 | Communication | ||||||
| LDREX-2 | Technology test | ||||||
| 19 October 16:28 | Soyuz | Baikonur | MetOp-A | Eumetsat | Weather satellite | ||
| 23 October 13:41 | Soyuz | Baikonur | Progress | Russian Space Agency | Deliver supplies to International Space Station | ||
| 24 October 23:34 | Long March 4 | Taiyuan | Shi Jian 6-2A | Study environment | |||
| Shi Jian 6-2B | Study environment | ||||||
| 26 October | Delta II | Cape Canaveral | STEREO-A | NASA | Study Sun and Earth | ||
| STEREO-B | NASA | Study Sun and Earth | |||||
| 28 October 16:20 | Long March 3 | Xichang | Sinosat-2 | Sino Satellite Communications Company | Communication | Solar panels did not work | |
| 30 October 23:48 | Zenit-3 | Pacific Ocean | XM-4 "Blues" | XM Satellite Radio | Communication | ||
| 4 November 13:53 | Delta IV | Vandenberg Air Force Base | DMSP F17 | US Air Force | Weather | ||
| 8 November 20:01 | Proton | Baikonur | Badr 4 | Arabsat | Communication | ||
| 17 November 19:12 | Delta II | Cape Canaveral | GPS 2R-M3 | US Air Force | Navigation | ||
| 8 December 00:53 | Long March 3 | Taiyuan | Feng Yun 2D | CSMA | Weather | ||
| 8 December 22:07 | Ariane 5 | Kourou | Americom 18 | SES Americom | Communication | ||
| WildBlue 1 | WildBlue | Communication | |||||
| 10 December 01:47 | Space Shuttle Discovery | Kennedy Space Center | STS-116 | NASA | Manned flight to International Space Station | Crew of 7 | |
| ISS P5 Truss | NASA | Part of the International Space Station | |||||
| Spacehab module | NASA/Spacehab | Deliver supplies to International Space Station | |||||
| ANDE | US Navy | Technology test | |||||
| RAFT-1 | US Navy | Technology test | |||||
| MARScom | US Navy | Technology test | |||||
| MEPSI-2 | DARPA | Technology test | |||||
| 11 December 23:28 | Proton | Baikonur | MEASAT 3 | Communication | |||
| 14 December 21:00 | Delta II | Vandenberg Air Force Base | NRO L-21 | NRO | Spy satellite | ||
| 16 December 12:00 | Minotaur | Wallops Island | TacSat 2 | US Navy | Technology test | ||
| GeneSat | NASA | Scientific experiments | |||||
| 19 December 14:00 | Kosmos 3M | Plesetsk | SAR-Lupe 1 | ||||
| 18 December 06:32 | H-IIA | Tanegashima | ETS-8 | JAXA | Technology test | ||
|  | |||||||
| 22 December | Soyuz | Plesetsk | TBC | VKS | Communication | ||
| 25 December | Proton | Baikonur | Glonass | KNITs | Navigation | ||
| Glonass | KNITs | Navigation | |||||
| Glonass | KNITs | Navigation | |||||
| 27 December | Soyuz | Baikonur | CoRoT | CNES | Astronomy | ||
[edit] References
- Encyclopedia Astronautica
- Gunter's Space Page - Chronology of Space Launches
- JAXA
- Jonathan's Space Report (SatCat.txt and Launchlog.txt)
- NASA
- Orbital Report News Agency's Launch Logs
- SpaceFlightNow
- Steven Pietrobon's Space Archive
| Came after: 2005 | Timeline of spaceflight 2006 | Came before: 2007 | 

