Date (GMT)

Spacecraft

Event

Remarks

11 June

Vega 1

delivered lander and balloon on Venus

15 June

Vega 2

delivered lander and balloon on Venus

11 September

ISEE-3/ICE

Flyby of 21P/Giacobini-Zinner

Start date/time

Duration

End time

Spacecraft

Crew

Remarks

16 April

3 hours6 minutes

STS-51-D

Jeffrey A. HoffmanS. David Griggs

Installed an improvised switch-pulling tool, called the Flyswatter, on the RMS robotic arm. The Flyswatter was used in an effort to push the sequencer start lever on the Leasat-3 in the proper position for deployment. This attempted repair was the first unplanned spacewalk in NASA history.

2 August07:15

5 hours

12:15

Salyut 7 EO-4

Viktor Savinykh

Installed a third pair of solar arrays on exterior of Salyut 7.

31 August

7 hours

STS-51-IDiscovery

William FisherJames van Hoften

Van Hoften rode the RMS to capture the Leasat 3 satellite and pulled it into payload bay. Fisher and Van Hoften secured and started repairs on the satellite in the payload bay. The retrieval was complicated by a malfunction of the RMS that made operation of the arm more complicated.

1 September

4 hours26 minutes

STS-51-IDiscovery

William FisherJames van Hoften

Completed repairs on the Leasat 3 satellite. Then Van Hoften, riding the RMS, heaved the satellite out of the payload bay, imparting the required spin needed to fire the perigee motor.

29 November

5 hours32 minutes

STS-61-B

Jerry L. RossSherwood C. Spring

Practiced construction techniques in the payload bay and assembled and disassembled the two experimental EASE/ACCESS structures.

1 December

6 hours41 minutes

STS-61-BAtlantis

Jerry L. RossSherwood C. Spring

Conducted supplementary experiments on the EASE and ACCESS structures, including a test of the RMS to aid in the construction experiments.