1976 in spaceflight

1976 in spaceflight
Orbital launches
Viking 2 on the surface of Mars
First	6 January
Last	28 December
Total	131
Catalogued	128
National firsts
Satellite	Indonesia
Rockets
Maiden flights	Thor DSV-2U
Retirements	Voskhod Scout B-1 Soyuz Soyuz-M Thor-Burner
Manned flights
Orbital	3
Total travellers	6

Launches

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Launch site		LSP
	Payload	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
	Remarks
22 June 18:04:00	Proton-K		Baikonur Site 81/23
	Salyut 5 (Almaz OPS-3)		Low Earth	Space station	8 August 1977	Successful
	Visited by three crews, one of which failed to dock
6 July 12:08:45	Soyuz		Baikonur Site 1/5
	Soyuz 21		Low Earth (Salyut 5)	Salyut expedition	24 August 18:32:17	Partial mission failure
	Manned flight with two cosmonauts, final flight of Soyuz 11A511, returned early due to crew illness
15 September 09:48:30	Soyuz-U		Baikonur Site 1/5
	Soyuz 22		Low Earth	Salyut expedition	23 September 07:40:47	Successful
	Manned flight with two cosmonauts
14 October 17:39:18	Soyuz-U		Baikonur Site 1/5
	Soyuz 23		Low Earth (Intended: Salyut 5)	Salyut expedition	16 October 17:45:53	Spacecraft failure
	Manned flight with two cosmonauts, failed to dock with Salyut 5

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Deep space rendezvous

Date	Spacecraft	Event	Remarks
19 June	Viking 1	Areocentric orbit insertion
20 July	Viking 1 Lander	landed in Chryse Planitia
7 August	Viking 2	Areocentric orbit insertion
18 August	Luna 24	landed in Mare Crisium	sample return mission
19 August	Luna 24	lift-off from Mare Crisium	170 grams (6.0 oz)
3 September	Viking 2 Lander	landed in Utopia Planitia

References

Kyle, Ed. "Space Launch Report".
Wade, Mark. "Encyclopedia Astronautica".
Krebs, Gunter. "Chronology of Space Launches". Gunter's Space Page.
"Space Information Center". JAXA.
McDowell, Jonathan. "Jonathan's Space Report". Jonathan's Space Page.
"Mission Set Database". NASA GSFC.
"NASASpaceFlight.com".
"Launch Logs". Orbital Report News Agency.
"Space Calendar". NASA JPL.
"Southwest Space Archive".
"Launch Forecast". Space.com.
"Spaceflight Now".
Pietrobon, Steven. "Steven Pietrobon's Space Archive".
"U.S. Space Objects Registry".
"Хроника освоения космоса ('Chronicle of space exploration')" (in Russian). Cosmoworld.ru.

Generic references:

Footnotes

Timeline of spaceflight
1940s					1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949
1950s	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
1960s	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
1970s	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
1980s	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
1990s	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
2000s	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
2010s	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016

← 1975 · Orbital launches in 1976 · 1977 →

Kosmos 787 \| Kosmos 788 \| Helios 2 \| Hermes \| Kosmos 789 \| Molniya-1 No.40 \| Kosmos 790 \| Kosmos 791 · Kosmos 792 · Kosmos 793 · Kosmos 794 · Kosmos 795 · Kosmos 796 · Kosmos 797 · Kosmos 798 \| Kosmos 799 \| Intelsat IVA F-2 \| Kosmos 800 \| CORSA-A \| Kosmos 801 \| Kosmos 802 \| Kosmos 803 \| Kosmos 804 \| OPS 5140 \| Marisat 1 \| Kosmos 805 \| Ume 1 \| Kosmos 806 \| Molniya-1-33 \| Kosmos 807 \| LES-8 · LES-9 · Solrad 11A · Solrad 11B \| Kosmos 808 \| Kosmos 809 \| Molniya-1 No.42 \| OPS 7600 \| Kosmos 810 \| Satcom 2 \| Kosmos 811 \| Kosmos 812 \| Meteor No.37 \| Kosmos 813 \| Kosmos 814 \| NATO 3A \| Kosmos 815 \| Kosmos 816 \| OPS 6431 · OPS 6431 SSU-1 · OPS 6431 SSU-2 · OPS 6431 SSU-3 \| LAGEOS-1 \| Kosmos 817 \| Molniya-3 No.16 \| Comstar 1A \| Meteor-Priroda No.2-1 \| Kosmos 818 \| Kosmos 819 \| Kosmos 820 \| Wideband \| Kosmos 821 \| Kosmos 822 \| OPS 7837 \| Kosmos 823 \| Kosmos 824 \| Marisat-3 \| Kosmos 825 · Kosmos 826 · Kosmos 827 · Kosmos 828 · Kosmos 829 · Kosmos 830 · Kosmos 831 · Kosmos 832 \| Kosmos 833 \| Interkosmos 15 \| Salyut 5 \| Kosmos 834 \| OPS 2112 \| Kosmos 835 \| Kosmos 836 \| Kosmos 837 \| Kosmos 838 \| Soyuz 21 \| OPS 4699 · OPS 5366 · OPS 3986 \| Kosmos 839 \| Palapa A1 \| Kosmos 840 \| Kosmos 841 \| Kosmos 842 \| Kosmos 843 \| Kosmos 844 \| Comstar 1B \| Molniya-1 No.43 \| Kosmos 845 \| Interkosmos 16 \| NOAA-5 \| Kosmos 846 \| Kosmos 847 \| OPS 7940 \| Luna 24 \| Kosmos 848 \| Kosmos 849 \| Kosmos 850 \| Kosmos 851 \| Kosmos 852 \| Ji Shu Shiyan Weixing 3 \| Kosmos 853 \| Triad 3 \| Kosmos 854 \| OPS 5721 \| Gran' No.12L \| Soyuz 22 \| OPS 8533 \| Kosmos 855 \| Kosmos 856 \| Kosmos 857 \| Kosmos 858 \| Unnamed \| Kosmos 859 \| Soyuz 23 \| Marisat-2 \| Meteor No.35 \| Kosmos 860 \| Kosmos 861 \| Kosmos 862 \| Kosmos 863 \| Ekran No.11L \| Kosmos 864 \| Kosmos 865 \| Kosmos 865 \| Unnamed \| Kosmos 866 \| Kosmos 867 \| Prognoz 5 \| Kosmos 868 \| Kosmos 869 \| Kosmos 870 \| Molniya-2-16 \| Fanhui Shi Weixing 3 \| Kosmos 871 · Kosmos 872 · Kosmos 873 · Kosmos 874 · Kosmos 875 · Kosmos 876 · Kosmos 877 · Kosmos 878 \| Kosmos 879 \| Kosmos 880 \| Kosmos 881 · Kosmos 882 \| Kosmos 883 \| Kosmos 884 \| Kosmos 885 \| OPS 5705 \| Kosmos 886 \| Molniya-3 No.17 \| Kosmos 887

Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( \| ). Manned flights are indicated in bold text. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets).