Table of Contents
For Students
Quizzes
Read Next
Crewed spaceflights, 1980–89
- Related Topics:
- spaceflight
- astronaut
- space law
- spacecraft
- space elevator
News •
He Was a Prophet of Space Travel. His Ashes Were Found in a Basement.
• Apr. 20, 2025, 10:10 PM ET (New York Times)
Iran's Space Program Is Growing Stronger Despite US Sanctions
• Apr. 18, 2025, 5:46 AM ET (Bloomberg)
Crewed spaceflights during the 1980s are listed chronologically in the table.
| mission | country | crew | dates | notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soyuz 35/Salyut 6/Soyuz 37 | U.S.S.R. | Leonid Popov | April 9–Oct. 11, 1980 | new space endurance record (184 days 20 hours) | ||
| Valery Ryumin | ||||||
| Soyuz 36/Salyut 6/Soyuz 35 | U.S.S.R. | Valery Kubasov | May 26–June 3, 1980 | first Hungarian astronaut (Farkas) | ||
| Bertalan Farkas | ||||||
| Soyuz T-2/Salyut 6 | U.S.S.R. | Yuri Malyshev | June 5–9, 1980 | test flight of updated Soyuz | ||
| Vladimir Aksyonov | ||||||
| Soyuz 37/Salyut 6/Soyuz 36 | U.S.S.R. | Viktor Gorbatko | July 23–31, 1980 | first Vietnamese astronaut (Tuan) | ||
| Pham Tuan | ||||||
| Soyuz 38/Salyut 6 | U.S.S.R. | Yury Romanenko | Sept. 18–26, 1980 | first Cuban astronaut (Tamayo Méndez) | ||
| Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez | ||||||
 | Soyuz T-3/Salyut 6 | U.S.S.R. | Leonid Kizim | Nov. 27–Dec. 10, 1980 | conducted maintenance and repairs of Salyut 6 | |
| Oleg Makarov | ||||||
| Gennady Strekalov | ||||||
| Soyuz T-4/Salyut 6 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Kovalyonok | March 12–May 26, 1981 | conducted biomedical experiments | ||
| Viktor Savinkyh | ||||||
| Soyuz 39/Salyut 6 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Dzhanibekov | March 22–30, 1981 | first Mongolian astronaut (Gurragcha) | ||
| Jugderdemidiin Gurragcha | ||||||
 | STS-1 (Columbia) | U.S. | John Young | April 12–14, 1981 | first space shuttle flight | |
| Robert Crippen | ||||||
| Soyuz 40/Salyut 6 | U.S.S.R. | Leonid Popov | May 14–22, 1981 | first Romanian astronaut (Prunariu) | ||
| Dumitru Prunariu | ||||||
 | STS-2 (Columbia) | U.S. | Joseph Engle | Nov. 12–14, 1981 | first reuse of a crewed spacecraft | |
| Richard Truly | ||||||
 | STS-3 (Columbia) | U.S. | Jack Lousma | March 22–30, 1982 | conducted biological experiments and operated manipulator arm | |
| Gordon Fullerton | ||||||
 | Soyuz T-5/Salyut 7/Soyuz T-7 | U.S.S.R. | Anatoly Berezovoy | May 13–Dec. 10, 1982 | new space endurance record (211 days 9 hours) | |
| Valentin Lebedev | ||||||
 | Soyuz T-6/Salyut 7 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Dzhanibekov | June 24–July 2, 1982 | first French astronaut (Chrétien) | |
| Aleksandr Ivanchenkov | ||||||
| Jean-Loup Chrétien | ||||||
 | STS-4 (Columbia) | U.S. | Thomas Mattingly | June 27–July 4, 1982 | first Getaway Specials, which were small, inexpensive experiments carried in payload bay | |
| Henry Hartsfield | ||||||
 | Soyuz T-7/Salyut 7/Soyuz T-5 | U.S.S.R. | Leonid Popov | Aug. 19–27, 1982 | second woman in space (Savitskaya) | |
| Aleksandr Serebrov | ||||||
| Svetlana Savitskaya | ||||||
 | STS-5 (Columbia) | U.S. | Vance Brand | Nov. 11–16, 1982 | first four-person spaceflight; deployed two communication satellites | |
| Robert Overmyer | ||||||
| William Lenoir | ||||||
| Joseph Allen | ||||||
 | STS-6 (Challenger) | U.S. | Paul Weitz | April 4–9, 1983 | tested space shuttle spacesuits for the first time | |
| Karol Bobko | ||||||
| Story Musgrave | ||||||
| Donald Peterson | ||||||
| Soyuz T-8 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Titov | April 20–22, 1983 | failed to dock with Salyut 7 | ||
| Gennady Strekalov | ||||||
| Aleksandr Serebrov | ||||||
 | STS-7 (Challenger) | U.S. | Robert Crippen | June 18–24, 1983 | first American woman in space (Ride); first five-person spaceflight | |
| Frederick Hauck | ||||||
| John Fabian | ||||||
| Sally Ride | ||||||
| Norman Thagard | ||||||
| Soyuz T-9/Salyut 7 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Lyakhov | June 27–Nov. 23, 1983 | attached Salyut 7 to experimental solar cell battery | Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandrov | |
 | STS-8 (Challenger) | U.S. | Richard Truly | Aug. 30–Sept. 5, 1983 | first African American in space (Bluford) | |
| Daniel Brandenstein | ||||||
| Dale Gardner | ||||||
| Guion Bluford | ||||||
| William Thornton | ||||||
 | STS-9 (Columbia) | U.S. | John Young | Nov. 28–Dec. 8, 1983 | first ESA astronaut in space (Merbold); carried Spacelab 1 | |
| Brewster Shaw | ||||||
| Owen Garriott | ||||||
| Robert Parker | ||||||
| Byron Lichtenberg | ||||||
| Ulf Merbold | ||||||
 | STS-41-B (Challenger) | U.S. | Vance Brand | Feb. 3–11, 1984 | first untethered spacewalk (McCandless) | |
| Robert Gibson | ||||||
| Bruce McCandless | ||||||
| Ronald McNair | ||||||
| Robert Stewart | ||||||
| Soyuz T-10/Salyut 7/Soyuz T-11 | U.S.S.R. | Leonid Kizim | Feb. 8–Oct. 2, 1984 | new space endurance record (236 days 23 hours) | ||
| Vladimir Solovyov | ||||||
| Oleg Atkov | ||||||
| Soyuz T-11/Salyut 7/Soyuz T-10 | U.S.S.R. | Yury Malyshev | April 3–11, 1984 | first Indian in space (Sharma) | ||
| Gennady Strekalov | ||||||
| Rakesh Sharma | ||||||
 | STS-41-C (Challenger) | U.S. | Robert Crippen | April 6–13, 1984 | first in-orbit repair of a satellite | |
| Francis Scobee | ||||||
| Terry Hart | ||||||
| George Nelson | ||||||
| James van Hoften | ||||||
| Soyuz T-12/Salyut 7 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Dzhanibekov | July 17–29, 1984 | first woman to walk in space (Savitskaya) | ||
| Svetlana Savitskaya | ||||||
| Igor Volk | ||||||
 | STS-41-D (Discovery) | U.S. | Henry Hartsfield | Aug. 30–Sept. 5, 1984 | launched three communication satellites into orbit | |
| Michael Coats | ||||||
| Steven Hawley | ||||||
| Mike Mullane | ||||||
| Judith Resnik | ||||||
| Charles Walker | ||||||
 | STS-41-G (Challenger) | U.S. | Robert Crippen | Oct. 5–13, 1984 | first Canadian in space (Garneau); first American woman to walk in space (Sullivan) | |
| Jon McBride | ||||||
| Kathryn Sullivan | ||||||
| Sally Ride | ||||||
| David Leetsma | ||||||
| Marc Garneau | ||||||
| Paul Scully-Power | ||||||
 | STS-51-A (Discovery) | U.S. | Frederick Hauck | Nov. 8–16, 1984 | first retrieval of two satellites for repair and relaunch | |
| David Walker | ||||||
| Dale Gardner | ||||||
| Joseph Allen | ||||||
| Anna Fisher | ||||||
 | STS-51-C (Discovery) | U.S. | Thomas Mattingly | Jan. 24–27, 1985 | first military shuttle mission | |
| Loren Shriver | ||||||
| Ellison Onizuka | ||||||
| James Buchli | ||||||
| Gary Payton | ||||||
 | STS-51-D (Discovery) | U.S. | Karol Bobko | April 12–19, 1985 | first politician in space (Garn) | |
| Donald Williams | ||||||
| Stanley Griggs | ||||||
| Jeffrey Hoffman | ||||||
| Rhea Seddon | ||||||
| Jake Garn | ||||||
| Charles Walker | ||||||
 | STS-51-B (Challenger) | U.S. | Robert Overmyer | April 29–May 6, 1985 | conducted materials processing and life science experiments | |
| Fred Gregory | ||||||
| Norman Thagard | ||||||
| William Thornton | ||||||
| Don Lind | ||||||
| Lodewijk van den Berg | ||||||
| Taylor Wang | ||||||
| Soyuz T-13/Salyut 7 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Dzhanibekov | June 6–Sept. 26, 1985 (Nov. 21 [Savinykh]) | repaired dead space station | ||
| Viktor Savinykh | ||||||
 | STS-51-G (Discovery) | U.S. | Daniel Brandenstein | June 17–24, 1985 | first Saudi astronaut (al-Saud) | |
| John Creighton | ||||||
| John Fabian | ||||||
| Steven Nagel | ||||||
| Shannon Lucid | ||||||
| Patrick Baudry | ||||||
| Salman al-Saud | ||||||
 | STS-51-F (Challenger) | U.S. | Gordon Fullerton | July 29–Aug. 6, 1985 | flight of Spacelab 2 | |
| Roy Bridges | ||||||
| Anthony England | ||||||
| Karl Henize | ||||||
| Story Musgrave | ||||||
| Loren Acton | ||||||
| John-David Bartoe | ||||||
 | STS-51-I (Discovery) | U.S. | Joseph Engle | Aug. 27–Sept. 3, 1985 | repair and redeployment of satellite in orbit | |
| Richard Covey | ||||||
| William Fisher | ||||||
| John Lounge | ||||||
| James van Hoften | ||||||
| Soyuz T-14/Salyut 7 | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Vasyutin | Sept. 17–Nov. 21, 1985 (Sept. 26 [Grechko]) | mission cut short because of psychological illness of Vasyutin | ||
| Aleksandr Volkov | ||||||
| Georgy Grechko | ||||||
 | STS-51-J (Atlantis) | U.S. | Karol Bobko | Oct. 3–7, 1985 | launched two military communications satellites into orbit | |
| Ronald Grabe | ||||||
| David Hilmers | ||||||
| Robert Stewart | ||||||
| William Pailes | ||||||
 | STS-61-A (Challenger) | U.S. | Henry Hartsfield | Oct. 30–Nov. 6, 1985 | first Dutch astronaut (Ockels) | |
| Steven Nagel | ||||||
| Guion Bluford | ||||||
| James Buchli | ||||||
| Bonnie Dunbar | ||||||
| Reinhard Furrer | ||||||
| Ernst Messerschmid | ||||||
| Wubbo Ockels | ||||||
 | STS-61-B (Atlantis) | U.S. | Brewster Shaw | Nov. 27–Dec. 3, 1985 | first Mexican astronaut (Neri Vela) | |
| Bryan O'Connor | ||||||
| Mary Cleave | ||||||
| Sherwood Spring | ||||||
| Jerry Ross | ||||||
| Rodolfo Neri Vela | ||||||
| Charles Walker | ||||||
 | STS-61-C (Columbia) | U.S. | Robert Gibson | Jan. 12–18, 1986 | first Hispanic American in space (Chang-Díaz); first U.S. congressman in space (Nelson) | |
| Charles Bolden | ||||||
| Franklin Chang-Díaz | ||||||
| Stephen Hawley | ||||||
| George Nelson | ||||||
| Robert Cenker | ||||||
| Bill Nelson | ||||||
 | STS-51-L (Challenger) | U.S. | Francis Scobee | Jan. 28, 1986 | crew killed when shuttle exploded 73 seconds after liftoff | |
| Michael Smith | ||||||
| Ellison Onizuka | ||||||
| Judith Resnik | ||||||
| Ronald McNair | ||||||
| Gregory Jarvis | ||||||
| Christa McAuliffe | ||||||
| Soyuz T-15/Mir/Salyut 7 | U.S.S.R. | Leonid Kizim | March 13–July 16, 1986 | first spaceflight between two space stations | ||
| Vladimir Solovyov | ||||||
| Soyuz TM-2/Mir | U.S.S.R. | Aleksandr Laveykin | Feb. 5–July 30, 1987 (Dec. 29 [Romanenko]) | new space endurance record (Romanenko; 326 days 12 hours); addition of Kvant 1 module to Mir | ||
| Yury Romanenko | ||||||
| Soyuz TM-3/Mir | U.S.S.R. | Aleksandr Viktorenko | July 22–July 30, 1987 (Dec. 29 [Aleksandrov]) | first Syrian astronaut (Faris) | ||
| Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandrov | ||||||
| Muhammed Faris | ||||||
| Soyuz TM-4/Mir | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Titov | Dec. 21, 1987–Dec. 21, 1988 (Dec. 29, 1987 [Levchenko]) | new space endurance record (Titov and Manarov; 365 days 23 hours) | ||
| Musa Manarov | ||||||
| Anatoly Levchenko | ||||||
 | Soyuz TM-5/Mir/Soyuz TM-4 | U.S.S.R. | Anatoly Solovyov | June 7–17, 1988 | second Bulgarian astronaut (Aleksandrov) | |
| Viktor Savinykh | ||||||
| Aleksandr Panayatov Aleksandrov | ||||||
| Soyuz TM-6/Mir | U.S.S.R. | Vladimir Lyakhov | Aug. 29–Sept. 7, 1988 (April 4, 1989 [Polyakov]) | first Afghan astronaut (Mohmand) | ||
| Valery Polyakov | ||||||
| Abdul Ahad Mohmand | ||||||
 | STS-26 (Discovery) | U.S. | Frederick Hauck | Sept. 29–Oct. 3, 1988 | first space shuttle flight after Challenger disaster | |
| Richard Covey | ||||||
| John Lounge | ||||||
| David Hilmers | ||||||
| George Nelson | ||||||
 | Soyuz TM-7/Mir | U.S.S.R. | Aleksandr Volkov | Nov. 26, 1988–April 27, 1989 (Dec. 21, 1988 [Chrétien]) | Mir was left unoccupied after crew returned to Earth | |
| Sergey Krikalyov | ||||||
| Jean-Loup Chrétien | ||||||
 | STS-27 (Atlantis) | U.S. | Robert Gibson | Dec. 2–6, 1988 | launched classified satellite for U.S. Department of Defense | |
| Guy Gardner | ||||||
| Mike Mullane | ||||||
| Jerry Ross | ||||||
| William Shepherd | ||||||
 | STS-29 (Discovery) | U.S. | Michael Coats | March 13–18, 1989 | carried Tracking and Data Relay Satellite | |
| John Blaha | ||||||
| Robert Springer | ||||||
| James Buchli | ||||||
| James Bagian | ||||||
 | STS-30 (Atlantis) | U.S. | David Walker | May 4–8, 1989 | launch of Magellan space probe | |
| Ronald Grabe | ||||||
| Mark Lee | ||||||
| Norman Thagard | ||||||
| Mary Cleave | ||||||
 | STS-28 (Columbia) | U.S. | Brewster Shaw | Aug. 8–13, 1989 | launched classified satellite for U.S. Department of Defense | |
| Richard Richards | ||||||
| James Adamson | ||||||
| David Leetsma | ||||||
| Mark Brown | ||||||
| Soyuz TM-8/Mir | U.S.S.R. | Aleksandr Viktorenko | Sept. 5, 1989–Feb. 19, 1990 | addition of Kvant 2 module to Mir | ||
| Aleksandr Serebrov | ||||||
 | STS-34 (Atlantis) | U.S. | Donald Williams | Oct. 18–23, 1989 | launch of Galileo space probe | |
| Michael McCulley | ||||||
| Shannon Lucid | ||||||
| Franklin Chang-Díaz | ||||||
| Ellen Baker | ||||||
 | STS-33 (Discovery) | U.S. | Frederick Gregory | Nov. 23–28, 1989 | launched classified satellite for U.S. Department of Defense | |
| John Blaha | ||||||
| Manley Carter | ||||||
| Story Musgrave | ||||||
| Kathryn Thornton |