2006 in spaceflight

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 Air Force Station	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 of Earth
			COSMIC-2	COSMIC	Study Atmosphere of Earth
			COSMIC-3	COSMIC	Study Atmosphere of Earth
			COSMIC-4	COSMIC	Study Atmosphere of Earth
			COSMIC-5	COSMIC	Study Atmosphere of Earth
			COSMIC-6	COSMIC	Study Atmosphere of Earth
20 April 20:27	Atlas V	Cape Canaveral Air Force Station	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 Air Force Station	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 Air Force Station	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 Air Force Station	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 Air Force Station	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 08:34	Soyuz	Plesetsk	TBC	VKS	Communication
25 December 20:18	Proton	Baikonur	Glonass	KNITs	Navigation
			Glonass	KNITs	Navigation
			Glonass	KNITs	Navigation
27 December 14:23	Soyuz	Baikonur	CoRoT	CNES	Astronomy

References

• Encyclopedia Astronautica
• Gunter's Space Page - Chronology of Space Launches
• JAXA Archived 2005-07-03 at the Wayback Machine
• Jonathan's Space Report (SatCat.txt and Launchlog.txt)
• NASA
• Orbital Report News Agency's Launch Logs
• SpaceFlightNow
• Steven Pietrobon's Space Archive

Preceded by 2005

Timeline of spaceflight 2006

Succeeded by 2007